Icky Sticky Fingers
Beginning Reading
Rationale: In order to be able to read, children must learn
to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this
lesson, children will recognize the short vowel i = /i/ in both
spoken and written words by practicing reading and spelling
words containing i = /i/. The children will all participate
individually in a letterbox lesson and practice with recognizing
words that have the /i/ sound in them.
Materials: Graphic image of icky sticky, Elkonin Letter
Boxes; letters: b, g, p, t, r, c, k, j, l, l, s, n, h, w, m, w;
note cards of the letterbox words (in, it, big, spill, milk,
Jim, sing, hill, twig, swim, spring) on them (one set of cards
for every two students); primary paper and pencils;
Lad Is Sick by Bruce
Murray
Procedures:
1. Introduce the lesson by showing the students the graphic
image of the lady with slimy fingers. Say: Often times, when you
see this letter it makes the /i/ sound in many of the words you
will come across. Today we are going to work on reading and
spelling words with the i = /i/ in them.
2. A good way to remember this is to think of the sound you
would make if you have syrup on your fingers. Wiggle our fingers
while we say icky sticky, icky sticky, ick, ick, ick. (Teacher
models as she says this).
3. Write: Jim spilled his milk while singing up the hill. Let's
say this tongue twister together. Read it twice. Model how you
find /i/ in a word by reviewing the phoneme and how to find the
phoneme in words. How many words did you hear the /i/ sound in?
6 Good Job! What were some of those words? I will then write
them on the board. Let's repeat this one more time and really
emphasize the i = /i/. Erase the words and sentence when
finished.
4. Now I am going to work with the children hearing sounds in
different words and being able to pick out the /i/. I am going
to ask them: Do you hear the /i/ in ________ or _________? The
word choices will be: pin or dog; sink or tub; bid or sat; thin
or mom; ship or boat.
5. Students will take out the letterboxes and letters tiles.
Say: Now we are going to work on spelling out some words with
the /i/ sound in them. We are going to spell only one sound in
each of our boxes when we spell words. Are there any questions?
You guys are going to do a great job I know but first I am going
to show you an example on the board. /i/ move i to middle box,
/d/ move d to first box, and /g/ move g to last box. Dig. Okay,
now let's spell some words.
2 letterboxes: in, it
3
letterboxes: big, his, pig, Jim, sing, hill
4 letterboxes:
twig, spill
5 letterboxes: spring.
6. First model reading showing how you identify and pronounce
words with the letter /i/, then blending to get the word. In
pairs, students will use note cards to practice reading aloud
the words from the letterbox lesson. The teacher will observe
and assess the students during this part.
7. Now we are going to read a book called
Lad is Sick. This is a story about a little dog that is
sad for some reason. We are going to read to find out why Lad is
so sad. Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages
while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After
individual paired reading, the class rereads
Lad is Sick aloud
together, and stops between pages to discuss the plot.
8) To assess reading accuracy and comprehension, students will
read a passage individually to me (while I’m also monitoring
children in paired reading).
References:
Murray, Bruce and Lesniak T. (1999). The Letterbox Lesson: A
Hands-on Approach to Teaching Decoding. The Reading Teacher, 52.
644-650,
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html
Murray, Bruce. Lad Is
Sick.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html