Teaching Y as Long I or Long E Through Phonics Games and Interventions

Teaching Y as Long I or Long E Through Phonics Games and Interventions

Hey, y'all! It's amazing how we learned something as a kid so well that it becomes second nature to us, but when we begin to teach it to our own students, we have to basically re-learn how to do it. This is true for math as well as reading. As a fluent reader, my sight word vocabulary is extensive. I don't even think about what sound the "y" is making as I read. But with our young readers, we have to explicitly teach them all the sounds each letter can make and when to expect it. 

When teaching "y" as a vowel, it's important for students to know that it can make a long i sound, a long e sound, or a short i sound. Our phonics games and centers help students to practice recognizing when to apply each sound to a word. 

We *usually* use the long i sound when the word has one syllable and the "y" is the only vowel. We hear the long e sound when the "y" is at the end of a two syllable word. It'll make the short i sound when it's the only vowel in the middle of a word, like gym and myth. When students know these *rules*, they have an easier time decoding the words they run into. 

In our classroom, the kids rotate to four different literacy centers: read to self, small group at the teacher table, computers (with the district-provided program), and phonics centers. They spend about 15-20 minutes in each rotation and we typically do two a day so we're not stressing to get through things. 

In phonics centers, the kids will work on the sound sorts, long vowel racing game, the hidden word pictures, memory or matching cards (depending on the readers' skill level), and the read and write cards. 

In small group, we'll do the read and cover games, and sometimes the sound sorts or matching cards, depending on what that group needs. On Fridays, or when my students are ready, we'll play the Scoot game as a fun assessment. Sometimes, we'll use the cards again later as a quiz-quiz-trade game during our morning meeting. It's a fun way to review and assess.

I have our phonics centers setup in one of those rainbow carts from Michales. As we learn a new phonics skill, I add a new set of phonics games to the drawers. When the drawers are full, I start taking out the top sets and add the next set there. The kids know to work on this week's skill first. If they're good with that one, they can go back and play any of the other games they liked from previous weeks. 

This set of phonics centers can be found in my TPT store here. It's also part of a larger growing bundle of phonics centers that are designed to last you all school year. You can find the bundle here. While you're checking all that out, be sure to follow me on TPT. I'm always adding new things and there are a LOT of fun things on the way! 

I hoped this help you plan for your phonics lessons and you found something useful for your classroom. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week. I'll talk to you soon!

Stay cozy,