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Year 2 Alternative GPCs for long vowels worksheet

“Ay, ai or a-e?” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 2 English unit “Alternative GPCs for long vowels”, for children aged 6 to 7, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 4 to 8 of the year, 24 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Ay, ai or a-e?

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 2 · English · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can choose the right spelling for the ay sound, using where it sits in the word.

A Look back3 min

  1. 1.

    Circle the right spelling of jump with -ing added.

    jump
    jumpingjumppingjumpeing
  2. 2.

    Circle the two letters that make the first sound in ship.

    ip
    shsihiip
  3. 3.

    Circle the plural of cat.

    cat
    catscatzcattes

B Watch me, then you4 min

Priya writes about her day. She needs the ay sound in the word day. Where does the sound sit?

Watch me
day

Say the word slowly: d-ay.

The ay sound sits at the end of the word.

Ay likes the end, so day is spelled d-a-y.

Now you
  1. 1.

    A dog wags its t _ _ l. The ay sound is in the middle. Which letters fill the gap?

    tl
    aiaya-e

C Your turn8 min

Look at where the ay sound sits in each word. Circle the spelling that fits.

  1. 1.

    You go to the park to pl _ _ on the swings. Which spelling fills the gap at the end?

    pl
    ayaia-e
  2. 2.

    Water that falls from clouds is r _ _ n. Which spelling fills the gap in the middle?

    rn
    aiaya-e
  3. 3.

    You bake a c _ k _ for a birthday. Which spelling fills the two gaps?

    ck
    a-eaiay
  4. 4.

    Which word has the ay sound spelled ay, at the end?

    tr
    traytrailtrade

Say it out loud: Which spelling sits at the end of a word? Which sits in the middle? Which one has a letter between?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Ola says: “I spelled play as p-l-a-i. Ai is a spelling for ay, so it must be right.”
plai
  1. 1.

    Which spelling should play use at the end? Circle one.

    ayaia-e

E Think deeper4 min

Write a sentence about the picture. Use the words play and cake.

A sunny beach with a sandcastle, a kite and a picnic blanket with a cake on it
  1. 1.

    Write a sentence with play and cake in it. Start with a capital letter and end with a full stop.

How did it feel?

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StudyDen · Year 2 · English · Alternative GPCs for long vowelsAnswers are on the grown-up page

For the grown-up

Ay, ai or a-e? · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. jumping your child may have added an extra p. Jump already ends in two consonants, so just add ing with no change.

2. sh If your child circles si or hi, say ship slowly and ask which two letters are heard together as one sound.

3. cats If your child picks a word with extra letters, ask what one cat becomes when there are two. Add only s.

B

1. ai

C

1. ay If your child circles ai, ask where ai likes to sit. Ai likes the middle, so play needs ay at the end.

2. ai If your child circles ay, point to the middle of rain. Ay sits at the end of words, so rain needs ai.

3. a-e If your child circles ai, ask whether the a and e are next to each other in cake. They are split by the k, so it is a-e.

4. tray If your child picks trail, say it slowly. Trail has the sound in the middle, so it uses ai, not ay at the end.

D

1. ay If your child still picks ai, ask where ai sits in rain. It sits in the middle, so play ends with ay.

E

1. Look for: A sentence that uses the words play and cake, starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Words to use

Say“Where does the ay sound sit in this word: at the end, in the middle, or with a letter between?”
Instead of“Just tell them the spelling. Learning the position helps them choose the right one next time.”

After the sheet

Look at a cereal packet or a shop leaflet together. Find ay, ai and a-e words, then write them in three lists.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

23 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

  1. Spotting the 'ay' disguise(with a plan)
  2. Hidden ay sounds(with a plan)
  3. Spelling the ay sound(with a plan)
  4. Three ways to spell ee(with a plan)
  5. Three Ways to Spell 'ee'(with a plan)
  6. Hunting the ee sound(with a plan)
  7. Four ways to spell ee(with a plan)
  8. The igh and i-e spellings(with a plan)
  9. Two ways to spell igh(with a plan)
  10. Shape-shifting igh sounds(with a plan)
  11. Three igh spellings(with a plan)
  12. Three spellings for oh(with a plan)
  13. Three ways to spell oh(with a plan)
  14. Sneaky oh sounds(with a plan)
  15. Spelling the 'oh' sound(with a plan)
  16. Three ways to spell oo(with a plan)
  17. Three ways to spell oo(with a plan)
  18. Sneaky 'oo' spellings(with a plan)
  19. Spelling the 'oo' sound: ue, ui, ou(with a plan)
  20. Three ways to spell er(with a plan)
  21. Hunting the 'er' Sound(with a plan)
  22. Spelling detective: or and ear(with a plan)
  23. Hidden er sounds(with a plan)

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