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Beginning Reading Design

Pilot Pete says "Weeeee!'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ee= /E/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling ee. They will learn a meaningful representation (arms out saying weeee!), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ee = /E/.

 

Materials: image of pilot with hands up saying weeee!; class copies of EEK! A Bug (book); cover-up critter; whiteboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic smartboard letters for teacher e, t, g, b, f, d, s, o, c, a; list of spelling words on poster to read: green, feel, see, sheep, deep, trees, sleep, keep, beet, sweet, sweeps

 

Procedures:

1.  Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. Every letter in the alphabet has its own sound and mouth move, but today we are going to focus on the long vowel e. The short vowel e sounds like /ee/. When I hear /E/, I think of someone on an airplane saying “Weeee!” [show clip art image]

 

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /E/, we need to listen for it in a few words. When I listen for /E/ in words, I hear ee say its name /E/ and my lips make a little smile but my tongue stays in place. [Make vocal gesture for /E/.] I’ll show you first: Green. I heard ee say its name and I felt my lips smile and my tongue stayed in place. That's because there is a long e in green. Now I’m going to see if it is in get. Hmm, I didn’t hear ee say /E/ in get. Now you try. If you hear /E/ say, “Weee! I heard /E/.” If you don’t hear /E/, say “That’s not /E/.” Is it in feet, met, got, sleep? [Have children make a smile motion with their lips when they feel /E/ say its name.]​

 

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we are learning today. One way to spell /E/ is with two e’s in a row. [Write ee on the board]. What if I want to spell the word feel? “I feel excited to learn phonemes!” [point at my smile]. To spell feel in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count /f//E/l. I need 3 boxes. The word starts with /f/ so that’s easy, I’m going to put the f in the first box. I heard the /E/ second so we can go ahead and put that in the second box. Now, we have one empty box. [Point to letter in boxes when stretching out the word /f//ee//l/.] The missing one is /l/ = l.

 

       f      ee      l

 

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. Let's start by using a few review word. We can start with "cat." How many boxes do you need for the word, cat? That's right! Lets get three boxes. [Review Words to follow: lap, bad, pack] Moving on, let's look at some new words! You’ll start out easy with two boxes for see. For example, “We see each other with our eyes.” [Point at eyes].  You can hear the /E/ and feel your lips smile when you say see. What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? I will check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letter boxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /E/. Here’s the next word: sheep, The sheep are outside, Sheep.  [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: sh-ee-p and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: deep; The pool is so deep [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] (have children also spell sleep, keep, tree, beet). Now, let’s try 4 phonemes: sweet; That cupcake was so sweet. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: sweeps; The maid sweeps her house. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

 

5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you have spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with feel on the top and model reading the word.] First I see the /f/ at the beginning that makes the fff sound you make when you blow air through your teeth that are resting on your bottom lip. Then I hear the “eee” sound that we have been talking about, can everyone say “eee?” Lastly, I hear the l sound like when you sing “Lalala.” /f//E//l/. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

 

6. Say: You’ve done a great job at reading words with our new spelling for /E/=ee. Now we are going to read a book called Eek! A Bug. This is a story about a pesky little bug. The little bug loves to roam through his home, until one day he disturbs a hamster, a cat, and a dog. An epic chase throughout the house begins, will the animals be able to catch the bug? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Eek! A Bug to find out what happens to the pesky little bug. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Eek! A Bug aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

 

7. Say: That was a fun story. What happened to the bug? Right, he scurried all around the house until the animals got sleepy. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /E/=ee, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we will match words with the /E/=ee sound and match them with their picture from the picture bank. First try reading all of the words, then choose the picture that best fits the space. Cut out all of the pictures and glue them under the word. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

Shipton, P. (2010) Eek! A Bug. https://books.google.com/books/about/Eek_a_Bug.html?id=6YCTRAAACAAJ

 

"AAAA! A Spider!" Emme Levins.

https://sites.google.com/view/ctrdlessondesigns/beginning-reader-design?authuser=1

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Assessment worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/EE-EA-Worksheets-Activities-NO-PREP-Long-E-Vowel-Teams-Worksheets-Pairs-1659800?epik=dj0yJnU9ZHdsSWlDUXp1ZlhGQzhzdUEyblo5Q2ZDZEkyV1poZFAmcD0wJm49UHNCMGR2WkRGNGtVT1ZFdWtpWlpEQSZ0PUFBQUFBR0ZuZUtn

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