Will the Real ‘a” Please Stand Up?

The book I am using to teach Jack to read starts out with the letter  ‘a’ to represent the short ‘a’ sound like you hear in ‘mat.’ When the lessons begin to add in the long sounds for the vowels – like the ‘a’ in ‘lake’ -  a line is placed over the letter. 

This is not the typical way reading is taught in schools, but it works fine because the line over the letter is eventually faded out by the end of the book.  Owen didn’t even seem to notice when the line disappeared in the book – and he still read the words correctly.

Today Jack was introduced to one of these vowels with the line.  The page looked like this..

Mama:  This sound is “a.”                  (as in lake)

Jack “a'” (correct sound)

Mama: This sound is ‘a.’               (as in mat) 

Jack: “a” (correct sound)

Mama:  what is the difference between the way this sound looks and this sound looks (pointing)

Jack: This sound looks like this sound but it has a long line on the top.

Mama: That’s right!

Jack: But I don’t know which one of these sounds is telling me the truth!