Free printable silent e — long a phonics worksheets. Four practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, and rapid naming chart.
Grade: 1stPhase 3: Long Vowels & Silent EPattern: a_e (magic e / silent e making long A)
cakemakebakelaketakenamegamecamemadelategatedate
1 Decodable Reading Passage
A short, decodable story embedding silent e — long a words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
Jane's Safe Mix
Skill: Silent E — Long A • Sight Words: the, is, a, and, to, was, it, she, he, they, said, have
Coloring page included in PDF
Jane had a plan to make a cake. The date was for her mom. Jane got the cake mix, but the bag had a rip. A gush of wet stuff came from the sink and made a big drip! "Oh no!" said Jane. "I must save the cake mix. I must make it safe." Jane had a good plan. She got a fat block of tape. She put a strip of tape on the rip to close it. The cake mix was safe from the big drip. "Now I can bake the cake," she said. Jane was glad she could make the late cake for her mom.
Circle or highlight all the silent E words where the A says its name (long A sound). How many did you find?
Cut out the word cards and sort them into the correct columns: Short A (CVC) vs Long A (a_e).
Short A (CVC)
Long A (a_e)
cake
cat
make
mat
bake
bat
lake
lap
tape
tap
cape
cap
name
nap
game
gap
cave
can
wave
wag
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3 Phrasing Practice Cards
Practice reading these phrases for fluency. Cut out the cards and read them quickly and smoothly.
race to the lake
made a cake
Jake and Kate
gave her a cape
a safe cave
came to the gate
he was late
a name tag with tape
a brave wave
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4 RAN Chart (Rapid Naming)
Read each word in the grid as quickly as you can. Time yourself and try to beat your best time!
Decodable RAN Chart — Silent E — Long A
cake
cake
gate
make
cake
lake
lake
lake
wave
make
gate
make
wave
gate
wave
cake
Target words: cake, lake, make, gate, wave
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5 Word Search
Find and circle the silent e — long a words hidden in the grid. Words go across, down, and diagonally — a fun way to reinforce silent e — long a word recognition.
Silent E — Long A Word Search
K
Z
L
Z
Q
C
X
F
P
X
E
X
A
V
G
M
A
T
I
O
M
E
K
B
G
G
Z
K
D
R
D
R
E
A
A
I
A
M
E
K
N
H
S
K
P
I
E
T
B
M
N
S
M
E
F
J
B
F
E
G
D
J
M
A
M
T
B
N
C
A
A
K
O
U
D
A
A
K
A
M
T
N
A
M
E
E
K
K
M
E
E
R
W
G
L
A
T
E
E
R
BAKECAKECAMEDATEGAMEGATELAKELATEMADEMAKENAMETAKE
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📖 Decodable Readers for Silent E — Long A
Next step: once your child can sound out these words, have them read a matching decodable mini-book. Each Silent E — Long A reader is a printable story + coloring page using only sounds they've learned.
The silent e, or "magic e," at the end of a word is a crucial first-grade phonics concept, signaling that the preceding vowel now says its long sound. Specifically, we're focusing on a_e, where the 'a' says its name, as in "cake" or "make." This pattern often follows CVC words in the learning sequence, creating a common point of confusion for young readers who might initially pronounce "cake" as "cak" or "made" as "mad." The 'e' is not silent because it’s ignored; rather, it actively transforms the short 'a' sound into a long 'A' sound, a subtle yet powerful rule that requires explicit teaching to prevent mispronunciations like "tap" instead of "tape," or "cap" instead of "cape."
These worksheets provide targeted practice for the a_e pattern. Begin with the decodable passage, "Jane's Safe Mix," encouraging students to identify and underline all the words with the long A silent e pattern, such as "safe," "made," and "late." Next, utilize the word sort activity to categorize words like "cake," "bake," and "lake," reinforcing the visual pattern. The phrasing cards help build fluency by grouping words into meaningful units, practicing phrases like "gave a wave" or "name of the game." Finally, the Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) chart for a_e words builds speed and accuracy, helping students automatically recognize words like "date," "gate," and "cave" without hesitation.
