Silent E: 1, 2, 3!

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Tell your students that some words have a silent E that makes a vowel say its name.
• Explain that sometimes A has a short sound, and sometimes it has a long sound. Demonstrate the two different sounds. For example, cat has the short A sound while cave has the long A sound.
• Repeat these steps with the vowels I and O. Potential demonstration words include: rip, ripe, dot, and tone.

Guided Practice

• Review short and long vowel sounds (A, I, and O) by having the students participate in choral reading and blending.
• Tell your students that when you count to three, they need to say the word that you point to.
• Display the Short A/Long A poster on the board, and guide the students through saying each sound as you point to the corresponding letter.
• After blending the individual sounds of each word, count to three and have the students say the full word.
• Point out the differences between words with short vowels versus long vowels. Potential discussion questions include: What shape does your mouth make when you say a word with a short A versus a long A?
• Continue blending with the Short I/Long I and Short O/Long O charts.
• Display the game Silent E School Bus Stop Spelling on the SMART Board. Play the game as a class, or have your students play the game on individual devices.

Independent working time

• Have your students complete the Silent E Scramble worksheet.
• For students who may have difficulty recognizing individual sounds, use a blending procedure and work with students in a small group, calling the letters out sound by sound and having the students locate them.
• For students who may need prompting, provide the first one or two letters for each word, either writing them on the worksheet ahead of time or providing them at the beginning of independent work time.