Teaching Reading Step 2 – Vowel Consonant e

At Reading Step 2, the student is ready to learn Vowel-Consonant-e words. This means that students have now mastered reading Closed Syllables, and now it is time to teach the long sound of the vowels which is the actual vowel names.  When a student goes from Reading Step 1 words to Reading Step 2 words, the rigor increases to a new level because now it includes reading both short and long vowels.  This can be a challenging point for students because it requires the student to distinguish between the two sounds of each vowel. Students move from having to know 5 vowel sounds to having to learn 10 vowel sounds.  Students teeter at this point in reading until they can efficiently read both vowels sounds for each vowel.

Something to keep in mind at this stage is that the Vowel-Consonant-e pattern is just one spelling pattern of the way long vowels are spelled, and it is the simplest long vowel spelling pattern there is.  There are other long vowel spelling patterns, and they will be taught in a later step when Vowel Digraph/Diphthong Syllable type is taught.  For now, only the Vowel-Consonant-e pattern should be taught.

My Vowel-Consonant-e packet [https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reading-Vowel-Consonant-e-Syllables-Unit-2-925244] includes 85 word lists that target most all the word family patterns such as -ade, -age, -ake, and many more patterns.  This way students are learning both the long vowel sounds along with their common patterns in which they appear.  In order for students to read accurately and fluently, they need to read and reread the lists.

When introducing Vowel-Consonant-e words begin by having students read simple word lists to familiarize them with the new vowel sounds.  These word lists can be printed using three options: just print out as is, print out and spiral word lists together, or print out and create a word lists booklet.  

While students are practicing reading these long vowel word lists, they should be reading books on Guided Reading Levels E-F. Also, students will want to continue rereading Guided Reading Levels C-D.

One thing to note for clarity is that Guided Reading Levels and Reading by the Six Syllable Types are two different reading approaches.  For example, while students are reading Vowel-Consonant-e words and Closed Syllable words [this syllable type is learned before Vowel-Consonant-e Syllables] these types of words are not the only words that appear in Guided Reading Leveled readers, but these two approaches can run side-by-side because the Guided Reading Levels do scaffold the length of the text and the difficulty of the text.

Therefore, while learning the syllable types in reading, students are basically learning 6 strategies that they can place in their toolbox to aid them in figuring out various words no matter on what level they are reading.  And on the flip side while following the sequential levels of Guided Reading, a teacher can gauge a student’s level, and also students will be building their vocabulary no matter what syllable type they are learning to read.

This way students are experiencing success as they move forward using both reading approaches [Syllable Types and Guided Reading Levels].  Instruction is being spiraled so that students won’t slide back in their reading skills, and students feel comfortable working on skills that are being reinforced thus building their confidence.

If you would like students to read books that are specific to the syllable type being taught, then Reading A-Z decodable books are a suggestion.  This way they would run parallel to teaching the specific syllable type be taught.  There are 68 of these decodable books.  Here is the link to view and download them: https://www.readinga-z.com/books/decodable-books/.

Students can play the following games that makes learning Vowel-Consonant-e fun.  These games are in my Vowel-Consonant-e packet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/15-V-C-e-Syllable-Activities-Games-1314772

Here are a few examples of the kinds of games that are in this packet.