Introduce each short vowel and its sound one day at a time. Let pupils work individually or in pairs. Give the pupils magnifying glasses, detective badges or Sherlock Holmes caps and baskets or bags. They can play detective by searching for and gathering objects whose names have the designated short vowel sound. Meet together as a class. Have the pupils remove their objects from their bags or baskets. List on chart paper the names of the objects and underline the short vowel in each word.
Sing songs that repeat short vowel sounds. Songs help children remember what they are learning. Silly, repetitive songs engage young learners. In the song "I Like to Eat Apples and Bananas," pupils replace all the vowels with the short vowel they are practicing. Many short-vowel songs are sung to tunes pupils already know, with lyrics that reinforce short vowel sounds.
Place in a bag several objects whose names have long or short vowels. Let the pupils take turns drawing out an object. Have the pupils say the name of their object and then state what vowel is in its name and whether it is short or long. Pupils can also sort vowels during read-aloud time. Read texts such as "Green Eggs and Ham" or "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss. Have pupils find the words that have short vowels in them.
Strengthen pupils' spelling while teaching short vowels. Write down a word pattern with a vowel in it, then have pupils list all the words they can think of that have that pattern. For instance, write the pattern -at on the board. List the words "cat," "hat," "pat" and "mat." Add to the list as pupils think of more words. Make more lists with other word families. Display word family lists in the classroom. Children can consult the lists when writing new words with those patterns.