Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Reading 101: the E rule

"The 'E' at the end of a one syllable word is usually silent". I hate that rule. Although the 'e' usually doesn't really make a sound, it virtually always has a reason for being there. "Magic E" might be a better name for him. I don't know. I don't call him anything. (why is E a him?!) Here's what he does...

For beginning readers the E is usually making another vowel say it's name. Like in name, Pete, time, home, fume (AEIOU). Each time "the E jumps over the consonant, hits the vowel on the head and says, 'say your name in the alphabet!'" You won't see the E jump over for another E very often. They tend to stick together (feet, seem). On the other side, I don't know if you ever see AE together, the E always jumps over for that one (cake, tame). Sure, there are other ways to make a vowel say its name, or make the "vowel long" but that's another lesson for another day. Right now we're talking about that cool E at the end of a one syllable word.

Give and gave. In give the E doesn't make the I say it's name. In gave it does make the A say it's name. Why? No idea. What I do know is that "V doesn't like to be alone at the end of a word". You won't see it in English. That makes spelling easier, but reading harder.

Cheese and please. You don't need the E, the vowel sound is already long, right? Right. But what about that S? Isn't he supposed to say 'ssssssssss' like a snake? Yep. Often times if an S is followed by an E it will sound like a Z. So what about freeze? I don't know, someone went E happy.

Choice. E makes the C say SSSSSSS.
Dodge. E makes the G say JJJJJJJJ.

Of course there are "cheater" words out there. Hmmm, like there and where. They don't follow the rules. You know them, my favorite is "choir" (shouldn't that be spelled quire?). Kids love that. "Cheater". It means that the word is wrong, not them. In the lower grades many people call them sight words but that is often misleading. Cat and dog are not sight words, you can sound them out and they are phonetically correct. In my book (not an actually book), a sight word is something you can't sound out.

That's it for today. Magic E, Super E (for Justin), whatever you call him, he usually has a purpose.

1 comment:

April said...

Very cool. Its amazing how quickly we forget this stuff. I'm petrified of teaching Justin how to read. I did remember the magic e rule, but only because I interned in a fourth grade classroom and that's when I re-remembered it. English sucks! Teach me what you know and how to do it. I will be a sponge!