Lesson 7: Short e (ĕ) and Long e (ē)

[ANSWER KEY] Teacher Reference Guide

LESSON 7: Short e (ĕ) and Long e (ē) — Master Key

Answers, Phonics Analysis, Science of Reading & Dictation Script

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Answers to Phonics Analysis Questions (Bottom of Lesson) Official Solution

Question 1: Give the sound which e has in the words in the first column.
→ Answer: This is called the long sound of e, and is marked ē (IPA: /iː/ as in me, he, be, we).

Question 2: Give the sound which e has in the words in the second column.
→ Answer: This is called the short sound of e, and is marked ĕ (IPA: /ɛ/ as in met, end, lend, send, mend).

Word Study Analysis by Column (16 Target Words) Structure & Patterns

Col 1: Long e (ē)

Words: me, he, be, we

Pattern: Single-vowel open monosyllables. When a single vowel ends an accented syllable, it says its long name /iː/.

Col 2: Short e (ĕ)

Words: end, lend, send, mend

Pattern: -end family (closed syllable). Followed by the voiced nasal blend /nd/, keeping vowel short /ɛ/.

Col 3: Long e (ē)

Words: here, these, key, eve

Pattern: Split digraph e_e (these, eve), vowel team -ey (key), and vowel + r (here).

Col 4: Short e (ĕ)

Words: nest, rest, test, vest

Pattern: -est family (closed syllable). Syllable closed by sibilant blend /st/, yielding short /ɛ/.

Task 3: Teacher Dictation Script (Master Pronunciation & Order)

Administer the 16 words clearly in randomized order with contextual sentences to verify phoneme-to-grapheme mapping:

1. me (Listen to me.) 5. lend (Lend a hand.) 9. here (Come over here.) 13. nest (A bird’s nest.) 2. he (He is my friend.) 6. send (Send a letter.) 10. these (Look at these.) 14. rest (Take a rest.) 3. be (Be on time.) 7. mend (Mend the coat.) 11. key (Turn the key.) 15. test (Spelling test.) 4. we (We are glad.) 8. end (The end of day.) 12. eve (Christmas Eve.) 16. vest (A warm vest.)

Science of Reading: Acoustic & Articulatory Contrast of /ɛ/ vs. /iː/

• The Short e Phoneme (/ɛ/ - "breve" ĕ): Mid-front lax unrounded vowel. The tongue blade is relaxed in the mid-high front position. In closed syllables (-end, -est), the coda consonant stops vowel elongation.
• The Long e Phoneme (/iː/ - "macron" ē): High-front tense unrounded vowel. The tongue arches high toward the hard palate with facial muscle tension. Occurs in open syllables (me, he, be, we) and vowel-consonant-e structures (these, eve).

Instructional Steps & Scoring Rubric Scoring Guide (20 pts)

Activity	Instructional Focus	Scoring Points
1. Copy carefully	Handwriting posture, baseline alignment, correct ascenders (h, b, d, k, t) and descenders (y).	4 pts (1 pt per column).
2. Spell orally	Phoneme segmentation: say word → spell individual letters → blend word.	4 pts (Fluent oral recitation).
3. Dictation	Accurate phoneme-grapheme mapping from memory without visual copying.	8 pts (0.5 pt per word spelled correctly).
Phonics Questions	Accurate identification of long e (ē) for Col 1 and short e (ĕ) for Col 2.	4 pts (2 pts per question).