Silent e words

How do you teach silent e words?

Show the change, don't just state it. Write cap, read it, then add an e. "The e is silent, but it jumps over the p and tells the a to say its name. Cape." Read pairs: hop and hope, cub and cube, pin and pine. Then mix pairs on cards and have the student sort short and long. Scoop under the word from the vowel to the e so the eye checks the end before reading the vowel.

What mistake do students make with silent e words?

Students read the first part before they see the e, so hope becomes hop. Teach a habit: look at the end of the word first. "Is there an e at the end? Then the vowel says its name." In spelling, the e gets forgotten; ask the student to read back what they wrote, exactly as written.

Where do silent e words come in the sequence?

Silent e is usually the first long vowel pattern, taught after digraphs. Most programs take one vowel at a time (a_e, i_e, o_e, then e_e and u_e) and finish with a mixed review. In the sequence we use, the pattern is taught in Lesson 54.

Exceptions worth knowing

Have, give, live, love, come, some and done end in e but keep a short or different vowel. English words almost never end in v, so an e follows it. In words like house and promise, the final e has other jobs.

Decodable sentences

Every word in these sentences can be read at Lesson 54 or earlier, or is a heart word taught by then.

• We can bake a cake.
• The mule ate a rose by the pine.
• I like to ride my bike home.