Free printable silent e — long u phonics worksheets. Five practice activities: decodable passage, word sort, phrasing cards, rapid naming chart, and word search.
A free illustrated mini-book for Silent E — Long U, plus the same story as a passage sheet for highlighting.
A full-color picture book your student reads on their own. Skill: Silent E — Long U. Print, cut and staple.
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Trent went on a long hike to the big pond. He wanted to catch a huge fish for lunch today. Trent took his new lure out of a box. The lure looked like a cute green frog. He hoped it would trick a big fish.
Trent sat on a rock by the pond and held his pole. The rule was to sit still. He did not yell or jump so the fish would not swim away.
Trent sat for a long time. He started to hum a nice tune in the sun. Then, his line had a big pull! The fish pulled on the line like a mule. Trent stood up to pull it in. The big fish put up a fuss, but Trent held on and did not let go. It was a huge bass, and Trent had a fine lunch by the pond.
When u is followed by one consonant and an e, the u says /ū/ as in cube or /oo/ as in flute.
Print it full size for the wall, or smaller for a phonics notebook.
The words this story set practices, in the two groups used by the word sort.
cube, tube, cute, mute, huge, fuse, muse, rude, dude, dune, tune, rule, flute
zube, vute, jume, pune, gude, bluke, mube
Silent e long u words to read, match and write, with pictures. Each PDF has its answer key on page 2.
The sheets above are free. The pack is every sheet for a_e, i_e, o_e and u_e, soft c and g, y as a vowel and the all, old and ind words in order, with all the answer keys, ready to print.
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4 ready-to-print PDFs for this story's silent e — long u words. Each one opens as its own file.
Cut-apart word cards to sort: Real Words or Nonsense Words. Answer key on page 2.
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A new decodable story with the same silent e — long u sounds — each comes with its own set of worksheets.
The silent e, or magic e, pattern for long U (u_e) is a crucial step in first-grade phonics, following mastery of short vowels and CVC words. Young learners often find this pattern tricky because the 'e' at the end of words like "cube" or "cute" doesn't make a sound itself but transforms the short 'u' sound into its long counterpart. Without the silent 'e', "cut" sounds very different from "cute," and "tub" from "tube." A common error is for children to mispronounce u_e words with a short 'u' sound, saying "cub" instead of "cube," or "hug" instead of "huge," because they are still relying on their earlier CVC knowledge. Emphasizing that the final 'e' is silent but powerful in changing the vowel sound is key to unlocking these words. To effectively practice the u_e pattern, these worksheets provide a structured approach. Begin with the word sort, guiding children to group words like "flute," "brute," and "prune" by their shared long U sound, reinforcing visual recognition of the u_e pattern. The decodable passage, "Jane's Huge Fort," specifically integrates these target words, allowing children to apply their decoding skills in context. Encourage them to highlight or circle the u_e words as they read. Use the phrasing cards to build fluency, having students read phrases like "a cute mule" or "play the tune" with correct pronunciation and intonation. Finally, utilize the Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN) chart to build quick recognition of u_e words, helping them instantly identify "duke," "lure," and "pure" without hesitation.
For more early literacy resources, explore our sight word flashcards, tracing worksheets, handwriting worksheets, and coloring pages.
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