Y vowel says E

I have a fun activity today to help you teach that the Y vowel says E.  It is perfect for thanksgiving time, but, you could do it at any time…here is how!  First, I brainstormed a list of words that begin that use y as a vowel and words in which y as a vowel says the long e sound.    These words included turkey, donkey, monkey, mommy, daddy, nanny, doggy, baby, bunny, funny, money, happy, candy.

Y makes the long e sound when it is used as a vowel in a word AND the word has more than one syllable.  Y makes the long I sound when it is used as a vowel and the word only has one syllable:  cry, fly, my, by, why, sky.  So, to teach Y as a vowel, make sure you are helping students clap out the syllables in the word.

In order to help students practice this concept, I created a worksheet.  Children can just read and count out the syllables, or they can write out the words, read, and count out the syllables.  For extra practice I ask the students to write any additionally words that use y as a vowel making the long e word.  You could also ask then to write words that have y making the long  i sound and then clap out the syllables for each to show them it say long i when there is one syllable and it says long e in two syllable words.  Mrs. Karle teaches the Y vowel making the long e and long i sound in her y phonics videos through her phonics reading program.  Additionally, teching the y makes the long e sound works nicely when teaching  day 102 of Mrs. Karle’s  learn to read for free program.  Y saying the long i sound is good for her Day 68 lesson.

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