Ea Long A Sound Words

Long a is another tricky sound to teach because it has many dissimilar ways to spell it. This one simply has two spelling generalizations and so many will depend on memory and practice. I'm going to break down each of the eight ways to spell the long a sound to assist you sympathise and teach long a to your students.

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Eight Means To Spell Long A

The long a sound can be represented past viii different spelling patterns:

a – babe
a_e – cake
ai – pelting
ay – play
ei – reindeer
eigh – weight
ea – steak
ey – they

The majority of these are vowel teams, then students should already know the open, silent eastward, and vowel team syllables. Students should likewise be able to find the base of operations give-and-take, equally some of these rules use to the base word fifty-fifty if it has a suffix.

Spelling Generalizations for Long A

A alone

At the finish of an open syllable, a makes the long a sound (says its name). Some examples include able, apron, maple, and lady. Students must empathize how to split words into syllables and know what open up syllables are.

A_E Spelling Blueprint

The a silent due east spelling pattern is the most mutual one yous'll find in the middle of a base word. Examples include cake, safe, and acquit. Of course, students should be confident with themagic east syllable.

AI Vowel Squad

AI sometimes spells the long a sound in the beginning or heart of a base word. Yous will discover that virtually of these words end with the letter n, but this is just an observation you can share with students, not a rule!

AY Vowel Squad

Ay usually spells the long a sound at the end of a base of operations word. Examples include may and tray.

EY Vowel Team

There are only ten commonly known words spelled with the ey phonogram at the end of the word: they, hey, greyness, casualty, obey, convey, purvey, survey, whey, and abeyance. Yous can teach these equally a grouping. Nearly other words that say long a at the end of the word are spelled with ay.

EI Vowel Team

The EI spelling pattern for long a is not very common. At that place is no rule for this spelling pattern. Examples include rein, biscuit, and heir.

EIGH

EIGH can spell the long a sound at the end of a word. This is another uncommon selection. Examples include eight and weigh. Teach these every bit a group.

EA

This is by far the least mutual way to spell the long a audio. I would also teach these words in a grouping: steak, great, suspension. Then you accept the EA+R words like bear, tear, wear, pear, and swear.

Tips For Teaching The Long A Sound

When you showtime instruction long a, y'all actually have to focus on spelling generalizations, homophones, and homographs. Teach one spelling pattern at a time, and one time 1 is mastered you can add in another. It's much easier to learn how to read these than to larn how to spell. Since they all sound the same and can appear in the same identify, choosing the correct spelling design tin be tricky.

Teach the process for deciding on the spelling pattern.

Once students are familiar with all the options for spelling long a and they know open syllables and the silent e syllable, you can teach them the process for determining the spelling design a word has.

When students come across a word with long a and they need to figure out which spelling pattern to choose, here are the questions they can ask:

Is there more than ane syllable?
Is in that location a base give-and-take?
Where is the long a sound in the word?
Could this be one of those rare spelling options?

Students should first pause the word into its syllables, and go through the questions.

long a spelling generalizations checklist

This will take some practice so endeavor going through a fix of words with your students a few times, so take them do some more on their own. This is the aforementioned process they volition use with other long vowel sounds so information technology'southward a slap-up skill for them to take.

Also, because in that location are multiple options look students to get them wrong sometimes, and tell them this! It'due south ok if they make mistakes as long equally it's some other valid spelling option and not something that doesn't follow any rules. Through repeated exposure and do they will eventually internalize the correct spelling design for words.

Long A Activities & Lesson Ideas

Phoneme Graphic symbol Mapping – This is a great action that really isolates the phonograms for students to practice. You tin can go thePhonics & Spelling Through Graphic symbol Mapping book and follow the long a lesson, or use my long a give-and-take listing to do the same activity using sound boxes. See below for examples.

SOS– If you don't already know what Simultaneous Oral Spelling is, and so check out this mail service here. I love this multisensory spelling method for practicing spelling. And you can do this whole class or i on i making information technology really easy to use in any setting.

Dictation – This is another fantastic activity simply I would do this afterward you take spent some time on long a considering it is harder for students. Also when dictating words, give students a clue about the spelling such equally telling them information technology's a vowel team or open syllable. I often dictate words that all have the aforementioned spelling pattern to avoid these problems.

Sorting– Sorting is always a good idea when yous accept multiple options for spelling. You lot can play matching games like memory, just sort them into piles/columns, or create whatsoever game that requires sorting past spelling pattern. This builds phonemic awareness so it's always a good activity for all students.

You can also sort by colour coding the vowel squad or spelling blueprint in the words. I took the list from the SOS activity, then had my educatee highlight each vowel team in a specific color to more visually show the groups.

I include 3 different sorting activities for the long a audio in my Long A Worksheets & Activities gear up.

Motion-picture show cue cards – Create visual graphics of tricky words, homophones, and homographs. These picture cues really help students remember which pattern to utilise. I suggest you lot make these using alphabetize cards and go along them in a baggie or box for reference. See an example below (it'due south for a long o sound just you go the idea).

Games– Of form, I always include games because it's just and so easy to add a stack of flashcards to any game and make it educational! Use an piece of cake to play board game where students need to pick upwards a card on their turn and add a task like reading the word aloud and sorting it, or asking another player to spell information technology, or even something as simple as having them air write the word after reading it aloud. Or impress off teacher-made games and worksheets in my Long A Worksheets & Activities set.

Abiding Review – Remember to keep these spelling patterns in abiding review after they are learned, so they are not forgotten. Using asound wall or phonogram drills are great ways to do this without it taking up a lot of fourth dimension. The set below includes 16 dissimilar activities that focus on the long a audio to assistance students get plenty do and review.

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how to teach the long a sound and free word list pin image

Delilah Orpi is the owner and founder of Thrive Literacy Corner. She has a Bachelor'south caste in Special Instruction, a Primary'southward degree in TESOL, and is a member of the International Dyslexia Association. She is an experienced educator and literacy specialist trained in Orton Gillingham and Lindamood Bell. Delilah creates literacy resources for educators and parents and writes to create awareness near dyslexia and constructive literacy instruction based on the science of reading.