New Ways to Spell Long 'o': Vowel Teams 'oa' and 'ow'

Mikara Gallegos: Okay, boys and girls, we're going to work on long 'o' today. Okay? Are you ready? I'm going to give you a word. You're going to give me all the sounds and then you're going to tell me what vowel sound you hear. Are you ready?

Students: Yes.

Mikara Gallegos: Say boat.

Students: Boat.

Mikara Gallegos: Give me the sounds.

Students: /b/, /ō/, /t/.

Mikara Gallegos: What vowel sound?

Students: /ō/

Mikara Gallegos: Long 'o'. Good.

Narrator: Today, Mikara Gallegos is teaching second graders at Shull Elementary in San Dimas, California. How the vowel teams 'oa' and 'ow' can spell the long 'o' sound. 

Mikara Gallegos: Say vote.

Students: Vote.

Mikara Gallegos: Sounds?

Students: /v/, /ō/, /t/.

Mikara Gallegos: What vowel sound?

Students: /ō/

Mikara Gallegos: Long 'o'.

Narrator: She begins the lesson with a listening game to help students tune their ears into that long 'o' vowel sound.

Students: Long 'o'.

Mikara Gallegos: Long 'o'. Say slope.

Students: Slope.

Mikara Gallegos: Give me the sounds.

Students: /s/, /l/, /ō/, /p/.

Mikara Gallegos: What's the vowel sound?

Students: Long 'o'.

Mikara Gallegos: Yeah. What do they all have in common?

Student: /ō/. Long 'o'.

Mikara Gallegos: Long 'o'. But there's so many different patterns to make long 'o', right?

Narrator: Ms. Gallegos' students already know two ways to spell the long 'o' sound. First in an open syllable word.

Together: No. Go.

Students: So. Bro.

Mikara Gallegos: Those all have long 'o's, right? 'O' at the end says /ō/.

Narrator: They also know how to spell long 'o' with magic 'e', or as Ms. Gallegos calls it, mama 'e'.

Mikara Gallegos: Mama 'e' says ...

Together: You say your name!

Mikara Gallegos: Okay, let's read it. Ready?

Students: /n/, /ō/, /t/. Note.

Mikara Gallegos: Good. Next one.

Students: /v/, /ō/, /t/. Vote. /r/, /ō/, /d/. Road.

Mikara Gallegos: Good reading. That's all 'o' with the mama 'e'. Well, I have two new long 'o' patterns for us today.

Narrator: She starts with the vowel team 'oa'.

Mikara Gallegos: Okay. Look at my examples. Are you ready? Here's 'o' and 'a'. It says oak.

Students: Oak.

Mikara Gallegos: Good. Next one.

Together: /ō/, /t/, oat.

Mikara Gallegos: Next one.

Students: /s/, /ō/, /k/, soak.

Mikara Gallegos: Awesome.

Students: /b/, /ō/, /t/, boat.

Mikara Gallegos: Last one.

Students: /k/, /ō/, /t/, coat.

Mikara Gallegos: Good job. So 'oa' says ...

Student: /ō/.

Mikara Gallegos: /ō/. Okay. I have another one. 'ow' says ... /ō/. Okay. Let's read it.

Students: /s/, /n/, /ō/, /w/, snow.

Mikara Gallegos: Good. What about this one?

Students: /g/, /l/, /ō/, /w/, glow.

Mikara Gallegos: What about this one?

Students: /g/, /r/, /ō/, /w/, grow.

Mikara Gallegos: "Grow." Do this one again.

Students: /g/, /r/, /ō/, /w/, grow.

Mikara Gallegos: What if I added '-ing'?

Students: Growing.

Mikara Gallegos: Growing. Oh, you guys are so smart. Okay, here's 'ow' again. But here's an 'n' at the end of it. 'O-W-N'. Let's read it.

Together: /ō/... /w/... /n/, own.

Mikara Gallegos: Good. Let's do this one.

Students: /g/, /r/, /ō/, /w/, /n/, grown.

Mikara Gallegos: Good. Last one.

Students: /f/, /l/, /ō/, /w/, /n/, flown.

Mikara Gallegos: Yeah. Let's do the 'F-L' blend again. /f/, /l/... . Let me hear it.

Students: /f/, /l/ ... /ō/, /w/, /n/, flown.

Mikara Gallegos: Good.

Narrator: Ms. Gallegos' kids have added two new long 'o' spellings to their repertoire with the vowels teams 'oa' and 'ow'. But vowel teams can be tricky. Eventually, these students will learn that 'ow' can also spell /ow/ as in cow. So consistent practice and lots of reading are key for students to build confidence with vowel teams.

Mikara Gallegos: Let's read it. Ready?

Together: /ō/ ... /t/, oat.

Mikara Gallegos: Oh, it's good. Let's go to the next one.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim and Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillin Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Schull Elementary School, Bonita Unified School District, and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUteaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA Washington D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Schull teachers: This is Reading Universe.