Reading 105: The Y rule

When you ask people what the vowels are they will say, "a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y". Well, I will argue that Y is always a vowel, even at the beginning of a word. It took me a while to buy into the fact that it's a vowel a the beginning, but after years of working with kids I am not willing to admit it.

Here's how the Y works in a ONE SYLLABLE WORD:

Beginning: the Y says "ee". This is a little funky but try it. If you say the "ee" sound before the word yes, you will see that the "yuh" sound you think is the Y is actually the "ee" sliding into the "e" sound. This is true with Y at the beginning because it is always followed by a vowel sound. Now, what if a kid tells me that Y says "yuh"? OK, it says "yuh", I don't really care unless he/she can't get it. This is for the people that can't get the sound at the beginning, it really works.

Middle: the Y acts like an I and says "i". You have with and myth. Identical except for the i/y. Obviously, I is much more common than the Y. This should be pointed out for spelling purposes. Since the Y is acting like a I, the E rule applies and will make it say "ie". Thyme, rhyme...

End: the Y says "ie". My, by, cry, sty, why...

Here's what a Y does in a TWO SYLLABLE WORD:

Same rules apply as above except for the ending. It is much more common for a Y to say "ee" at the end of a 2 syllable word than for it to say "ie". Happy, baby, crabby all say "ee". The Y does still say "ie" sometimes, like in the words apply, supply... For younger kids, "ee" is much more likely to come up in their reading.

You will also see a Y working WITH ANOTHER VOWEL sometimes:

AY says "ae" like in play and day. (see 2VGW rule)
OY like in the word boy or toy.

So there you have it, Y is always a vowel. Watch out for those last 2, AY and OY...Y is technically NOT at the end of the word by itself, it is working with the vowel in front of it. Woosh, no wonder it's so hard to learn to read!

Reading 102: 2VGW

"When 2 vowels go walking, the first one does the talking". Well, not really, but it sort of makes sense for some vowel combinations. First of all, "does the talking" means that the vowel will say its name. So when you see EA in a word it says "E", like in eat, neat, meat, team, cream. The problem is that it is misleading to think that it is true for all vowel combinations. Here are the only ones that I teach:

EE and EA say "E" (meet, meat)

OE and OA say "O" (toe, boat)

A-E, AI and AY say "A" (make, paid, play) *note: you won't see AE together in English words, they are usually separated by a consonant...see the "E rule".

So what about the other combinations? Think about it. I can't make the sounds here on the computer but I will give you examples.

AU and AW (taught, saw...the same as the short O sound like in not)

OO (has 2 different sounds...book and boot...did you feel your lips get rounder for the second one?)

OI and OY (boil, boy)

OU and OW (ouch, how) I teach this one first

OW (snow and grow...it sometimes says the name "O")

Spelling can be tricky. You will see W's and Y's at the ends of words (cow, boy), U's and I's in the beginning or middle of the word (out/pout, oil/soil). Is this always true? Of course not, we're talking about English here. (clown, town...those n's at the end are a tip off to use the ow)

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.