Beginning Reading
“Eek! I’m Scared!”
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 (covering their eyes like they are scared), 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 a scared boy; cover-up critter; whiteboards/ expo markers for each student and a smartboard for myself, letter manipulatives for each child: s, e, n, d, m, t, b, r, g; list of spelling words on a poster or whiteboard to read: see, need, meet, breed, street, green; decodable text: “The Bee and the Flea”, and “Fill in the ee Word” assessment worksheet
Procedures:
1. Say: In order to become the best readers we can be, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read short vowel words with e, like end, and today we are going to learn about long E, which sounds like it’s name /E/. Now, raise your hand if you know what holiday is at the end of the month of October. (Call on a student). Halloween! That’s right! When we think about Halloween, we may think about how it can be a scary holiday. So when you hear the sound /E/, I want you to put your hands over your eyes like you are scared. (Show the gif of the boy at the top of the page as an example).
2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /E/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /E/ in words, I hear e say its name /E/ and my lips make a little e shape like this. [Make vocal gesture for /E/.] I’ll show you first: week. I heard e say its name and I felt my lips make a
little e [make a wide smile motion and show teeth]. There is a long E in week. Now I’m going to see if it’s in bend. Hmm, I didn’t hear e say its name and my lips didn’t make that wide e shape that looks like a big smile. Now you try. If you hear /E/ say, “weeeee” If you don’t hear /E/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in breeze, want, catch, knee, fleas, belt? [Have children make a wide smile showing their teeth when they feel /E/ say its name.]
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /E/ is with the letters ee to tell me to say E’s name. [Write ee on the board.] What if I want to spell the word seek? “Do you want to play a game of hide-and-seek?” Seek means looking, searching, or trying to find something. To spell seek in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s/ /E/ /k/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /E/ just after the /k/ so I’m going to put the e in the third box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s/ /E/ /k/. I think I heard /k/ so I’ll put ak right after the E. Hmm . . . /s/ /E/ /k/. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s/ /E/ /k/.]
ssss EEEEEEE kkkkkk
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for see. The first word we are going to spell is “see”- this is the kind that you do with your eyes, like “I don’t want my parents to see my bad test grade.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about the second e, did you put it next to the other e in the second box? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /E/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: need, I need you to make me cookies, need. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: n – e – e – d and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: meet; I had to meet my mom at the store, meet. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] (Continue with words breed, street, green- adding letter boxes as needed).
5. Say: Now I’m going to show you how to read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Write word screech on whiteboard and model reading the word] I see 2 e’s in the middle, so I know that they will make the /E/ sound. I’m going to cover up the end of the word and start from the beginning. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel] /s/ /k/ = /sk/ + /r/ = /skr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /E/ = /skrE/. [Uncover the end of the word] I hear /ch/ at the end. So I’ll add that on to the beginning of the word. /skrE/ + /ch/. Screech! Now it’s your turn, everyone read together. [Have students 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 an excellent job reading words with our new spelling for /E/: ee. Now we will read a book called The Bee and the Flea. This is a story about a bee and a flea who are friends. The flea does things that bees normally do, like eat nectar out of flowers. The bee decides to ask his queen bee if his friend can join their hive. Will the queen allow this? Let’s pair up and find out. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads The Bee and the Flea aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot].
7. Say: That was a fun story. Did the flea end up joining the hive? Right, the queen agreed to let him join as long as he kept the hive clean. How did the flea keep it clean? Right, he swept the floor three times a day. 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 have some beginning letters missing. Your job is to look at each picture, then fill in the beginning letter of the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to make sure they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual progress].
References:
Dr. Bruce Murray (2012), Making Sight Words. Ronkonkoma, NY 11779.
Assessment Worksheet: (scroll to 6th sheet) https://www.themeasuredmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/EeWrdsWksht.pdf
Pumpkin Picture: http://clipart-library.com/cartoon-pumpkin-pictures.html
Decodable Text: https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=53
McKee Cronier, “Eeh, a Bee!”: https://hmc0021.wixsite.com/lessondeisgn2017/beginning-reading-design
Hannah Louise Perkinson, “Say weeeeee on the roller coaster!” https://hannahlouiseperkin.wixsite.com/bomblessondesigns/beginning-reading-design
Sarah Price, “Eeeek, it's big E!”: https://sarahpricelessondesigns.weebly.com/beginning-reading.html
Cheryl Ryan, The Bee and the Flea: https://www.readinga-z.com/book.php?id=364
Carson Williams , Eek a Bee!: https://carcarwilly.wixsite.com/mysite/br-design