Vowel teams work together to make one sound.

Vowel team EA can say /ē/, as in “eat”; /ĕ/, as in “bread”; and , /ā/ as in “steak”. 

Vowel team EA’s most common sound is /ē/, as in “eat”, it can appear in the beginning, middle, and end of a word or syllable. 

It’s less common sound is /ĕ/, as in “bread”, it typically appears in the middle of a word or syllable. first

Vowel team EA rarely says /ā/, and only occurs “steak”, “great”, and “break”. 

When decoding vowel team A, try the /ē/ sound, as in “eat”. If that doesn’t work try  /ĕ/, as in “bread”. 

Vowel team EA only says”A” in steak, great and break. 

Look at the image and decide how it can help you remember the three sounds of vowel team EA.

When the vowel team EA is at the end of a word, usually a one-syllable word, it says /ē/, as in “sea”.

However, in some proper names, the vowel team isn’t working together and the A may be reduced to a schwa, as in Lea.