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Teacher: So when we see silent 'e' at the end of a word and he is one letter away from our vowel, he makes that vowel stand up tall, say its name. I like to make a rainbow. I'm going to remind myself that he is one letter away from the vowel. He's no longer short 'a'. He's long 'a'. Everybody tell me what does long 'a' say?

Students: /ă/

Teacher: Good job. All right, but it's not just with 'a'. I'm going to erase that. I'm going to show you. I'm going to do vowel 'i'. All right. When silent 'e' is one letter away from vowel 'i' he makes 'i' stand up to say his name. What does long 'i' say?

Students: /ī/

Teacher: Good job.

Exceptions to the Spelling Pattern
There are some words with the vowel-consonant-e pattern where the ‘e’ is silent but not magical — meaning the ‘e’ does not make the previous vowel say its name. Some examples are have, give, house, and mouse. That’s why Reading Universe prefers to use the term magic ‘e’ rather than silent ‘e’ for words in which the vowel says its long sound.