Doggone Fun Teaching Long and Short Vowel Sounds Long and short vowel sounds are easily taught and learned through sorting games. Shortly after students master the letters and sounds of the alphabet we teach that several letters actually make two sounds. The vowels (a, e, i, o and u) can make a short sound, as the sound /a/ in the word “cat”, or a long sound as in the word “train”. Before teaching the spelling patterns of the long vowels it is important that our young readers and writers hear the differences between the long and short vowels. Sorting activities are perfect for teaching this skill. Long and Short Vowel Sound Sorting My fabulous artist, Kyle, created these adorable puppies to