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1st grade · English Language Arts · Unit 16 of 17

Long Vowels & Vowel Teams

Silent e, vowel teams like ai and oa, and ar, or and ir.

What your child practices

Your child reads and spells words where vowels say their names (cape, rain, boat) and words with r-controlled vowels (star, bird).

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 1.2(B); 1.2(C) · long vowels with silent e, vowel teams and r-controlled vowels

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A silent e makes the vowel say its name: cap, cape.
  2. Vowel teams work together: ai in rain, oa in boat.
  3. ar in car, or in fork, ir in bird.

Example: Which word has a long o sound? boat or box? In “boat”, o says its name. oa is a vowel team. Answer: boat

Long Vowels & Vowel Teams in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 16 of 17 in 1st grade English Language Arts, after Story or Facts? and before Word Endings & Short Forms.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which word has a long i sound?

    • bag
    • bug
    • big
    • bike

  2. Question 2

    Which word has a long o sound?

    • bat
    • bit
    • boat
    • but

  3. Question 3

    Which word has a vowel with an r after it?

    • shut
    • shirt
    • ship
    • shot

  4. Question 4

    Add e to the end of “cap”. What word is it now?

    • cop
    • cup
    • cape
    • cake

  5. Question 5

    Add e to the end of “pin”. What word is it now?

    • pins
    • pain
    • pen
    • pine

  6. Question 6

    Which word has the long a sound spelled ay?

    • play
    • plan
    • plot
    • plum

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