Read words with the vowel teams ee and ea, two patterns that both make the long e sound.
Long e has its own vowel teams. Ee is the more reliable one -- it almost always says long e, like in "tree." Ea usually says long e too, like in "seat," though it can sometimes say other sounds later on.
For now, read ee and ea as long e whenever you see them. You will learn the tricky ea exceptions, like in "bread," a little later.
Mastery looks like: They read ee and ea words with the correct long e sound and can point to the vowel team in a word.
Common stumbles: Trying to blend the two vowel letters as separate sounds instead of one long e.
See it visually
Interactive, spoken-aloud tools that show this idea in motion.