Long O and Short O Resources

All vowels are expressed with either a long or short sound. New students may struggle with which one to use in different circumstances. The eclectic worksheets, online games, hands-on activities, and other resources are there to support new readers as they build a solid understanding of the basics.

Each letter makes its own sound. However, you will have to teach students that that’s not always the case. While some words are phonetically irregular, some letters themselves make different sounds based on the letters around them. Vowels, like the letter o, can produce at least two sounds: the short vowel sound and the long vowel sound.
The short o makes the vowel sound of o, as in cop, flop, bop, and shop. The long o makes the sound of the name of the vowel as in cope, mope, tote, and show. The letter o also has an alternative short sound that sounds like a short u sound as in son, done, come, and love.
There are rules you can teach to help students determine which sound the vowel should make in a particular word:

• If a word only has one syllable and the vowel comes at the beginning, it will make the short vowel sound as in on and ox.
• If the vowel is the only vowel and it falls between consonants, it will typically make a short vowel sounds as in pop and hot.
• When a word ends in a silent e, the vowel in the middle will be long as in rope and scope.
• When a word contains a pair of vowels, or a vowel diagraph, the first vowel will make its long sound, the second vowel is silent as in coat.

Using the resources provided by Education.com above can help student understand the unique rules associated with long and short o sounds.