Build pupils’ confidence with the ‘e’ grapheme and /e/ phoneme using our e phonics resources for Reception. Find worksheets, games and practical activities to support grapheme recognition, letter formation, blending and segmenting as pupils develop their early reading and spelling skills.
Choose activities for introducing ‘e’ during Phase 2, revisiting the grapheme or providing further practice with words containing /e/. Explore the full collection of Phase 2 phonics resources, or visit our main phonics resources page for teaching materials covering Phases 1 to 5.
During Phase 2 phonics, pupils learn to recognise the grapheme ‘e’ and connect it with the /e/ phoneme heard in words such as get, ten and pen. They practise spotting the grapheme in print, recalling the phoneme it represents and listening for /e/ in spoken words.
Clear pronunciation helps pupils hear /e/ accurately when blending and segmenting. Regularly moving between seeing the grapheme, saying the phoneme and applying it within words helps to make the correspondence increasingly familiar.
Our e phonics resources give pupils varied opportunities to practise and apply their learning. Activities can support pupils with:
Select resources for whole-class phonics sessions, small-group teaching, independent activities or additional practice. They can be used alongside your school’s chosen systematic synthetic phonics programme to reinforce the learning pupils are already doing.
With ‘e’ added to their growing bank of known graphemes, pupils can blend and read simple words such as get, ten, pen and men. Games, word-building activities and phoneme frames can encourage pupils to recognise each grapheme, recall its phoneme and blend the phonemes together from left to right.
The same knowledge can be applied when spelling. Pupils can segment a word into its individual phonemes before choosing the graphemes needed to represent them. Frequent practice with both blending and segmenting helps pupils use ‘e’ confidently in reading and writing.
Alongside recognising and reading ‘e’, pupils can practise forming the lowercase grapheme accurately. Tracing, guided writing, fine motor activities and multisensory practice provide repeated opportunities to learn the movement needed to write ‘e’ independently.
Find resources for other graphemes and early reading skills in our complete collection of Phase 2 phonics resources. You can also explore worksheets, games, lesson presentations and practical activities across Phases 1 to 5 on our main phonics resources page.
In Phase 2, pupils are introduced to ‘e’ as a grapheme representing the /e/ phoneme heard in words such as get, ten and pen.
