3.2 Explicitly Teach Magic ‘e’

What is the first vowel that you see? (Students should say ‘a’.) What kind of letter do you see after the ‘a’? (Some may say ‘m’ but guide them to the answer that it is a consonant.) What letter do you see after the consonant? (Students should say ‘e’.)

Today, we will look at syllables and words that follow this pattern: a vowel, then a consonant, and then an ‘e’ at the end. It's a very special pattern that we call magic ‘e’.

The ‘e’ is so magical that it can jump back over one consonant and bonk the other vowel on its head to make it say its name. Let’s look at this word name. The ‘e’ can jump back over the ‘m’ and bonk the ‘a’ on its head to make it say /ā/. So the sounds in this word are /n/, /ā/, /m/. What’s the word? (Students say name.)

Let’s look at the next word. What is the first vowel? (Students say ‘o’.) What kind of letter is right after that vowel? (Students say a consonant.) What letter do you see next? (Students say ‘e’.) 

Yes! I see the pattern vowel-consonant-e, which means this is a magic ‘e’ word! If the ‘e’ jumps back over the ‘t’ and bonks the ‘o’ on its head, what will the ‘o’ say? (Students say /ō/.) Yes, the sounds in this word are /n/, /ō/, /t/, so what is the word? (Students say note.)

Magic 'e' Flash Cards

Use these flash cards during your warm-up to have students practice the magic 'e' pattern.

‘a’, consonant, ‘e’, cake, /ā/

‘o’, consonant, ‘e’, home, /ō/

‘i’, consonant, ‘e’, kite, /ī/

‘e’, consonant, ‘e’, eve, /ē/

‘u’, consonant, ‘e’, cube, /ū/

‘u’, consonant, ‘e’, tune, /oo/

Magic ‘e’ is a spelling pattern and a syllable type. Now we will take what we learned about magic ‘e’ and learn how to recognize magic ‘e’ syllables. This will help you read bigger words.

I am going to spell a syllable for you. Please do not blurt out the syllable! We are going to move through the syllable — both marking and labeling. Here we go.

Now, look all the way through the syllable and touch the first vowel. Underline the vowel and mark it with a ‘v’ for vowel.

Now look next door, immediately after the vowel. Is the vowel closed in by a consonant? Mark it with a ‘c’ for consonant.

Next, look and see if there is an ‘e’ after the consonant. If there is, the syllable is magic ‘e’, and the first vowel sound is long, saying its name. Make an arch from the ‘e’ over the consonant to the first vowel and add a macron. Label the syllable as magic ‘e’ with an ‘E’ and a circle around it.

What’s the vowel sound?

Now let’s tap and read the syllable together.

/b/, /ī/, /n/. /bīn/.