Beginning reading
Sarah Hausler
Ehh?
Speak up, I can't hear you!
RATIONALE
MATERIALS
This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence e = /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 short vowel e. They will learn a meaningful representation (man cupping ear to illustrate he didn’t hear what was said), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence e = /e/.
Graphic image of man cupping ear; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin letterboxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, b, d, e, f, g, h, l(2), m, n, r, s(3), t(2); list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bed, nest, bend, smell, rent, stress, draft, strength; decodable text Red Gets Fed, and assessment worksheet.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/alphabet/matchwordsandpix/shorte/
Decodable Book:
Cushman, Shelia. Red Gets Fed. Educational Insights, 1990. Print.
https://sites.google.com/site/readingwritingconnection/beggingreadingdesign
1. Say: In order to become expert readers we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read words using the short vowel a, like tap, and today we are going to learn about the short vowel e. Have you ever said something to your grandpa or grandma and he or she responds by cupping his or her ear and saying, Ehhh? What'd ya say? Speak up! When I say /e/ I think of that Ehhh and someone cupping their ear. [show graphic image]. That ehhhh is the sound /e/ makes!
2. Say: Before we learn about the correspondence /e/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I say /e/ in words, my mouth is opened slightly and my tongue doesn’t touch my teeth, it just lies flat, like this. [Make vocal gesture for /e/.] I’ll show you first with the word send. Sss-eeee-nnn-dd. I heard ehhh and I felt my mouth opened slightly [point to position of lips]. There is a short e in send. Now I’m going to see if it’s in clap. C-l-a-p. Hmm, I didn’t hear ehhh and my mouth was open a little bit more when I said /a/. Now you try. If you hear /e/ say, Ehhh, What’d ya say? If you don’t hear /e/ say, Nope. Is it in rent, flag, stuck, press, stop, next? [Have children cup their ear when they hear the /e/ in each word.]
3. Say: What if I want to spell the word, crept? The creepy, crawly spider slowly crept up the window sill. Crept means moved in this sentence. To spell crept in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /c//r//e//p//t/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /e/ just before the /p/ so I’m going to put an e in the 3rd box. The word starts with /c/; so I need a c. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /c//r//e//p//t/. I think I heard /r/ so I’ll put a r right after the c. So far, we have /c//r//e/ but we still have two boxes left. After the/e/box, I think I heard whispered /p/. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /c//r//e//p//t/.] That last sound I hear is the ticking /t/.
4.Say: Now I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with spend on the top and model reading the word.] I’m going to start with the e; that part says /e/. Now I’m going to put the beginning letters with it: s-p-e, /spe/. Now I’ll put that chunk together with the last two sounds, /n//d/; /spe-n-d/. Oh, spend, like My mom has to spend money to get groceries.
5. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out with three boxes for the word bed. We know that a bed is what we lay one when we go to sleep. After I brush my teeth at night I get in bed. I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] For the next word you’ll need four letterboxes. Listen for the beginning sound to determine what goes in the first box. Then listen for /e/. Here’s the word: nest. The baby bird lived in the nest; nest. [Allow children to spell remaining words, giving sentences for each word: bend, smell, rent, and stress.]
6. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled. [Show the words bed, nest, bend, smell, rent, stress, the extra words draft and strength, and the pseudoword plent. Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]
7. Say: You’ve done an excellent job reading words with our new spelling for /e/= e. Now we are going to read a book called Red Gets Fed. This is a story of a dog named Red. Red is very hungry, but his owners are sleeping. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Red Gets Fed to find out how Red is able to get some food. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After paired reading, the class will reread Red Gets Fed together, stopping between page turns to discuss the story.]
8. Say: Before we finish up with our lesson about /e/ = e, I want you to put this knowledge into practice. On this worksheet, you have to draw a line from the word the its correct picture. If you get stuck on a word, read it aloud, slowly. If you are not sure if you have read the word correctly, look at the pictures. Is there a picture of the word you read? If not, you may want to try to again. If you are still stuck, raise your hand and I will come help you. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]