EEEEEEEEthan is Extra Exciting!
Beginning Reading
Rationale:
This lesson is aimed for beginning readers to help them become that much more
familiar with different phonemes in spoken words. Short vowels should be taught
initially to help beginner reader become fluent and comprehend more effectively.
It is also very important for students to be given meaningful representations of
the phonemes in spoken words using pictures, hand gestures and tongue twisters.
The main goal of this lesson is for students to be able to recognize the phoneme
e= /e/ in spoken words and read words that use e=/e/.
Materials:
Primary Paper
Pencils
Cards with words containing the short e: egg, eat, get, vet, then
Cards with words not containing the short e: that, bat, fat, pin, car
Tongue Twisters:
1. Ethan explained exciting news to Eddie
2. Extravagant Ellie eats green eggs
3. Ella eagerly expects an exciting Easter
Elkonin letterboxes
Picture of a creaking door opening (Ehhhh)
Assessment Worksheet
Procedures:
1. We will begin the lesson by introducing the sound that we are covering. It is
important to be aware of the sounds that words make so that we can become more
fluent in our reader and develop a great letter recognition. Short /e/ makes the
sound like a creaking door does when it opens. Do you know what that sounds
like? Let's make that sound together, "EEEEEEEEEEhhhhhh." Very good everyone! (I
will show the picture of what a creaky door looks like and have the students
help me make the action.)
2. Now, let's go over some of our tongue twisters. (The teacher will have them
written out on large sheets of paper so everyone can easily see them.) I will
read the first one out loud to everyone by myself, I will over emphasize short
/e/ sound so that they can really recognize that creaky door sound. Alright
class, lets all do it together now! Remember, lets pay close attention to that
creaky door sound! Great job everyone!
3. Y'all are doing great! Now, we are going to start the letterbox lesson!
Everyone pull out your little letterbox cards that I gave to everyone at the
beginning of the lesson! I am going to draw my boxes up here on the board so
everyone can see them. (They each already have the correct letters in front of
them so that everyone can sound out each word provided for them.) I am going to
demonstrate the first word. Now don't forget, during these lessons, we are
looking for all the sounds that are in the words, recognizing the different
phonemes they have! My word is: rent. Ok, so what sounds do we hear, r=/r/,
e=/e/ (remember creaky door!), n=/n/ and t=/t/. (I would overemphasize each
sound, especially the short /e/ while also saying the word very slowly so that
the students can see how they should act to hear all the phonemes. Now, I need
to put my words in the card spaces! What's my initial sound? (Sound it out very
slowly again) r, exactly! So r will be the first letter we put in the spaces.
Now, rrrreeee, ah it's the creaky door! We know what sound that is! That means
an /e/ must go next. Alright, half way there! rrrreeeennn! n/n is our next sound
we are, we are very close! rrrreeeennnnt! We know that /t/ sound, so let's put
it all together. In the four boxes I have, we have, /r/, /e/, /n/, /t/. What
does that spell, rent! Now it is your turn. You all are going to try this same
exact exercise as I just displayed with five different words: sent, met, bet,
fetch, bend. Remember, pay close attention to the creaky door and sound it out
very slowly so you do not miss a sound!! Y'all can do it!
4. Y'all did great! Now, we are going to continue focusing on that creaky door
sound by reading a new book! This book is called,
Red Gets Fed! I will provide a small
book talk (Red is very hungry and tries to go up to many family members to get
food. No one will give him food! What will he do next to get some food? Each
child will have a copy of the text and read quietly to themselves).
5. Did you all like the story? I sure did! Now, pull out your journals and we
are going to write a journal entry! I will give you two topics to choose from!
You can either write about your pet, if you have one, or tell me about what you
would have done to get some food if you were Red!
6. Assessment: Each student will have a worksheet that will help me determine if
they really understood the concept of this lesson. This worksheet has ten
questions on it. The first ten questions will have some words containing the
short /e/ and some that do not. I want the student to circle the ones that do
contain the short /e/ sound. The second half of the worksheet will have some
pseudo words that I want them to read outloud to me. If you ever hear the creaky
door sound, tell me! (This will be a good test for me to see if they really have
understood this short /e/ sound.)
References:
Haffarnan, Jessi (Fall 2006). E-e-e-Extra Ordinary. Retrieved March 14, 2007,
from Reading Genie Web site:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/haffarnanbr.html