Icky Inchy the Inchworm
       Beginning To Read
 

 

Rationale: This lesson is designed to help children learn to read and spell words.  They will learn to recognize i=/i/ in written words.  They will learn how to recognize and spell words with the i=/i/ in a letterbox lesson as well as through a written message.

Materials: Primary writing paper with “Icky Inchy the Inchworm” written on it; Tin Man Fix It (Educational Insights); list of words to use in letterbox lesson (3-phoneme tin, dip, fit, win, fix; Letterboxes, letters t, i, d, p, f, w, n, and x laminated and cut out to use in letterbox lesson.

Procedures:
 1.  [Explain to the students what we are going to do.]  First, introduce i=/i/ by saying the meaningful representation, “Icky Inchy Inchworm”.  Show the student how to say the i in each word like a machine gun would go off.  For example, “I-I-Iky-i-cky I-I-Inchy I-I-Ichworm”.  Have the student repeat this with you.  We are going to learn how to spell and read words with /i/ in them.

2.  [Tell the students to pay attention to what is going to happen next.] Next, get out the letters that you will need to help the students spell the words in the letterbox lesson.  Then lay out three attached letterboxes so the child can spell the three phoneme words you give him/her.

3.  Now, put the letterboxes away and spell the 3-phoneme words without the letterboxes and ask the child to read the words you have spelled.  And then have them using their primary writing paper write the words they have learned.

4.  Give the child the book, Tin Man Fix-It and ask him/her to read it to you.  As they read, take a running record of the words the student misses and self corrects so that you will have an idea of what to teach the next lesson.

5.  Finally, for assessment we will review the previous words used in the 3-word phoneme lesson by asking them to read the word I have just spelled for them without the use of the letterboxes.  These words will have appeared in the book, Tin Man Fix It, so this will show whether or not the child has mastered the concept of i=/i/.  And if the student has not I will then know this would be a good lesson to continue using some other ideas.  If the student seems to have mastered the i=/i/ sound we will be able to move on to another concept.
 
 

Reference:
 ~Eldridge, J. Lloyd, Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.  1995.  pg. 53.
 ~Murray, B.A., & Lesniak, T (1999).  The letterbox lesson:  A hands-on approach for teaching decoding.  The Reading Teacher, 52, 644-650.
 www.auburn.edu/rdggenie.insights.html
 

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