When to Use EE and EA Phonics Sorting Practice Activity

Ever wonder why some words have “ea” and others have “ee”? You’re not alone! Teaching the difference between “ea” and “ee” can be tricky because there aren’t many hard and fast rules. But don’t worry—practice is the key to mastering these vowel teams, and I’ve got a free printable, fun phonics ee and ea activity to help your first grader learn the difference!

Phonics EE and EA

We’ve got a fun phonics activity to help grade 1 students work on phonics ee and ea words. This is such a handy way to practice because it is hard to tell what spelling to use with ee ea phonics words. Let us break down these two vowel teams and then share some ea phonic words and ee phonic words to make it clear. Whether you are a parent, teacher, or homeschooler – you will love this free printable phonics game to make learning simple and fun!

Plus don’t miss how to teach phonics step by step, lots of free language arts worksheets, and apple ei words worksheets

ee ea Phonics

Start by scrolling to the bottom of the post, under the terms of use, and click on the text link that says >> ________<<. The pdf file will open in a new window for you to save freebie. This activity contains twenty-three pages.

Understanding the Difference Between ‘ea’ vs ‘ee’

First, let’s break down the basics:

phonics ea

The ‘ea’ combination can make different sounds, but the most common pronunciation is the long ‘e’ sound, as in the words bead, seat, and leaf. “Ea” typically shows up in the middle of a syllable (like in “beach” or “teacher”) but can also be at the end of syllables, as in “season” or “reason.”

ea Phonic Words

• Here are some examples of when /ea/ phonics sound makes a long e sound: eat, heat, meat, seat, beak, weak, peak, leak, cheap, neat, cream, dream, steal, east, clean, mean, season, heater, leader, beans, please, beak, leaf, neat, peach, grease, sea, meal, ear, real, team, seal, leap, beam, eager, eagle, freak, yeast, steal

• Here are some examples of when /ea/ phonics sound makes a short e sound: dead, head, bread, read, heavy, breath, spread, thread, tread, feather, leather, weather, breakfast, pleasant

ee Phonic Words

The “Ee” spelling can appear in the middle (like in “meet” or “feet”) or at the end of a syllable, as in “bee” or “nominee.”

When to use ee or ea

Preparing the Sorting Activity

• Print off the picture sort pages on cardstock for durability.
• Cut out the baskets and apples and laminate them for extra strength.
• Grab a pencil and print off the note-taking page if you want your child to practice spelling the words too!

How to Play the ‘ea’ vs ‘ee’ Picture Sort Game

• Have your child pick an apple with a picture on it
• You’ll say the word that goes with the picture (don’t worry, the names of the pictures are included on the direction pages)
• Your child will then decide if the word contains “ea” or “ee” and place the apple in the correct basket.

Extra Practice: Spelling the ‘ea’ vs ‘ee’ Words

If you want to take it a step further, have your child write the word on the provided sheet after placing the apple in the basket.

This activity is best done after you’ve taught the “ea” and “ee” vowel teams separately. It’s a fantastic way to reinforce what they’ve learned and help them become more confident readers and spellers.

Vowel Activities

You have probably already talked about vowels, but let’s start by reminding kids that their are two different kinds of letters – consonants and vowels. Every word needs a vowel, they are the sticky glue that hold the consonants together to make words. English vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y. Each of these letters have a long sound where they say their name and a short sound. This leap frog talking words factory video was helpful for kids learning their vowels as were these activities:

• Short Vowels – Short Vowel Worksheets, printable short Vowel Bingo game, Short Vowel Printables, Jump Short Vowel Games printable, printable boards short vowel games, Missing Vowel Worksheets clip cards activity, secret cvc words activity, airplane cvc words worksheets, free cvc puzzles, crayon cvc words activity, monster cvc activity, peter pan cvc coloring pages, cooking up cvc rhyming words worksheet, cvc crack the code worksheet, free middle sound activities, sound out cvc words with pictuers pdf
• Long Vowels – Cut and Paste Long Vowel Worksheets, fun Long Vowel Games, free Long A Worksheets, free Long a sound words clip cards, Long a sound words worskheet pdf, printable long e games, free long i worksheets, free long o sound words clip cards, Long U Vowel Words Activity clip cards
• A Vowel – Short a cvc words cut and paste booklet, Short a printable books, printable cvc short a words booklet
• E Vowel – short e cvc words cut and paste booklet, cvc short e words booklet
• I Vowel – cvc cut and paste short i cvc words, spelling short i words activity, short i words cvc books for kindergarten pdf, bunny short i words activity, cvc short i words booklet
• O Vowel – cut and paste short o worksheets, printable cvc short o words booklet
• U Vowel – cut and paste short u cvc worksheets booklet, cvc short u words booklet
• Cut and paste long and short vowels worksheetss pdf , free Long and Short Vowel Activity puzzles, Irregular vowels activity, Fall Vowel Coloring Pages, Spring Vowel worksheets for grade 1, Simple recognition vowels art andcraft, dot marker long and short vowel cvce worksheets, and long and short vowels puzzles
• Plus tons of cvc activities and worksheets

Phonics EE and EA Activity

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> Apple Sorting EE and EA sound Words <<