A Classroom Circus of Learning with Circus Vowels!

Friends~I am thrilled to share a fantastic reading and writing strategy with all of you.  Last week, I found out about an amazing book called Circus Vowels.  The author of  this book is Jodi L. McMaster, a first grade teacher from Michigan and the illustrator is Diane L. Friese who is a retired special education teacher of 30 years.  I knew right away that with the background of these writers... this book was going to be amazing. Click the image below to find out more about Circus Vowels.

The book takes students on a trip to the circus with The Vowel Family.  The vowel children are a bit rambunctious and pinch and yell tons!  That is part of the fun. The simple decoding strategies for CVC, CVVC, CVCV, and CVCCVC words were described beautifully for the students.  On the Circus Vowel Website you will find step by step instructions and also learning videos for teaching the strategies in class. It takes the MAGIC E to a whole different level!


Now I am always hunting for ways to help my students with spelling and decoding words.  Of course,  I always want it to be fun and engaging for my students.  So I was super happy when Jodi asked me to share Circus Vowels with my class!  I decided to share in a small group and focus on the students that needed support with short and long vowels.  My students giggled throughout the story as the vowel children got into decoding mischief.

After sharing the story in group,  we then practiced the strategies from the book on my dry erase table in our Guided Reading NOOK.  Again on the Circus Vowels blog you will find free down loadable worksheets for practicing the strategies in the book. 

My students were so excited to try out what they learned about the vowel family on some real words.  Check out the video below!

I sure hope you take the time to head over an check out Circus Vowels on their blog.  If you have students struggling with short and long vowels this is a fun and educational way to help them make the connections needed for decoding.  Have a great night!