If you have spent some time learning about letters, you already know that letters love to make their sounds. B loves to say “buh,” D’s sound is always “duh,” M says “Mm…” You get the idea.
You might not know that letters are very good friends with each other. They love to run around and play together. When they form groups in certain ways, they can make words. Making words is one of their most favorite things to do because not only do they get to make their sounds, but they also get to do it with their friends. Making sounds AND playing with friends at the same time! What could be better for letters?
You probably also know that vowels are special because they can make more than one sound. But vowels didn’t always know that. In fact, the vowels used to be a little shy and only wanted to make short, gentle sounds.
That all changed when Strong Silent E came to play one day.
The day started off like any other day at Letter Park. The letters were having a lovely morning, running and playing. All around, the sounds that letters make could be heard. “B!” said B. “D!” shouted D. The wind carried their sounds through the fresh park air and every letter could hear how happy their letter friends were.
“Hey, M, come over here!” shouted P. “Come play with me and A !”
M ran over and stood at the front of the line.
“Map!” They all said together. “Yay! We made a word!” They all cheered.
“Can I play?” asked C.
“Sure! Take my place!” said M.
“Yay! Cap! We made another word!” The letters cheered.
Then a strange thing happened. An E walked into the park. He didn’t look like the other E’s.
This E looked very strong. All the other letters paused in their playing. “Hi!” said some of the letters. “How are you on this fun day?” The E didn’t say anything. It just gave a big smile and thumbs up. Then Strong Silent E walked over and joined C, A, and P. As Strong Silent E passed by, it paused to give A a high five. Then Strong Silent E continued to the end of the line.
It made A, who had always been shy, suddenly feel a little braver. Friends can do that sometimes.
“Oh, you want to make a word?”said C. “Great idea! I’ll go first!” C cleared its throat.
“Cape!” The rest of the letters said together.
“We made a different word! That was cool!” said C. “And it was all because your sound changed, A! How’d you do that?”
“Yeah, A, how’d you do that?”all the letter friends asked.
A shrugged. “I’m not sure! I just felt like it when that E was down there at the end.” A smiled at Strong Silent E.
Pretty soon all the other vowels wanted to play with Strong Silent E.
With Strong Silent E around, the word “hop” became “hope,”
“tot” became “tote,”
and the vowels had the best time of all as they tried their new sounds.
Then the vowels realized something amazing. They could help each other make their new sounds even without Strong Silent E there! They were still a little shy, so they didn’t want to stand too far apart. But if two vowels stood right next to each together and one of them would agree to be the silent one, the other could make a new, stronger sound!
“Ok, this time you make your stronger sound, okay, O?” A said. “I’ll stand here but I won’t say anything.”
And just like that, “bot”
was joined by A,
O felt brave enough to say “OH!” and the word became “boat.” It worked!
I ran to join its friends in “pal”
to make A say its new sound to make “pail.”
“This is amazing! We can make all these new, fun words now!” The vowels said. “Thanks for showing us, Strong Silent E!”
Strong Silent E still didn’t say anything, but it did smile and give each of them a high five.
That’s how the vowels learned they could make more than one sound. There are more stories of other letters who realized they could change their sounds by standing with certain friends. But those stories will be told another time.
This story was about those strong, silent vowels- especially Strong Silent E, who started the whole thing by standing at the end of a word and encouraging its vowel friends to be a little louder and a little braver.