EEEEE, a Mouse!
Beginning Reading
Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence
ee = /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 the spelling ee.
They will learn a meaningful representation (when you see a mouse and you shriek
“EEEEE!”), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a
letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence
ee = /E/.
Materials:
-Graphic image of a
woman shrieking and a mouse
-Cover-up critter
-White board Elkonin
boxes for modeling
-Individual Elkonin
boxes for each student
-Letter
manipulatives for each child and magnetic letters for the teacher:
s, l, e, e, p, b, d, t, h, r, t, g, q, u,
n, w
-List of spelling
words on poster board to read: 2 phonemes-
bee; 3 phonemes-
seed,
three, teeth. leg; 4 phonemes-
queen, sweet, sleep; 5 phonemes-
street
-Copy of
Lee and the Team for every child
-Assessment
worksheet.
http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/html/phonics_worksheet_v2-03.html.
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
e, like
pet. Today we are going to learn
about long E and when two
e’s are next to each other in a word,
they make the e say it’s own name (ee
= /E/). This is called the long E
sound. When I say /E/ I think of seeing a mouse and screaming “EEEEEE!” (show
graphic image). Now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we will learn today.
One-way to spell /E/ is with two e’s
that are side by side in a word. (Write
ee on the board.) When you see these two
e’s together you need to recognize
that they make the e say it’s own
name.
2. Say: Before we
learn about the spelling of /E/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I
listen for /E/ in words, I hear e say
its name/E/ and my mouth opens and my tongue is behind my bottom teeth like
this. (Make vocal gesture for /E/.) I’ll show you first:
feet. I heard
e say its name and I felt my mouth
open and my tongue fall behind my bottom teeth like I was shrieking because I
was scared of the mouse. There is a long
E in feet. Now I’m going to see
if it’s in leg. Hmm, I didn’t hear
e say its name and my mouth didn’t make that shrieking face. Now you try. If
you hear /E/ say, “EEEEEE, a mouse!” and wave your hands in the air like you are
running away. If you don’t hear /E/ say, “That’s not it.” And shake their heads
no. Is it in deep, mail, knee, nose,
week, lips?
3. What if I want to
spell the word sleep? “When I got
home from school, I was so tired I went to sleep.”
Sleep in this sentence means a state
of rest. To spell sleep in
letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I
stretch it out and count: /s//l//E//p/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /E/ just
before the /p/ so I’m going to put ee
in the 3rd box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an
s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m
going to say it slowly, /s//l//E//p/. I think I heard /l/ so I’ll put an
l right after the
s. I have one empty box now. (Point to letters in boxes when stretching out
the word: /s//l//E//p/.) The missing one is /p/. Now I’ll show you how I would
read a tough word. (Display poster with
sleep on the top and model reading the word.) I’m going to start with the
ee; that part says /E/. Now I am
going to put the beginning letters with it:
s-l-ee,
/slE/. Now I’ll put that chunk with the last sound, /slE-p/. Oh,
sleep, like “I am supposed to sleep
at night.”
4. Say: Now I’m
going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with
two boxes for bee. A bee is a yellow
and black insect. “I saw a bee on the playground and ran away in fear that it
might sting me.” What should go in the first box? (Respond to children’s
answers). What goes in the second box? Did you remember that our long
E is spelled with two
e’s so you need two
e’s in your second box? I’ll check
your spelling while I walk around the room. (Observe progress.) You’ll need
three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound to spell in
the first box. Then listen for the /E/ and don’t forget to put two
e’s that box. Here’s the word:
seed, the plant grew from a seed;
seed. (Allow children to spell
remaining words: 3 phonemes- three,
teeth. leg; 4 phonemes- queen, sweet,
sleep; 5 phonemes- street)
5. Say: Now I’m
going to let you read the words you’ve spelled. (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 spelling and reading words with our new spelling for /E/:
ee. Now we are going to read a book
called Lee and the Team. This is a
story of a boy named Lee. Lee is a baseball coach. Lee’s team is late for the
game and they need to run to make it on time. Do you think Lee can lead his team
the right way and get them there on time?
Let’s pair up and take turns reading
Lee and the Team so that we can find
out. (Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages while the teacher
walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the
class rereads Lee and the Team aloud
together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.)
7. Say: Before we
finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /E/ =
ee, I want to see how great you are
at identifying /E/ in written words. On this worksheet, you have a list of
words. Your job is to read the words, and decide which words have /E/ in them.
If the word has /E/, then I want you to circle the word. After you have
identified all the words that have /E/ in them, I want you to circle the part of
the picture that is represented by that word. First, read and circle the words
that have /E/ in them, then circle the picture that represents that word. This
worksheet can be seatwork while I call each student up individually to read the
first 4 pages of Lee and the Team to
access for comprehension of the correspondence
ee = /E/.
http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/html/phonics_worksheet_v2-03.html.
References:
1. Adams, Marilyn.
Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning
about Print- A Summary. Champaign: Center for Study of Reading Research and
Education Center, 1990.
2. Murray, Geri.
Oh, I didn’t know.
http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurrag1/BRMurrayG.htm.
3. How to teach a
letterbox lesson
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html.
4. Lyle, Amanda.
Say Cheese.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/constr/lylebr.html
5. Cushman, Shelia,
and Rona Kornblum. Lee and the Team.
Carson: Educational Insights, 1990. Print.