Free printable silent e — long i phonics worksheets. Four practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, and rapid naming chart.
Grade: 1stPhase 3: Long Vowels & Silent EPattern: i_e (magic e / silent e making long I)
bikehikelikekitebitehideridesidewidelineminepine
1 Decodable Reading Passage
A short, decodable story embedding silent e — long i words. Students read the passage then highlight all the target words.
Mike's Kite Rescue
Skill: Silent E — Long I • Sight Words: the, is, a, and, to, was, it, she, he, they, said, have
Coloring page included in PDF
Mike had a nice new kite. He liked to see it dive and glide. He took his bike for a ride to a wide, flat space by a tall pine. The kite went up, up, up! But then a big gust struck. The kite spun and fell. It was stuck up in the side of the pine trunk. "Oh no, it is mine!" Mike said. He tried to go up, but the trunk was too slick. Then, Mike saw a long vine. He gave the vine a big tug. He tossed the vine up. It took him five tries, but one toss was just right. The kite came down and slid down. "Yes!" Mike yelled. He gave a big smile.
Circle or highlight all the silent E words where the vowel says its name (long sound). How many did you find?
Cut out the word cards and sort them into the correct columns: Real Words vs Nonsense Words.
Real Words
Nonsense Words
bike
hike
like
kite
bite
hide
ride
side
wide
line
smile
mibe
tine
pive
fibe
dife
gipe
nive
rike
zine
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3 Phrasing Practice Cards
Practice reading these phrases for fluency. Cut out the cards and read them quickly and smoothly.
the bike on hike
a hike in like
the like and kite
a kite with bite
the bite on hide
a hide in ride
the ride and side
a side with wide
the wide on line
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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 I
time
bike
vine
bike
bite
vine
bite
bite
wide
bike
time
wide
vine
bike
time
wide
Target words: bike, bite, wide, vine, time
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5 Word Search
Find and circle the silent e — long i words hidden in the grid. Words go across, down, and diagonally — a fun way to reinforce silent e — long i word recognition.
Silent E — Long I Word Search
I
X
S
X
E
Y
P
Q
Z
P
Q
J
I
M
K
I
T
E
E
W
V
D
D
M
I
N
E
E
V
I
W
Q
E
X
H
B
X
Q
K
D
J
K
S
H
J
I
I
T
T
E
X
O
R
P
B
N
D
T
D
F
T
D
I
L
I
I
E
E
E
H
G
B
D
L
I
N
K
C
S
I
W
O
E
C
B
K
E
E
H
K
Y
L
I
N
E
A
E
R
V
E
BIKEBITEHIDEHIKEKITELIKELINEMINEPINERIDESIDEWIDE
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📖 Decodable Readers for Silent E — Long I
Next step: once your child can sound out these words, have them read a matching decodable mini-book. Each Silent E — Long I reader is a printable story + coloring page using only sounds they've learned.
Understanding the i_e pattern is a crucial step in first-grade phonics, marking the transition from short vowel sounds to long vowels. This "silent e" rule is often introduced after students have mastered short vowels, CVC words, and consonant digraphs. The challenge for young learners lies in recognizing that the "e" at the end of words like "bike" or "time" isn't pronounced but changes the preceding "i" from its short sound (as in "bit") to its long sound (as in "bite"). Students might initially try to pronounce the "e," saying "bik-eh" instead of "bike," or they might revert to the short "i" sound, reading "hide" as "hid." Distinguishing "fin" from "fine" or "rid" from "ride" requires careful attention to the final "e" and its powerful influence on the vowel sound.
Our worksheets provide targeted practice for this i_e pattern. Begin with the decodable passage, "Mike's Kite Rescue," encouraging students to identify and highlight all the i_e words. After reading, use the word sort activity to categorize words based on their vowel sound, helping students visually distinguish short "i" from long "i" when the "e" is present. The phrasing cards are excellent for building fluency and prosody with i_e words and short phrases containing them, like "ride a bike" or "five dimes." Finally, the Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) chart allows for quick recall and automaticity practice with target words such as "mine," "pine," and "dive," reinforcing the correct long "i" pronunciation.
