Mouth open about half as wide as for short a. Lips still spread. Tongue in the middle — /e/, as in 'bed'.
Check yourself: Say 'bad' then 'bed' with a hand under your chin. Feel the jaw come UP.
Watch for: /æ/ and /ɪ/ — it sits between them.
◆ marks a word that does NOT follow today's pattern — Blumenfeld boxes these on the page. Teach it by heart; do not let the class sound it out and lose faith in the rule.
Say the word, have them repeat it, count the sounds on fingers, THEN write. The count is what stops a child writing the first letter and guessing the rest.