Long O

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The pictures above (soap, toes, stones) all have the long /o/ sound.

How many ways do you know to spell the long /o/ sound? On a piece of paper, list all the ways you know to make the long /o/ sound. In this lesson, you will learn eight ways to make the long /o/ sound.

The long /o/ sound can be spelled with just an o in an open syllable. An open syllable has one vowel at the end of the syllable. The vowel sound is a long /o/ sound.

Read these examples: so, go, no, open.

Notice the word "open" is a multisyllabic word. The first syllable is "o." The second syllable is "pen." The "o" in the word makes a long /o/ sound.

The long /o/ sound is also made with a vowel-consonant-e pattern. The "e" at the end of the syllable is silent and helps the "o" make a long vowel sound.

Read these examples: stone, throne, shone, and explode.

Vowel pairs can also make the /o/ sound. Read the following examples of vowel pairs:

• ow as in grow. The spelling "ow" can represent two sounds: /ow/ as in cow and /σ/ as in show, slow, grow.
• Ou as in four. The spelling "ou" can represent four sounds: /ow/ as in round, /σ/ as in four, /oo/ as in you, and /û/ as in country. Note that the second sound of ou is long o.
• Oo as in floor. The spelling oo can represent three sounds: /oo/ as in boot, /û /as in foot, and /σ/ as in floor.
• Oa as in boat.
• Oe as in toe
• ough as in though

And the most ridiculed of all English spellings, good old ough. This spelling can represent six different vowel (or semi-vowel) sounds. The good news is that once you've learned the following six words, you're home free:

• /σ/ as in though
• /oo/ as in through
• /uf/ as in rough
• /awf/ as in cough
• /aw/ as in thought
• /ow/ as in bough

Note that /σ/ is the first sound of ough: though

This may seem like a lot to remember but you will soon find it is easier to recognize the long o sound when you are reading.

Move to the Got It? section to read words with a long /o/ sound and sort the words by their spelling patterns.