Vowel Sounds Of The Letter Y

There are so many phonics rules! Amazingly, most of our little ones are able to break the code and become fluent readers. After students learn the letters and sounds of the alphabet, we kind of rock their world a bit by teaching them that certain letters can have different sounds depending on where they are in the word or by the letters that surround them. The letter “y” is one of those tricky letters. The “y” can be a consonant or a vowel.

Consonant or a Vowel?

The consonant sound of “y” is /y/ as in the word “yellow.”
Typically, “y” at the beginning of the word makes the consonant /y/ sound.

The “y” also has two vowel sounds.
Normally, in a one-syllable word the “y” at the end of the word makes the long “i” sound as in the following words: cry, fry, try.
Finally, in a two-syllable word the “y” at the end of the word makes a long “e” sound as in baby and city.
Using visuals such as posters or songs helps students remember phonics rules when reading and writing. When teaching the vowel sounds of “y” (first-grade skill), we often say that the “y steals the sounds of i and e.”

To download the Sounds of Y Poster can be downloaded for FREE in my online TpT store.

Sounds of Letter Y Word Sorts

Word sorting activities are really important for learning and practicing phonics skills. Students are able to see right away when a rule applies and does not apply to certain words. Here’s a file folder activity that I made to help our students learn to read words containing the vowel sound of y. File folder activities are great for either small group instruction or as independent literacy center activities. Simply place the templates on the file folder and laminate both the folder and words. The activity will last for years!