Beginning Reading Design

EW a Spider!

By: Haden Bishop

Rational: this lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ew = /U/. In order for children to learn how to read they must learn to recognize spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling ew. They will learn a meaningful representation (seeing a spider and saying ew!) They will also spell and read words containing the ew spelling in a letter box lesson. A decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ew will also be read.

Materials: graphic image of the ew spider, cover up critter, whiteboard, overhead projector, letter boxes for each student (at least 5/can be colorful index cards cut in half), plastic letter tiles for each student ( n, e, w, t, s, c, k, j, l ), list of spelling words on a poster or whiteboard with the words: new, newt, sewn, suck, jewel, decodable text: Blowing Bubbles and A Bad Hair Day, assessment worksheet: Word Family Cut and Paste -ew Words | All Kids Network

Procedures:

1. Say: To become a good reader we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. So far, we have learned how to read words with short vowels such as u, like bug. Today we will learn about one of the ways to make the long u sound with the letter combination ew. When I say ew I think of seeing a big gross spider, and I say ew a spider! (show graphic image).

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /U/, we need to listen for it in some spoken words. When I listen for /U/ in words, I hear u say its name /U/. My lips make a little o shape kind of like I’m about to pucker my lips. (Make a vocal gesture for /U/ so the children can see). I will demonstrate first: chew. I hear u say its name at the end of the word with the spelling ew, and I felt my lips make a little circle like I’m about to pucker my lips. (Make the shape with your lips). There is a long /U/ sound in chew. Now I am going to see if the long /U/ sound is in the word luck. Hmmm, I didn’t hear u say its name. I also didn’t feel my lips start to pucker. Okay now you try! If you hear /U/ say, “ew a spider!” If you do not hear /U/ say “no spider here”. Do you hear ew = /U/ in chew, news, luck, jewel, tick, blew? Have kids make a kissing sound if they feel their lips pucker when they feel /U/ say its name.

3. Say: Now lets look at the spelling of /U/ that we will learn today. One way to spell /U/ is with the letters ew. The letter combination ew makes U say its name. (write ew on the board.) What if I want to spell the word stew? “My mom made stew for dinner tonight.” stew is a type of soup. To spell stew in letterboxes I first need to find out how many phonemes are in the word. To figure this out I need to stretch the word out and count: s//t//ew. I need three boxes. I heard that /U/ at the end of the word and we know we are focusing on ew = /U/ today. We hear /U/ at the end of the word and we are working on ew = /U/ today so we know the letters ew go together in the third letter box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need my slithering snake letter s in our first letter box. Now lets sound it out again: s//t//ew. Okay I hear /t/ after /s/ so I know we need a t in the second letter box. Point to the s and say /s/, point to the t and say /t/ point to the ew and say /U/. Now put the sounds together/blend. Stew! Good we spelt stew with our

ew = /U/ at the end!

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You will start out easy with only two boxes for the word new. New is the opposite of old. “My teacher is teaching us a new lesson.” What letter goes in the first box? (respond to children’s answers). What letter or letters would go in the second box? Remember we are working with ew = /U/ today so listen for the /U/. Now I will walk around the room and check your spelling. (walk around and observe progress). You will need three letter boxes for this next word. Let’s make sure to listen for the beginning sound that will go in your first letter box. Let’s also remember to listen for ew = /U/. Here is your next word: newt, a newt is a lizard. (Give children time to spell the word). Okay let’s check your work. Watch how I spelled newt in my letter boxes on the board: n – ew – t see if your spelling is the same as mine. Let’s try another word with three boxes. Your new word is sewn. My grandmother has sewn me a sweater. (Have someone come up to the board and spell it in your letterboxes for everyone.) Okay now listen to see if you hear ew = /U/ in the word suck before you try to spell it. I had to suck on the popsicle. Did you hear ew = /U/ in suck? Well, why not? (have children answer) That’s right, it is because we do not hear u say its name. we spell suck with our short vowel u. (Have a student come up to the board to spell suck). Did you remember the /k/ sound in suck is spelt with the letters ck? Great work! Now lets try 4 phonemes: jewel; the ring had a pretty jewel in the center. Now we will do one more then we will move on to reading the words. Your last word has 5 phonemes. The word is viewed, we viewed our teacher as smart. This is a longer word so remember to stretch it out.

5. Say: Now I am going to let you read all the words you have spelled, but first I will demonstrate how I would read a hard word. (get out your poster or white board with the word jewel at the top and show your students how to read the word. First I see ew in this word which signals the long u sound. Let me show you how I use my cover up critter to figure out the first part. (Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel then blend with the vowel). J = /j/ now I am going to add the ew = /U/. jEW. Now lets look at the end of the word. E = /e/ , L = /l/, /e/ + /l/ = el. Now lets blend it all together j-ew-el. Jewel! That’s it! Now it is your turn to try it. (Have the children read the words they previously spelled all together, then call on each child to read a word until everyone has had a turn).

6. Say: You all have done a great job spelling and reading the words with our new ew = /U/ spelling. Now we are going to read/sing two short passages. The first passage is called “A Bad Hair Day” and it is about a boy named Drew who got gum in his hair. We will sing this short passage to the tune of row row row your boat. (put the passage on the overhead projector and have everyone sing). Great! Now we will read “Blowing Bubbles” which is about a boy named Drew who blew a bubble. (Put the passage on the overhead projector and have the students read it together).

7. Say: those were cute little stories/songs. Can you remember what Drew did to his gum? (Let children answer). That’s right he chewed it and blew it and got it in his hair! You are all doing great, but before we finish up our lesson on ew = /U/ we are going to do a fun worksheet. We are going to make words with ew in them. (Pass out the worksheets and have the children complete it. Then read all the words together)

Resources:

Word Family Cut and Paste -ew Words | All Kids Network