Magic E Pop It Center

Did you know that the magic E has SEVEN different jobs? Yep, it’s true! And learning them makes it SO MUCH easier to help students read because you can finally explain the rules behind spelling patterns.

See the seven different silent E rules below and then snag a copy of a playful magic E pop it center your students will beg to repeat.

Confession: When I first started teaching, I talked A LOT about rule breaker words. I’d say things like:

“Today’s sight word is have. That’s a rule breaker!”

And “Oh, that’s exciting! You found another rule breaker: give.”

It’s no wonder that it was so hard for many of my students to learn how to read – I gave them a growing pile of “rule breaker words” and encouraged them to just memorize the list. That would have been tough for anyone!

But here’s the thing…

I was wrong.

96% of English words actually DO follow the rules – including the words have and give!

And once I learned those rules, I was able to teach them to my students.

And THAT meant they could start reading and spelling 96% of English words too.

Talk about game changing!

Magic E’s 7 Different Jobs

When a silent E is added to the end of a word, it is doing one of SEVEN different jobs:

1. The E makes the vowel before it say its name. Ex. cane and bake
2. E makes C say /s/ and G say /j/. Ex. fence and age
3. An E prevents a word from ending with V. Ex. give and have
4. The E is often added to prevent a word from ending with S. Ex. house and moose
5. Since every syllable in English MUST have a vowel, E is added when a syllable has just an L. Ex. turtle and puddle
6. An E is added to TH to make it a voiced sound. Ex. bathe and clothe (versus bath and cloth)
7. E can also be used to help distinguish between similar words. Ex. bye versus by

Magic E Pop Its

Learning phonics rules like these ones make it SO MUCH easier to help students learn to read because you can finally explain the rules behind spelling patterns.

And since I love empowering you to teach your students helpful phonics rules, I pulled together this playful Magic E Pop It center!

To play, your students will sound out each magic E word and then add the silent E in the last box to make the middle vowel say its name like this:

Grab Your Set

Are you excited to give these magic E pop its a try with your students too?? Snag your set below and then request your invite to The Reading Roadmap so you can get the easy-to-use system for reaching EVERY reader in class.