“Old McDonald” Teaches the Short Vowels
How fast can you name the five main vowels? 1 or 2 seconds? Terrific!
How fast can you say the short vowel sounds? 1 or 2 seconds? Fabulous!
Oh? What are you saying? You and your students cannot say the short vowel sounds that fast? Can you say them that fast backwards? In a mixed-up order?
Do you have some practicing to do?
Readers need instant sight/sound recognition of short vowel sounds!
Sylvia Griffin, a reading specialist that I taught with years ago, taught my class her version of “Old McDonald”. Instead of singing “e, i, e, i, o”, we sang the short vowel sounds /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/. The animals at the farm occur in this order: cat, hen, pig, dog, and duck to use for singing the verses “with an /a/, /a/ here and an /a/, /a/ there, here an /a/, there an /a/, everywhere an /a/, /a/” for the cat; /e/, /e/ for the hen; /i/, /i/ for the pig; /o/, /o/ for the dog, and /u/, /u/ for the duck. It was an instant hit.
Singing the vowel sounds takes this learning into different parts of the brain and makes it easier to retrieve as their reading skills progress. Plus, it makes learning them fun.
Old McDonald had a farm, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.
And on this farm he had a cat, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.
With an /a/, /a/ here and an /a/, /a/ there,
Here an /a/, there an /a/, everywhere an /a/, /a/.
Old McDonald had a farm, /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/.
The Kindergartners to high school children I teach have all enjoyed singing “Old McDonald” except one. She did not know 4 of the short vowel sounds when she began tutoring with me and she really didn’t want to sing “Old McDonald” more than one tutoring session. She said, “I’ll know all of my short vowels by the next time I come back.”
Her incentive to not have to sing “Old McDonald” with me at 15 years old helped her learn the short vowels by her next tutoring lesson! I have always wondered if she sang it to herself at home to learn them because she did know them by her next session. 😊
ALL my other children and teens have had FUN SINGING with me. There are LOT of SMILES and giggles as we sing and draw animals to go along with our song.
It’s fun. It works!
If you have further questions about short vowels or why singing and drawing them works for students with learning differences, feel free to contact us.