9. Resource Hub: Teaching Magic ‘e'

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Kimberly Schneider: All right. First grade. I'm going to show you these letters right here ...

Narrator: Today, teacher Kimberly Schneider and her first graders are working on improving their reading fluency, reading words both accurately and effortlessly known as automaticity. They're focused on words with the magic 'e' spelling pattern.

Kimberly Schneider: What are they called? Okay, what do you think they're called?

Student: Vowels ...

Kimberly Schneider: Everybody say vowels ...

Narrator: The magic 'e' pattern has many names, including vowel-consonant 'e' and sneaky 'e'. Ms. Schneider calls it silent 'e'.

Kimberly Schneider: Everybody say silent 'e'.

Students: Silent 'e' ...

Kimberly Schneider: Alright, who can tell me what does it mean to be silent? What does it mean to be silent? Daniel? What does that mean?

Daniel: Like you're not talking.

Narrator: Ms. Schneider starts with an explicit review of the magic 'e' spelling pattern, including a strategy that helps the children remember when you see a magic 'e', look back through the word for a vowel one letter away.

Kimberly Schneider: Alright, 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: /ā/ ...

Kimberly Schneider: All right, so we're going to practice reading some words. So you have the words in front of you. I want you to take your marker. All right? When we get to a word that has a silent 'e', we're going to make a rainbow to remind us to make it stand up tall, say its name. Grab your pen, Daniel, grab it. Ooh, the first word I'm going to ask Jackson. Jackson, does this first word need a rainbow?

Jackson: No.

Kimberly Schneider: Why not?

Jackson: 'cause it doesn't have a silent 'e' ...

Kimberly Schneider: It doesn't have a silent 'e'. Can you sound out that first word and read it?

Students: /r/, /ă/, /t/ ... rat.

Kimberly Schneider: Oh, good job. All right, next one. Nicole, look at the second word. Does it need a rainbow?

Nicole: Yes.

Kimberly Schneider: Why does it need a rainbow?

Students: Because it has a silent 'e'.

Kimberly Schneider: All right, everybody make a rainbow. All right, sound it out. Read that word for me.

Nicole: /c/, /ā/, /k/ ... cake.

Kimberly Schneider: Let's try it one more time. Look at that sound right there.

Students: /c/, /ā/, /v/ ... cave.

Kimberly Schneider: cave ... nice job. Alright, next one, Daniel.

Narrator: When students see an 'e' at the end of a word, they now know to look for the magic 'e' pattern. They draw a rainbow from the 'e' back over one consonant to the preceding vowel. Then they mark that vowel as long with what's known as a macron.

Kimberly Schneider: Okay, so these ones, everybody say phrases.

Students: Phrases ...

Kimberly Schneider: Okay, so they're not full sentences, they're just like little itty-bitty short sentences. So we're going to look at the phrases and decide ... do any of the words in our phrase need a rainbow? Oh, Nicole is already doing it. Can you put a rainbow of the word that needs a rainbow? Who can read me that phrase? What does that phrase say? I see Nicole sounding it out. Jackson, what does it say?

Jackson: "Name the pet."

Kimberly Schneider: Oh my gosh. "Name the pet." Very good. Alright, next phrase.

Narrator: Now you'll see a student experimenting with her new spelling pattern knowledge, applying it to a word that doesn't have the pattern.

Kimberly Schneider: All right, Nicole, sound that out. Read it for me.

Nicole: /ă/ ... /b/ ... /o͞o/ ... /ă/ ... /k/ ... bake.

Kimberly Schneider: Try it one more time. Remember, there's no silent 'e'. Wait, how about that?

Nicole: "A black ... "

Kimberly Schneider: Good. Sound it out.

Nicole: "A black snake."

Kimberly Schneider: Very good. "A black snake." Nice job.

Narrator: This is a common and productive phenomenon as students grapple with the alphabetic code. With a quick reminder of the pattern, Ms. Schneider gives Nicole time and space and a little support so she can work her way to an accurate reading.

Kimberly Schneider: Alright, so leave your rainbows there. We're going to read them together. Can we read 'em together? Okay. So look right here. We're going to start at the top. Everybody finger points, so I know you're following along. All right, let's read 'em together.

Ms. Schneider and students: "Name the pets."

Narrator: After reading words and phrases with accuracy, students practice reading with automaticity. They need both accuracy and automaticity to comprehend what they're reading.

Ms. Schneider and students: "The sun shines." "A tube in the lake."

Kimberly Schneider: So let's do this. I'm going to take that from you. I'm going to trade you. Treat me, trade me. Alright, so now these are sentences, all right? So these are sentences. Thank you very much. All right. So you're going to look to see what words have silent 'e', but we're not going to use the rainbow this time.

Narrator: When learning a new pattern, students need many opportunities to practice reading words, phrases, and sentences that contain the new skill with less and less scaffolding from their teacher. It is this practice that will lead to students becoming fluent readers.

Ms. Schneider and students: "The bat naps in the cave." "The sun will rise and shine."

Kimberly Schneider: Okay, so today we learned about silent 'e'. And remember, it's always one letter away from the vowel. All right, make that vowel stand up tall and say its name. Great job reading. Give each other a fist bump. Good job, you guys.

Narrator: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, AFT, The Emily Hall, Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Shull Elementary School, Bonita Unified School District, and the Los Angeles County Office of Education. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Kimberly Schneider: This is Reading Universe.

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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.

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Kimberly Schneider: Before I put silent 'e' right here, who can tell me? What does that word say? Nicole? What does it say?

Nicole: Hop.

Alright, everybody say, hop.

Students: Hop.

Kimberly Schneider: Hop. Put out your arm. Tell me the sounds.

Students and Ms. Schneider: /h/, /ŏ/, /p/. Hop.

Kimberly Schneider: Good job. But if I add a silent 'e', that's no longer an /ŏ/. It's an /ō/. Do you already know what that says? Okay, Sophia, what does it say?

Sophia: Hope.

Kimberly Schneider: Everybody say hope.

Students: Hope. Hope.

Kimberly Schneider: Ooh. Let's do this one. What does my word say without the silent 'e'? What does it say?

Sophia: Kit.

Kimberly Schneider: Everybody say, kit.

Students: Kit. Kit.

Kimberly Schneider: But when I have silent 'e', he makes that 'i' stand up tall. Say its name. You already know what it says. Nicole, what does it say?

Nicole: Kite.

Kimberly Schneider: Kite. Very good.