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The silent E makes a vowel says its name! Help your child remember this spelling pattern with these learning resources.

Segmenting is a reading technique to help first graders break apart the sounds in new words. One example of this would be segmenting the sound units in the word black (b/l/a/k). This can help early readers tackle new words on their own, boosting reading confidence. This guided lesson teaches kids how to segment words in order to improve overall reading fluency.

The short E sound, found in words such as leg, lemon and pen, is one of the most common vowel sounds in the English language, and one that first graders will often find in the texts they are learning to read. This lesson provides guided practice with the short E sound through targeted instruction and helpful examples. Check out our short E worksheets at the end of the lesson.

Having a strong understanding of short A words like bag, hand and bat can help first graders with reading fluency. This guided lesson helps to support first graders as they expand their comprehension of short A words. With targeted exercises and familiar examples, the lesson will take kids through the short A words they will most commonly come acrsoos in first grade texts.

In first grade phonics, it's important to reinforce kids' understanding of short O words like dolphin, dog, sock and doll. By learning short vowels, kids can decode and decipher these sounds in words they don't already know. This guided lesson takes first graders through exercises and examples that will help them practice identifying short O sounds within a text.

Some words are easily pronounced, such as cat, while others do not follow common rules of pronouciation and are more difficult for early readers to decipher. These are called sight words. This guided lesson provides kids with lots of examples of sight words, plus opportunities to practice what they have learned. When the lesson is finished, check out our accompanying sight words worksheets.

Understanding how to pronounce the short I sound, such as in pill and film, is important for first graders encountering words they don't know. This guided lesson teaches kids all about the Short I sound, and provides lots of examples of short I words. Targeted practice like this helps to reinforce kids' understanding of short vowel sounds and boosts phonemic awareness, upon which lifelong reading skills are based.

Knowing the patterns for pronouncing short U words, such as jump, mug and sun, can help kids decipher and decode new texts. This lesson provides guided instruction to teach kids how to say the short U sound, and gives lots of examples of short U words first graders will commonly encounter. For more practice with short U words, be sure to check out the accompanying worksheets.