EEEEkkkk! I Saw a Snake!
A
beginning reading lesson
This lesson was designed for
a student that is an emergent reader in the full alphabetic stage (usually
beginning first grade). Through the
lesson students will learn the ea =
/E/ such as in bean.
Rational:
This lesson uses research based methods to teach the long vowel correspondence
ea = /E/.
Students must learn to read, pronounce, and spell long vowel words to
expand their reading abilities.
This lesson is designed to help student learn to spell, say, and recognize the
ea spelling in commonly used words.
The students will learn the correspondence in a meaningful way (Eeeekkk! I saw a
snake!) and be able to practice the correspondence with a letterbox activity.
They will also get a chance to work with the correspondence by reading a
decodable text and through a writing activity.
Materials:
One
graphic image of lady standing in chair yelling
Worksheets for all the students present at class
Critter
cover-up
Whiteboard and markers for modeling
Letterbox and letter tiles for all students in the class plus the teacher
Word
list on a white poster with the words: sea, team, mean, stream, bean, steam
Decodable text titled: The Mean Geese
The
letter tiles: s, e, a, t, m, r, b, n, g, e, p, l for every student
Procedures:
1. Say:
Everyone wants to be able to read about cool stuff they like right? (Teacher
asks) What are some things you like and want to read about? (have students tell
some of their favorite things). To
read all the cool books you talked about we need to learn more of the secret
code of writing. You already know
what the short vowel e sounds and looks like right?
Here is an example of the short e sound in s word: elephant.
Well now we get to learn one way the long vowel E is spelled.
When I hear the long E sound I think of a lady standing in a chair
screaming “EEEEEkkk! I saw a snake!” E says its name when you see an ea in a
word like the word bean.
2. Say:
Now we need to learn to hear the ea sound in words.
When you say /E/ what does
your mouth do? When I say the /E/
sound my tongue feels like it is behind my teeth and I use my voice to make the
sound. When I say bean I hear the
long e sound and I feel my tongue press the back of my teeth.
Now you try! If you hear
/ea/ in a word I want you to jump up just like the lady that yelled EEEEEkkkkk!
I saw a snake! I’m going to say a
word and if you hear the /ea/ then jump up.
House, bent, bean, steam, loft, seam, help.
3. Say:
Great class, now you have learned how to hear the sound in a word and now it is
time to learn how to spell the ea sound.
What if you want to write about when you tried eating red beans, you
would need to know how to spell the word beans.
“My mom made me eat red beans and I did not like them.
I only like black beans”.
Let’s pull out our letterboxes and learn how to spell the ea sound.
The first thing we need to do is figure out how many sounds are in the
word bean. Let’s slowly say bean
and stretch out the sounds that way we can hear all of them.
B/ea/n, I hear three sounds that means I need three boxes.
Now let us figure out what letter goes in the first box.
/B/ that sound is made with the letter b, good.
Now for the /E/ sound, the two
letters go in the same box because the a is silent and makes the e say its name.
So we have /b/ea/ and we need the last sound /b/ea/n/, n is the last
letter and it goes in the last box.
Now let us read the word we just spelled.
First I am going to look at the vowel which is ea, so I know that makes
the sound /E/.
Now I am going to look at the first letter and blend that sound with the
vowel. /b/ea/ I’m just missing the
last sound which is /n/. Blend it
altogether and you get bean!
4. Say:
Now it’s your turn to spell some words with the letterbox.
Try an easy one, how about team.
“I played on a soccer team and loved it”.
You need three boxes for this word.
What should go in the first box? What goes in the second box and the last
box? Once you have finished your
word leave it on your desk for me to look at.
Don’t forget to put ea in the same box because a is silent and makes e
say its name. Here are the words I
want you to spell using your letterbox (teacher holds up the poster with
letterbox words). Don’t clear your
boxes until I have seen the word you spelled.
5. Say:
Class read me the word you just spelled.
Now have class spell more words off of the list and call on students to
read the words they have spelled until everyone has had a turn.
6. You
have done a great job learning how to spell words with ea in them.
Now it is time you put that knowledge to use!
Here is a book for you to read that has ea words in it.
You know how to read those words because you have already spelled and
read them with the letterbox. The
book is called The Mean Geese by Geri Murray.
The book is about a cat, a dog named Lad, and geese.
The cat takes her kittens to the stream but the geese do not like that
and chases them. Lad sees the cat
being chased and chases the geese but the geese are not afraid of Lad.
The geese actually chase Lad.
What will Lad do? Will he
get away from the mean geese? We
will have to read to find out! I
want everyone to whisper read the book to themselves and once you are finished
we will reread it has a class. The
class will stop every page to discuss the plot.
7. Say:
Class you have done a great job reading now let’s do one last thing before we
finish. Teacher hands out worksheet
and holds it up while saying: I want you to read the words at the top of this
page and write them under the picture they match.
When you finish turn it in to me so I can check it.
Resources:
Free Phonics Worksheets.com
http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/html/phonics_worksheet_v2-04.html
Murray, G. (2006) The Mean
Geese Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html
Reading Genie, further lesson
information:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/overview.html
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html