New
New
Year 5

Other sounds represented by the letter string ‘ei’

I can spell a range of words using the letter string ‘ei’.

New
New
Year 5

Other sounds represented by the letter string ‘ei’

I can spell a range of words using the letter string ‘ei’.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There are many ways to spell the ‘ee’ sound, including ‘ee’, ‘ea’, ‘e-e’, ‘e’, ‘y’, ‘ey’, ‘ie’ and ‘ei’.
  2. The rule ‘i before e except after c’ can help choose between ‘ie’ and ‘ei’ when spelling ‘ee’.
  3. The letter string ‘ei’ can represent a range of different sounds, including ‘ay’.
  4. How to spell the curriculum words: height, eighth and foreign.

Keywords

  • Phoneme - the smallest unit of sound that can change a word's meaning

  • Grapheme - the letter or group of letters that represent a sound (the spelling)

  • Exception - a case or situation that does not follow the usual or expected rule or pattern

  • Letter string - a group of letters that are written together in a word

Common misconception

Pupils may think that the 'ei' spelling only represents the 'ee' phoneme.

Show a range of words with 'ei' representing different sounds. You can stretch and sound button to show the direct phoneme - grapheme correspondence.

It will help to quickly gloss all unfamiliar vocabulary explored in the lesson, as many words with the 'ei' spelling may be less familiar to pupils, such a 'rein', 'beige' or 'forfeit'.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match the words linked to the rule 'i before e, except after c'.
Correct Answer:retrieval,'i before e' words

'i before e' words

Correct Answer:perceived,'except after c' words

'except after c' words

Correct Answer:seized,exception to the rule words

exception to the rule words

Q2.
Match each word to the number of phonemes it contains.
Correct Answer:reins,4

4

Correct Answer:hay,2

2

Correct Answer:seismic,6

6

Q3.
Match the word to the representation of the 'ee' sound it contains.
Correct Answer:meet,ee

ee

Correct Answer:meat,ea

ea

Correct Answer:even,e-e

e-e

Correct Answer:she,e

e

Correct Answer:protein,ei

ei

Correct Answer:relief,ie

ie

Q4.
Select the words which contain the long vowel ee sound.
Correct answer: caffeine
diet
Correct answer: happily
eight
Correct answer: cheat
Q5.
Select the words which contain the long vowel ay sound.
Correct answer: eighty
park
Correct answer: veins
chief
please
Q6.
Select the homophones.
Correct answer: eight
eat
Correct answer: ate
tea

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the words linked to the rule 'i before e, except after c'.
Correct Answer:thieves,'i before e' words

'i before e' words

Correct Answer:receipt,'except after c' words

'except after c' words

Correct Answer:caffeine,exception to the rule words

exception to the rule words

Q2.
Select the correct spelling of the word.
purcieve
purceive
percieve
Correct answer: perceive
Q3.
Select the correct spelling of the word.
riseept
reciept
Correct answer: receipt
riceipt
Q4.
Select the correct spelling of the word.
proteen
protien
Correct answer: protein
Q5.
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence. Can you see the vayn in my arm?
Correct Answer: vein
Q6.
Correct the spelling of the word in bold in the sentence. A ‘dayitty’ is a god or goddess.
Correct Answer: deity

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