Do your students look at you with confusion when you tell them they don’t have to pronounce the letter ‘e’ at the end of the word?

If so, our Four in a Row game will give them a chance to practice listening for long /a/ sounds followed by that trickster…

Silent ‘e’! 

Playing with Long a Silent e Words

Use this resource in your reading center, as a guided reading activity, or a whole class exercise (see below) to practice decoding long vowel with silent final ‘e’ in “a_e” words.

To play, students will read the word card and cover the matching object on their game board with a manipulative, attempting to cover four in a row.

Scaffolding + Extension Tips 

Challenge students who already understand the concept to produce rhyming words for each word on their game boards.

Support students who need help understanding the concepts by using an anchor chart or other visual reference to guide them.  

Get our 10 Best Scaffolding Strategies here! 

More Ways to Practice Long a Silent e Words

Use this resource as independent practice for fast finishers, and for full-class learning opportunities like scoot activities, lesson reviews, formative assessments, and more.

🔤 Alphabetical Ordering

After students finish the game, challenge them to put the word cards in alphabetical order. 

🪞 Match Me If You Can

In your guided reading group, give each student 3 cards that only they can see. Using the game board, go through each word one at a time, saying the word as a group. The student who has the word card lays it down face up. The first person to have all their cards face up wins. 

🃏 Upcycle into Playing Cards

Print off 2 sets of word cards! Students can play card games like Match It, Go Fish, or Snap to get even more practice reading a_e words. 

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Print on cardstock for added durability and longevity. Place all pieces in a folder or large envelope for easy access. 

Before You Download

Use the dropdown icon on the Download button to choose between the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource. 

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Don’t waste any more time looking for supplemental resources! Get everything you need for this lesson here: 

teaching resource

Final e BINGO - A_E

Decode final e words with the long a vowel sound using this set of 20 bingo game boards.

teaching resource

Long and Short Vowel Sort

A set of 40 sorting cards to practice long and short vowel sounds.

teaching resource

Phoneme Spotter Story – Long 'a' Sound

A decodable text featuring various graphemes that make the long 'a' sound.