The English Language Gets A Little Kooky - Vowels

Teaching different ways to spell the same sound.
Hap Palmer

This song is available on Hap Palmer's Two Little Sounds: Fun with Phonics And Numbers.

Subjects:
• Different ways to spell long vowel sounds
• Changes in mood and tempo of music

Teacher Note:
Each verse features a different long vowel sound. Place each example word on the board or word chart. For example, in the first verse, display the words: baby lady snake cake rain eight clay play say crazy chain ways make.

Activity:
Look at the words on the board and read along with the song. When the music suddenly speeds up, jump up and create a kooky dance. When the music slows down, sit back down and get ready to read more words.

‘A’ makes the /ay/ sound in baby and lady
But ‘A’ with a silent ‘E’
says the /ay/ in snake and cake
‘A-I’ says /ay/ in rain,
‘E-I’ says /ay/ in number eight
‘A’ and ‘Y’ together
say /ay/ in clay, and play, Say,
Why this crazy chain of ways
to make the sound of /ay/ ?

Chorus:
The English language gets a little kooky
Gets a little kooky now and then
The English language gets a little kooky
Now and then, my friend.

Two ‘E’s say /ee/ in knee and tree
But ‘E-A’ says /ee/ in peach and teach
‘I-E’ says /ee/ in chief,
one ‘E’ says /ee/ in she and he
And if that’s not enough, here’s another way
‘Y’ makes the /ee/ sound in silly, goofy, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!

Repeat Chorus

‘I’ makes the /igh/ sound in ivy and China
But ‘I’ with a silent ‘E’
says /igh/ in rice and mice
‘I-E’ says /igh/ in pie
‘Y-E’ says /igh/ in good-bye
‘I-G-H’ says /igh/ in sigh,
and ‘Y’ says /igh/ in cry

Repeat Chorus

Two ‘O’s say /oo/
in spoon and moon
But ‘U-E’ says /oo/ in blue and glue
‘E-W’ says /oo/ in chew;
one ‘O’ says /oo/ in who
And ‘U’ with a silent ‘E’
says /oo/ in June and tune
And ‘O-U-G H’ says /oo/ in through, What??
‘O-U-G H’ says /oo/ in through . . .
I hope we’re through with /oo/!

Repeat Chorus Softly

‘O-A’ says /o/ in boat and float
But ‘O’ with a silent ‘E’ says /o/ in rose and nose
‘O-E’ says /o/ in toes, one /o/ says /o/ in go
‘O-W’ says /o/ in grow
This only goes to show
What now I know you know

Repeat Chorus
Ho, ho, ho, ha, ha, ha, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!

Follow-up:
In this song we start with a sound and see how different letters are used to symbolize the same sound. We can also reverse this and start with letters and see the different sounds the same letter can symbolize. Here are some short verses to illustrate:
‘A’ makes the /aah/ sound in mat and cat
‘A’ with a silent ‘E’ says /ay/ in bake and shake
‘A’ makes the /aw/ sound in pasta and father
The funny thing you see, is ‘A’ can be all three!
Two ‘O’s make the /oo/ sound in pool and cool
Two ‘O’s make the /uh/ sound in book and look
Two ‘O’s and ‘R’ go /or/ in door and floor
The funny thing you see, is two ‘O’s can be all three!
‘Y’ goes /yuh/ in yo yo and yak
‘Y’ goes /igh/ at the end of cry and shy
‘Y’ goes /ee/ in batty, nutty, daffy,
/Yuh/, /igh/, /ee/, ‘Y’ can be all three!

Book Suggestions for this Song: