Silent Elephant “e” Has to Disappear!
A smile brightens my face as I recall the day “Kimberly” excitedly shared her experience of teaching her class my phonics lesson about when and why Silent Elephant “e” has to disappear at the end of Silent Elephant “e” words when you add a suffix that begins with a vowel.
She beamed as she told me, “My teacher loved the Silent Elephant “e” puppet! She thought it totally made sense that you couldn’t make SILENT Elephant “e” talk by putting ‘two vowels walking’ next to each other when you add a suffix that begins with a vowel!”
You might be confused, so let me give you some examples. Let’s take the word “poke”. If you want to add the suffix -s which begins with a consonant, you can just add it on to the end of the root word to make “pokes”. The consonant “s” will not make “two vowels go walking”.
However, if you want to add the suffix -ed which begins with a vowel, you cannot just add it on the end of the root word as it will make “pokeed”. Then you will have “two vowels go walking” which will make Silent Elephant “e” have to “talk”.
If you want to add the suffix -ing which begins with a vowel, you cannot just add it on the end of the root word as it will make “pokeing”. Then you will have “two vowels go walking” which will make Silent Elephant “e” have to “talk”.
This sweet girl is now a 5th grader. She began tutoring with me in late October of her 3rd grade year. She was at an instructional 3rd grade reading level in word recognition but frustrated at a 1st grade reading level in comprehension.
She has dyspraxia. Dyspraxia is a chronic neurological condition where the wiring in the brain is mixed up. People with dyspraxia display different symptoms. Kimberly can easily find and remember details when she reads, but she was struggling putting the details together to make sense of sentences, paragraphs, and lengthy pieces of writing. She struggled to find the main idea in any piece of writing. The educational psychologist that diagnosed Kimberly told me that Kimberly would probably never catch up in reading comprehension.
After completing just 14 months of instruction with me using Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e”, last March during her 4th grade year, this bubbly, energetic little girl tested out at a 9th grade instructional reading level in word recognition AND comprehension using the Fleishman Oral Reading Inventory!
This is such a joyful example of the power of Silent Elephant “e” that teaches each child the way they learn. My heart sings knowing Kimberly is a successful reader. Her world has opened up for her.
The complete lesson plans for teaching the Silent Elephant “e” rules are in Part 7.
If you have further questions about partner work and the home-school connection in Silent Elephant “e”, feel free to contact us.