Beginning Reading Design
Rationale:
After this lesson children will better understand that when the letters
e and
a are put together they are
pronounced /E/, and that this is called a digraph. Children will learn to
identify the vowel digraph ea= /E/ in
written language through various activities such as listing words that include
the digraph, practicing a tongue twister, playing a game of Hangman, etc.
Materials:
The Deep Sea
by Matt Sims
Large dry erase board & marker
Individual dry erase board (plastic plates will work) & markers for each student
Pictures of words with ea= /E/
digraph. Pictures: leaf, peach, sea, peas, teapot, steam, seal, meal,
speak, and sneakers.
Chart paper containing the tongue twister, "Seals in the sea steal sneakers"
Assessment sheet with pseudowords.
Procedure:
1. Assess the student's prior knowledge of the digraph
ea. Ask the students to name some
words that have the /E/ phoneme. Write the list on the board.
Most likely, some of the words will contain the
ea digraph; if not, include some
examples: east, dream, heat, and year. I will single out the words with the
ea digraph. "What do you notice about
how we can spell /E/? Do all of
these words spell /E/ the same way? (No). Well today we're going to look at this
spelling (single out word with ea
digraph.) Sometimes we can spell
one phoneme, or sound, like /E/, with two different letters; this is called a
digraph.
2. Next I will show the students the tongue twister written on the chart paper,
" Seals in the sea steal sneakers." Okay now let's say the tongue twister all
together. Now we're going to stretch out the /E/ whenever you see the
ea digraph. "Seeeeaaaals in the
seeeeaaa steeeeeaaaal sneeeeeaaaakers."
3. "Okay I want to ask you guys some tricky questions and I want you to raise
your hand if you know the answer and I will call on you! Each of you will get a
chance to answer so if I do not call on you first do not get discouraged." "Do
you hear the /E/ sound in each or
ever?
term or
team,
sea or
sell,
clear or
clap?
4. We will continue with a lesson similar to a letter box lesson, but it is
adapted for whole group instruction.
It will be played like "Hangman" in which each student will be able to
guess a phoneme (this is the key difference; instead of representing graphemes,
we will be representing phonemes).
Write word blanks and set up the Hangman symbol on the chalk board. Model: "Who
has ever played Hangman? (If any students have not, use this modeling experience
to fill them in). We will be
playing hangman with some words that have the digraph that we just learned.
Here's how we play: Hmmm I see three blanks, so I know there will be
three phonemes in the word. And the
hint is Sea creatures (that's
interesting, both of those words have ea=/E/!).
So now I'm going to guess a letter…t
(continue with the hangman process until
seal is spelled out [s ea
l]). Continue with bean (3
phonemes blanks), treat (4 phoneme
blanks), leap(3 phoneme blanks),
sheath (3 phoneme blanks), beat
(3 phoneme blanks), cream (4 phoneme
blanks), and
ear( 2 phoneme blanks). (Then have
students read the list of words).
5. Next, we will go through the pictures of words containing the
ea= /E/ digraph. Students will write
the word, including the correct spelling on their individual dry erase boards.
Pictures can include: leaf, peach, sea, peas, teapot, steam, seal,
meal, speak, and sneakers.
7.
Students will be divided into partners, preferably pairing strong and weaker
readers together for partner reading.
Partner 1 will read a page, while partner 2 stays engaged, asking
questions, then vice versa.
Before students begin, engage them with a short book talk: Dave and Bill's boat
sins, and they are left adrift in the sea in a tiny rowboat.
Let's find out if they can make it to Gull Rock…
8. For the assessment, call students individually to your desk and have them
read a list of pseudowords. Here is
a list of ideas: freal, sheaz, deak, breals, veash.
Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms, written by Lloyd Eldredge(1995),
published by Prentice Hall, pages 153-154.
Sims, Matt. The Deep Sea, Novato,
High Noon Books, 1999, pp1-25.
Wiggins, Lara. "Peaches in the Sea".
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/guides/wigginsbr.html