To understand why silent e is so hard for so many early readers, let’s first think about what we learn about letters and sounds.
1. Letters make sounds. In the word MAD, there are 3 sounds - one for each letter.
2. Each letter makes ONE sound. A is for Apple - it makes the short A sound.
3. Words are sounded out from LEFT to RIGHT. You sound out the letters in MAD from left to right: mmm, aeh, d.
Now let’s look at silent e. It breaks (well, changes) ALL of these rules! I’ll use the example word MADE, which was MAD before the silent e was added.
1. Letters make sounds. Silent e is, well, silent. There are 4 letters in MADE, but only 3 sounds.
2. Each letter makes ONE sound. Before, A was for Apple! Now, A is also for Ape.
3. Words are sounded out from LEFT to RIGHT. Silent e makes a previous letter make a sound. The E in MADE tells the A to switch from Short A to Long A. If you read MADE from left to right, you’ll use the wrong sound for A.
But wait! That’s written for adults. That’s a super useful way for some adults (particularly those who can already read) to understand why silent e is hard. But it is NOT a useful way for emerging readers to learn this hard concept. In fact, one of the most important core principles of ScribbleUp apps is that descriptions of rules aren’t good pedagogy. Our goal is to thoughtfully design the learning process around making the rules discoverable.
So if that’s the case – how can we use critical thinking, observation, and inquiry-based learning to introduce silent e? The best ways to teach silent e are by using audio and visual cues to help the reader start chunking together the affected vowel and the silent e. As well as visual cues to indicate that the e itself is less important - one way to do this is to put the silent e in grey.
My favorite way to do it with is with the app that I designed for this (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/long-vowels-with-silent-e/id1211313346) – but there are other great ways to do it if you don’t have the tech available. For instance, by printing manipulatives where the long vowels are connected to the silent e (free printouts coming soon!).