Four word pairs open this 1st grade phonics practice on silent e: cap and cape, kit and kite, cub and cube, pin and pine, each with a picture. Students then add e to tap, can, tub and bit and write tape, cane, tube and bite on the lines. The last task is a sentence to read and draw, "The snake ate the big cake." The sheet runs 4 pages and matches Common Core RF.1.3c. Its answer key lists the four new words and describes the expected drawing.
RF.1.3c
“Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.”
Read and Compare and Add the Magic E, eight words where final e makes the vowel long.
RF.1.3b
“Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.”
Decoding the short partners cap, kit, cub, pin, tap, can, tub and bit, and big in the drawing sentence.
Students read four picture pairs, such as a baseball cap next to a superhero cape, and hear the vowel change to its name.
Tap, can, tub and bit each get an e. Pictures of sticky tape, a walking cane, a plastic tube and a dog biting an apple show the new word.
Students read "The snake ate the big cake." and draw it in the box. Big keeps its short vowel, so the sentence mixes both sounds.
Tape, cane, tube and bite, plus what the drawing should show.
Right after the mini-lesson
As soon as you teach magic e, have the class read the four pairs chorally. Point to cap and cape in turn so students hear the a change.
Explain the cane
Can to cane is the pair students miss, because a walking cane is not a familiar object. Show a real one or act it out first.
Drawing as a check
A glance at the drawing tells you who decoded the whole sentence. A snake with no cake points to a student who stopped at ate.
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