Welcome back to Read Not Guess. Today we’re going to work on some two-syllable Magic E words and then give your son or daughter a short decodable story to practice.
Both parent and child will need to be able to see the screen.
Let’s get started.
Word Practice
Today let’s make it a bit tougher by working on two-syllable words with a Magic E. Have your child point to the letters as they sound out these words:
pan cake
pancake
Did they get it right? Have them keep blending it faster until they are reading the word "pancake" correctly. Let’s do some more:
sun shine
sunshine
And:
up date
update
And:
ex cuse
excuse
And:
milk shake
milkshake
Now let’s try some where the Magic E is kind of hidden inside the word:
base ment
basement
And:
smoke stack
smokestack
And:
hope less
hopeless
Decodable Story
To help your child practice these skills, see if they can read this story, adapted from Open Source Phonics.
Riding Bikes

Sam woke up with a smile. There was no school today.
And she was going to go on a bike ride with Meg.
They had made plans to meet at ten. But at nine, Meg rang. She told Sam she was sick and needed to rest.
After a long time sitting inside, Sam got up, grabbed her helmet, and left home.
She got on her bike. She rode to the park. She stopped by the swings and the slides.
Next, Sam rode up the big hill on Preston Drive. She kept pumping her feet.
She sped down the hill. Sam was glad she went for the bike ride by herself. It was way more fun than sitting at home.
If they read it smoothly, great! If they stumble, have them keep practicing until they can it smoothly.
That’s it for today. We’ll see you next time.