Silent E (VCe) Pattern Drill
Read and spell words following the vowel-consonant-silent-e long vowel pattern.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Read the pairs together and ask what changed. Cap and cape differ by one letter and by an entire vowel sound, and hearing them back to back is the whole lesson. Then run it in reverse: give a long-vowel word and ask which letter to remove. Ten minutes covers the fourteen pairs with both directions.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and wait 3 seconds for the student to read it.Log as correct
- Point to itPoint to the letter pattern that matters, or tap under each sound.Log as cued
- Sound it outSay the first sound together, then let the student blend the rest.Log as cued
- ModelRead it, tapping each sound; the student reads it after you.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer cards and start with the patterns the student already reads.
Read the words in a sentence, or spell them from dictation.
Matching IEP goal
Given decodable word cards, Student will read the target pattern accurately in 8 of 10 words across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Fourteen pairs where one letter changes the whole word: cap and cape, tap and tape, kit and kite, bit and bite, hop and hope, not and note, cub and cube, tub and tube, man and mane, pin and pine, rob and robe, cut and cute, rid and ride, mad and made. The e at the end says nothing and changes the vowel in the middle, which is one of the most powerful patterns in English.
What to listen for
Watch for the e being pronounced. Cape read as cap-ee means the child has the letter and not the rule, which is a specific and common error. Notice whether the rule transfers to a word they have not seen — that is the difference between memorising fourteen pairs and having the pattern.
Carrying it home
Adding an e to a three-letter word is a game that takes seconds. Asking what happens if you add an e to hop, and letting the child hear hope appear, is more memorable than any explanation.
What's in this activity
- cap → cape
- tap → tape
- kit → kite
- bit → bite
- hop → hope
- not → note
- cub → cube
- tub → tube
- man → mane
- pin → pine
- rob → robe
- cut → cute
- rid → ride
- mad → made
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First and second, as core phonics work on vowel patterns.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, all fourteen pairs play free.
- Is the silent e rule reliable?
- For these words, entirely, and it covers a very large number of common ones. The exceptions — have, give, come — are worth teaching separately rather than letting them undermine the pattern.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.