Education resources for parents and teachers
Looking for tips and tricks for teaching magic e words? We've got over fifty free printables! Silent e words, sometimes called magic e words, can throw new readers for a loop. They've finally got the hang of CVC words (such as hat) and CCVC words (such as trip), and then we expect them to change up the vowel sounds. How can we help our young readers make sense of magic e words? We like to begin with Fold and Read ... Read More
After spending a lot of time on CVC words and blends, we're finishing up our work with silent e words. I'm not big on worksheets, so we didn't start with them. We began with these fold and read cards. They're super easy to print and prepare, and they're a great learning tool for kids to see how short vowel words become new words when you add an e. Another favorite activity is our four in a row games. This follow ... Read More
Check out our fun collection of letter Y activities! My Three and I are almost done with our Letter of the Week activities. Take a peek at our week! (Update: I published this post years ago when my children were young. Now that I have more time, I've created a done-for-you alphabet curriculum perfect for preschool!) My Three knows all his letters and sounds, so this kind of page is no longer necessary to help with ... Read More
Yay! We're at the last of our Four in a Row reading games for silent e words! This is a small set for u-e words. There just aren't many words that fit this category, so I included just two games in the download. My Three chose red and green Do-a-Dot markers for us to use as we played this game. (Christmas will be here soon!) We took turns reading words and dotting them with our markers - trying to be the first to ... Read More
Hurray! We're nearly at the end of our free reading activities for silent e words. My goal was to get these printables created and the posts scheduled before baby #6 made its appearance. While truthfully I'd rather have had the baby by now, I'm also thankful for the extra time it's given me. :) All my Follow the Path silent e games follow the same pattern. Simply grab some playing pieces (we like these transparent ... Read More
Looking for letter X activities? It's a tricky letter to teach, but we've got some fun activities! Every time we do letter X activities, I groan to myself. Why is X even a letter? Couldn't we just use "ks" and be done with it? (Update: I published this post years ago when my children were young. Now that I have more time, I've created a done-for-you alphabet curriculum perfect for preschool!) My Three knows his ... Read More
This is just a quick post to give you our last installment of free fold and read cards for silent e words! This is just a small set, as there are very few short u words that can be changed into a new word by adding an e. Don't worry - we also have free games and worksheets that reinforce all the other u-e words. Simply print and cut out the strips. Have your child read the short vowel word. Then he ... Read More
Looking to see if your child has mastered o-e words? Try this free worksheet pack! Today I've got a set of ten free worksheets for practicing short o and o-e words. But first - my standard disclaimer! Worksheets do not teach. They test. Please be sure that you've done a lot of hands-on learning before doing these worksheets with your child or students. And no worries - I've got lots! (And they're all free!) Fold ... Read More
Time for another game to practice o-e words! Our follow the path games are a big hit with my kindergartner (as long as he wins!). I like that they are quick to print and play. In this set of games, we took turns trying to be the first to move our playing piece from the bear to the hive. We like to use these colorful counters as playing pieces because they fit perfectly on the game board. Plus, they're ... Read More
We've been working on o-e words at our house. Here's a fun, no prep game! I've shared a giant collection of phonics games and worksheets over the past few years. This game is part of a big collection of silent e games. Whenever I tell my Five that we'll be doing learning games after morning kindergarten, he asks, "Will we play Four in a Row?" It's his favorite reading game. Mine, too! To play, simply take turns ... Read More
