Reading, spelling, and writing (creating sentences or a paragraph or more) are all interconnected in the brain. They should all be taught, starting in kindergarten, throughout school. If a teacher uses vowel clustering, a beginning student can learn to read, spell, and write a vowel-clustered sentence. Vowel clustering teaches phonemic awareness (working with letter sounds).
For example: While teaching the short a vowel sound on the first day of class, you can teach students to combine the word at with various consonants and spell a list of words by just using at. Examples would be at, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, and vat. Children can practice pronouncing, spelling, and writing these words.
Then, you might ask the children to write a story. Tell them they are only allowed to use at words. You'll need to allow the and a just to make sentences complete.
Example: The cat sat at a mat. A fat rat sat at a hat. The cat spat at the rat.
The children can then add to this story when they learn an. They might add:
The rat ran. The cat ran at the rat. The rat ran faster.
Young children do not need long complicated sentences. They do need to learn vowels.
For example: While teaching the short a vowel sound on the first day of class, you can teach students to combine the word at with various consonants and spell a list of words by just using at. Examples would be at, bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, and vat. Children can practice pronouncing, spelling, and writing these words.
Then, you might ask the children to write a story. Tell them they are only allowed to use at words. You'll need to allow the and a just to make sentences complete.
Example: The cat sat at a mat. A fat rat sat at a hat. The cat spat at the rat.
The children can then add to this story when they learn an. They might add:
The rat ran. The cat ran at the rat. The rat ran faster.
Young children do not need long complicated sentences. They do need to learn vowels.
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