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You are here: Home / Homeschooling / Subject / Language Arts / A New Name for Silent "E"

Filed Under: Language Arts · Language Arts · Phonics · Reading Skills

A New Name for Silent "E"

Bossy E

Joely's been learning to read, so of course that means we've been talking about silent e words; but we don't actually call them silent e words.

We dubbed silent e with a new moniker three years ago when I was working with Jerah while she was learning to read. The term silent e wasn't as descriptive as I'd like, so I started calling it bossy e instead, specifically because it always "bosses" the vowels around, telling them, "Say your name!"

Interestingly, I used to think the idea of bossy e was original with me, but I shortly discovered that it was not. After we had been using the bossy e terminology for a while, I Googled bossy e and discovered that it had been thought of long before me; I just wish someone had told me about it before!

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Comments

  1. Brandi says

    December 10, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    Just came across this post– I home school,too, and my spelling program calls it the Strongman e. I love that you cally it bossy e, though!

    Brandi’s last blog post..Works For Me Wednesday: Couscous

    Reply
  2. ResourceQueen says

    January 11, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    Bob Jones phonics has a Bossy R that bosses the vowels to change their sound in words like BORN and BARN. Great job tho, even if it wasn't completely original thought. Whatever works they always say!

    ResourceQueen’s last blog post..Inventory Reduction Sale!

    Reply
  3. Staci says

    March 3, 2010 at 11:07 am

    I started calling it "Super E", which adds some excitement to what he can do.

    Reply

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