Teaching Long Vowel CVCe Words

Teaching Long Vowel  CVCe Words 

Hey, y'all! If you've taught primary grades for any length of time, you'll know how some kids pick up new phonics skills quickly and some need a TON of extra practice before it sticks. One of the skills that consistently falls into this category is the "silent e" spelling pattern. 

Once kids master their letter sounds, CVC words come pretty easily. But the we start mixing things up and telling the kids that an "e" at the end of the word changes the vowel sound (most of the time). And that digraphs and diphthongs have their own sounds. And there are exceptions to all of these rules. And then there's a schwa. ("A what?!") And well, it starts to get confusing. 

So we work on one skill at a time and we practice those skills with games (because learning through games requires less repetitions--for real, look it up). And we keep at it until it clicks. Then, we throw a new skill at them. 

At the beginning of the school year in first grade, we review letter sounds and jump into those CVC words almost immediately. By December, we're looking at CVCe words and using games like these to help our new readers understand how the silent e affects the rest of the letters. And we practice, practice, practice. 

I've been teaching primary grades longer than any other, and one thing my students consistently do is look at the first letter or two and guess the rest of the word. It's like those other letters don't even exist. So we spend a TON of time reminding the kids to "read all the letters" and THINK about the spelling pattern we're looking at. (Oh if they would just think and not guess!)

These games are designed to not only practice the silent e pattern, but to also make students look at all the letters. If you look at the games below, you'll see that the only difference in some of the word sets is the third letter (nose and note, hose and home and hole). I did this on purpose in an effort to try and get my students to attend to ALL the letters. 'Cause they have to. 'Cause the letters matter. 

These long vowel phonics games are consistent in nature so that the kids know how to play them from one set to the next. The only thing that changes are the words being practiced, not how the games are played. These games can be used as literacy centers, in your small reading groups, for interventions, or for fast finishers/choice time. They include: 

• roll and read games
• trail games
• Bump games
• Scoot games
• CVC to CVCe puzzles
• read and write cards
• spin and write games

You can find each set in my TPT store here. While you're there, be sure to follow me so you don't miss anything new. And there are a TON of new things on the way. These units are part of a larger growing bundle designed to get you through the entire school year. You can check it out here. 

I hope you found some new things for your classroom to make teaching phonics a little easier on you. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week. I'll talk to you soon. 

Stay cozy,