This book introduces children to the short and long vowel sounds.
When reading the beginning of the book to children read the vowels as the short sounds. For example 'a' as in 'ant', 'e' as in 'egg', 'i' as in igloo, 'o' as in 'orange', and 'u' as in 'umbrella'.
As the story progresses the long vowel sounds are introduced and the mice sing the long vowel sounds “A, E, I, O, U”. These are sung as the long vowel sounds. These are also called the letter names. For example ‘ai’ as in ‘rain’, ‘ee’ as in ‘tree’, ‘ie’ as in ‘pie’, ‘oa’ as in ‘goat’, and ‘ue’ as in ‘blue’.
The rule the children will learn is ‘When two vowels go walking the first one does the talking’. You can introduce that when the vowels are read together they say the letter name of the first vowel. The vowels are working together to make the long vowel sound. For example in ‘r-ai-n’, the ‘a with the i’ says the letter name (the long sound) “A” rather than the short “a” (as in ant) and “i” (as in igloo). After you have read the story through you can go back and read again looking for the long and short vowel sounds on each page and discuss the rule for decoding and spelling long vowel sounds.