How to Teach the Long e to Young Kids

I am a certified teacher and have been tutoring young children for more than 30 years. I am sharing my experience in the tutorial business.

The word read has a long e sound.

The Long E:

I have already discussed the long a sound in my last hub. I will now discuss the long e sound. To make the lesson simple for the children I will concentrate on words with ea and ee.

These words have long e sound:

• bee
• see
• tree
• pee
• wee
• tee
• three
• fee
• meet
• feed
• seed
• weed
• need
• reed
• heed
• deed
• teeth

These words also have long e sound.

• bead
• pea
• tea
• read
• seat
• reap
• peal
• leap
• leaf
• gear
• heal
• meal
• meat
• heat
• neat
• real

The Rule:

The rule for all these words is: When e is with a or e, the sound of e is long.

Of course there is an exception to this rule because there are words with ea pronounced as short e such as the past tense of read, and the words dead, thread, death, dread, sweat, meant, wealth, wealthy, etc. But you are only teaching young kids so you don't have to confuse them by teaching all the rules and exceptions. They will learn about the other rules and words when they grow older.

Your main purpose here is to teach only the basic reading skills to the young kids.

Recommended Further Reading:

• How to Teach wh to Young Kids
  wh is a digraph that has the combination sound of h and w. So you blend the sounds and form one sound similar to that of a surprised person. Teach the kids to sound out the letters then blend them.
• How to Teach the Consonant Digraphs nk and ng
  Digraphs nk and ng are digraphs found at the end of words. Before introducing the words with nk and ng; remember to teach the children how to blend the letters to form a distinct sound.
• How to Teach the l blends to Young Kids
  When we put together two consonants, we form a sound called consonant blends. The l blends are initial blends because they are found at the beginning of the word like fl in flower and bl in black.
• How to Teach the R Blends to Young Kids
  The R blend is the contrast of the L blend so it is good if you pair both blends in the activity sheets that you let the children do. Contrast is a good way to teach the kids about word association.

Activities for Long Ee:

Flash Card Reading

Using flash cards to teach reading to young children is one of the effective ways of teaching reading. When you flash the words for the children to read, you are training them to visualize words. The eye movement as they read one word after the other will help them to read with speed. Consistent reading word after word will develop not only their reading speed but also their fluency and quick thinking.

Blackboard Reading

Blackboard reading has been used by teachers all over the world since the beginning of teaching and has been proven to be very effective. You write the words, phrases or sentences or even stories on the blackboard then you let the children read. You can use choral reading or individualized reading or both for more lesson enhancement.

Copying

Copying part of the lesson has a big advantage to the young kids. When children write words, phrases or sentences; there is an automatic response from them. Most children read as they copy. This response contributes to a more effective retention of the lesson.

Reading a Story

Reading a story is good for the beginner readers because this activity will enhance their reading skills. As much as possible, provide a short story with simple to read words so that the children can read the story and have fun.

Here's an example:

Activity Sheets for the Story:

Here are exercises that you can give the children for lesson enhancement about the story they have read.

Questions and Answer:

Fill in the Blank:

Fun Games

To make the lesson more interesting, create a game about the lesson that the children will enjoy while learning their lesson. You can utilize the other games that you have already introduced in the previous lessons. A few changes will make the game usable for this lesson you are teaching.

Art Time

Any art project that is related to the lesson about long e will be good for the children to do. Coloring can be a useful activity too. There are countless art projects that you can think of if you use your creativity as a teacher to young kids.

© 2013 Felisa Daskeo