“Aye, Aye Captain!”
Beginning Reading Design
By: Ana Eagerton
Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence
i_e
= /I/.
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 i_e = /I/.
They will learn a meaningful
representation (Salute and say “Aye, Aye Captain”), they will spell and read
words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book
that focuses on the correspondence i_e = /I/.
Materials:
Graphic image of a kid saluting; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard,
Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter
manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: h,
i, k, e, s, p, n, l, c, r, t, v, k; list of spelling words on poster or
whiteboard to read: hike, spine, slice, strike, rich, strive; decodable text:
“The Nice Mice”,
and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
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 short vowel words with i,
like bit, and today we are going to learn about long
I and the silent e signal that
is used to make I say its name, /I/.
When I say /I/ I think of a person saluting and saying “Aye, Aye Captain!” [show
graphic image].
2.
Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /I/, we need to listen for it in some
words. When I listen for /I/ in words, I hear I say its name /I/ and my
lower jaw drops and my tongue stays flat. [Make vocal gesture for /I/.] I’ll
show you first: time. I heard I say its name and I felt my lower
jaw drop and my tongue stayed flat. [Demonstrate mouth movements].
There is a long I in time. Now
I’m going to see if it’s in kick?.
Hmm, I didn’t hear I say its name and my lower jaw didn’t drop and my
tongue did not stay in the same place. Now you try. If you hear /I/ say, “Aye,
Aye Captain!” If you don’t hear /I/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in tie, lips,
pants, hide, nose, slide? [Have children drop their lower jaw and keep their
tongue in the same place to make /I/ say its name.]
3. Say:
Now let’s look at the spelling of /I/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell
/I/ is with the letter i and a signal e at the end of the word to
tell me to say I’s name. [Write i_e on the board.] This blank line here means
there is a consonant after i, and at the end of the word there is a
little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word file? “If
I file my paper, my teacher will be happy.” File means to organize in
this sentence. To spell file in letterboxes, first I need to know how
many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /f//I//l/I need
3 boxes. I heard that /I/ just before the /l/ so I’m going to put an i in
the 2nd
box and the silent
e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /f/, that’s easy; I need
an f. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly,
/f//I//l/.
4. Say:
Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy
with three boxes for hike.
A hike is when you go walking through
the woods. “Our teacher took us on a hike for science today.” What should
go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second
box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes?
I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.]
You’ll need four letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound
that goes in the first box. Then listen for /I/ and don’t forget to put the
signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word:
spine, My spine in is my back; spine. [Allow children to spell words.]
Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: s
– p – i – n—e and see if you’ve spelled
it the same way. Try another with four boxes: slice; I would like
a slice of that pie. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front
board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.]
Next word. Listen to see if this word has /I/ in it before you spell it:
rich; The man had a big house because he was rich. Did you need a silent
e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear I say its name. We spell it with
our short vowel i. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Did you
remember to spell /ch/ with a ch? Now let’s try 5 phonemes: strive;
I will strive to do my best. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this
time you need five boxes: strike; if I miss the baseball 3 times,
I will get a strike. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
5. Say:
Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you
how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with strike on the top and
model reading the word.] First I see there’s a silent e on the end;
that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel i.
It must say /I/. I’m going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [Uncover and
blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /s//t/ = /st/ +
/r/ = /str/. Now I’m going to blend that with /I/ = /strI/. Now all I need is
the end, /k/ = /strIk/. Strike; that’s it. 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 and reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e.
Now we are going to read a book called The Nice Mice. This is a story of
two mice, Mike and Spike who are very nice. Mike and Spike want to take a trip
to see some nice sites. Where do you think that Mike and Spike go to see some
nice sites? Let’s pair up and take turns
reading The Nice Mice to find out where they go. [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 The
Nice Mice aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say:
That was a fun story. Where did Mike and Spike go? Right, they went on a bike
ride for 9 miles each day. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to
spell /I/ = i_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this
worksheet, we have a crossword puzzle with missing words. Your job is to look at
the clues and decide which i_e word fits best to make sense of this crossword
puzzle. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that
fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. When the
students are done with their crossword puzzles I will assess them further by
asking them to read a list of words with the long
I sound. I will use this to determine
if the students need extra help or if they are good to continue on to the next
correspondence.
Resources:
Assessment Worksheet:
http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/images/phonics_worksheet_v2-07.pdf
“The Nice Mice”-
http://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=44