LONG VOWELS: What letters or letter combinations can make these long vowel sounds?

a a_e ae ai aigh ay ea ei eig eigh ey e as in A, acorn as in make as in maelstrom as in raid as in straight as in day as in break as in veil, rein as in reign as in eight as in they as in saut, caf

e as in he e_e as in Pete ea as in beach ee as in feet ei as in either, receipt ey as in key ie as in chief y as in madly eo as in people i as in ski i i_e ie igh uy ui y ye islai ay ei

as in I, hi as in five as in tie as in high as in buy as in guide as in my, why as in bye, eye as in island as in aisle as in aye, aye as in feisty o o_e oa oe ough ow old au/eau ou

as in no as in hope as in boat as in hoe as in dough as in tow as in cold as in eau/chateau as in soul u

as in bugle as in duty u_e as in mule as in duke ew as in few as in dew eu as in feud as in deuce oo as in boot ou as in you as in soup ough as in through ue as in blue as in rescue ui as in fruit uu as in vacuum wo as in two

Notes: 1. For long vowel u, I have listed first long u with the y sound and then without the y soundmy brain doesnt really separate out much the differencebut I think distinguishing, logical new readers/spellers would appreciate having the two sounds pointed out to them. 2. If a vowel ends a syllable, it usually says its name (y says long sound for I) A: a, la/ter E: me, re/gal I: I, fi/nal O: no, fro/zen U: ru/by Y: cy/cle 3. I have not included r control long vowel sounds or consonant combinations that seem to make a vowel consistently long. I cover the r control separately with my kids. Those r long vowels just sound different to my ear than the typical long vowel sound. And consonant combinations that tend to make a vowel long I kind of just group under the single vowel being able to say its own name. Clear as mud? Good. Im tired of looking at all these letters and my computer is in a funk and I still have to see if I can get this from Microsoft and onto my blog!) a. Examples of long vowel sounds with the letter r: care, pair, tear, four b. Examples of consonant combinations that consistently or often tend to make certain vowels sound long (I cover these with my kids more as the single vowel letter can make its long soundbut maybe as I learn more, Ill get it better categorized in my head and do it differently. Ive got time.): i. aste makes a long: haste, waste ii. ange makes a long: strange, derange iii. ild,- ind can make i long: wild, kind iv. olt can make o long: colt, bolt 4. Words of foreign origin just behave badly. Consider e/ee/et says long a because theyre French. Au/eau says long a because theyre French. Words like diabetes with an es saying long e are Greek. 5. Dont trust me. I dont know what the heck Im talking about. Go buy or check-out one of these books listed below to help you! Particularly the first two, when used together they really rock! They can really help a person understand when to choose which spelling or why something got spelled the way it did! Or explain it for the kids. The last two are good workbooks for learners but not so much to help an adult reorganize their thoughts so they can teach it.

Sources: 1. Handy English Decoder by Harvey Bluedorn 2nd edition May 2004 Trivium Pursuit PMB 168, 429 Lake Prk Blvd. Muscatine, Iowa 52761. 2. Uncovering the Logic of English by Denise Eide 1st edition 2011 Pedia Learning Inc. Pedia Learning Inc. 10800 Lyndale Ave S. Suite 181 Meinneapolis, MN 55420. 3. Phonics Pathways by Dolores G. Hiskes. 8th edition 2000 Dorbooks PO Box 2588 Livermore CA 94551. 4. Step by Step Phonics by Laurie Lee Bell 1998 Backto the Basics Publishing PO Box 3055 Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91729.