Silent E Stories: What Stage 5 Teaches and How to Read the Stories
Silent e, sometimes called magic e, is the pattern where a final e is silent and makes the vowel before it say its name: cap becomes cape, kit becomes kite. In The Decodable Readers Library, it is the whole focus of Stage 5: Magic E. This guide shows what that stage contains, with real titles and lines from the stories.
What Stage 5 teaches
| Pattern | Example words | Rule in kid language |
|---|---|---|
| a_e | make, cake, bake, game, late, safe, name, plate | The silent e makes a say its name |
| i_e | bike, kite, ride, time, five, hide, smile, white | The silent e makes i say its name |
| o_e | the o_e words in Max Digs a Hole and The Note Hunt | The silent e makes o say its name |
| u_e | the u_e words in Meg and the Flute | The silent e makes u say its name |
| e_e | the e_e words in Pete the Frog | The silent e makes e say its name |
| tch | witch, patch, catch, match, scratch, batch | tch comes right after a short vowel |
| dge | badge, judge, fudge, fridge, edge, ledge, hedge, dodge | dge comes after a short vowel and says /j/ |
New tricky words in Stage 5 are done, gone, love, once, other, mother, brother, friend, again and only. Pages in this stage run up to 28 words.
The 12 stories of Stage 5
- Sam Bakes a Cake (a_e)
- Kit Rides a Bike (i_e)
- Max Digs a Hole (o_e)
- Meg and the Flute (u_e)
- Pete the Frog (e_e)
- Max Can Fetch (tch)
- The Witch in the Patch (tch)
- Sam the Fudge Judge (dge)
- Kit and the Snake (a_e, with a brave twist)
- Pip Wins a Prize (i_e)
- The Note Hunt (o_e)
- The Cave Quest (mixed patterns, including dge)
A closer look at three stories
Sam Bakes a Cake
The story begins: Sam can bake a cake. He gets the pan. He gets the eggs. Sam mixes and mixes. Later: The cake is done! Sam puts the hot cake on a plate. He makes a big smile. The words to practice on the warm-up page are make, cake, bake, game, late, safe, name and plate. The parent tip says: "Sound out the a_e word: c-a-k-e. The e is quiet, and it makes the a say its name."
Kit Rides a Bike
It starts: Kit has a bike. Kit has a kite as well. The kite is white. Then: Kit ties the kite to the bike. Max sits in the bike basket. The warm-up words are bike, kite, ride, time, five, hide, smile and white. The tip: "Find the i_e words. The e at the end is silent, so i says its name."
The Witch in the Patch
This one covers tch: Meg is at the patch. Gran has a pumpkin patch. A witch appears, Meg runs to catch it with a net, and it turns out to be Gran in a hat. The warm-up words are witch, patch, catch, match, scratch and batch. The tip: "Tch comes right after a short vowel: witch, patch, catch."
How to teach silent e
- Contrast pairs. Show cap and cape, kit and kite, hop and hope. Ask what changed.
- Name the rule. "When a word ends in e and has one vowel before, the e is quiet and the vowel says its name."
- Mark the e. In the library, a grey letter with a dotted line is silent.
- Tap and slide. Treat the vowel-consonant-e as a unit: c-a-k-e is three sounds.
- Read the story twice. Once for accuracy, once for smoothness.
- Check with the word hunt. Find all the silent e words in the story.
Common stumbling blocks
| What you see | What to try |
|---|---|
| Reads cake as cack | "Find the e at the end. What does it do?" Compare cap and cape |
| Says the e out loud | "The e is a quiet helper. It does not make a sound." |
| Mixes tch and ch | tch only follows a short vowel. Show catch and much |
| Reads fudge with a /g/ | dge says /j/ and follows a short vowel. Show badge and judge |
| Stumbles on tricky words such as done | "This is a heart word. Let me tell you, now you say it." |
Where Stage 5 sits
Silent e comes after short vowels, digraphs and blends, because it needs a child to decode a base word first. It comes before vowel teams, because it has a single, reliable rule.
Before Stage 5, a child should read the Stage 4 list on the placement test at 9 out of 10. If your child scores 7 or 8 on the Stage 5 list, start at Stage 5, Story 1. If 6 or lower, begin at Stage 4.
For the earlier stages, read short vowel stories. For the order of everything, see the phonics scope and sequence. To see all nine stages, read decodable readers: the 9 stages, and for the tricky words that appear in this stage, see heart words by stage.