The
Not-So-Scary Creaky Door!
Lesson
For Teaching Emergent Literacy
By:
Meaghan Lambert
Rationale:
In order for
children to begin to read, they must have the essential phonemic
awareness
ability. Children must be able to
identify phonemes in both spoken words as well as texts. Vowels are the
easiest
to begin with when teaching phonemes.
This lesson is designed for children to identify the short e=/e/
sound
in spoken words. The short e=/e/ sound
is one of the most common vowels used in the English language, so it is
an
important correspondence to focus on!
Materials:
*
Primary
writing paper
*
Pencils
*
Cards
with
words with short e=/e/ on them (see below)
*
Chart
with
tongue twister
*
Red,
and
green crayons for every student
*
Red Gets
Fed,
1.
Ask
the students if they have ever heard a
door that was really noisy, or creaky?
When they are opened or closed, they make an /e/ sound don't
they?
2.
"Let's
pretend that we are opening our
creaky door, and practice that /e/ sound together [Open our imaginary
creaky
door.] Sometimes when we think of a
creaky door, we think of a scary movie, don't we? Well,
our creaky door that we open is not so scary because it
helps us remember an important sound that we see/hear in words."
3.
"Let's
all look at our chart and read the
tongue twister. Eddie the
elephant always begs for eggs.
Let's all repeat our tongue twister together two more times! But the last time, lets stretch out the /e/
sounds in the words, and say them slow.
"Eeeeedie the eeeeeeleeeephant always beeeeegs for eeeeeeegs." Great job!!! I
really like how everyone is participating!"
4.
[Have
all of the students take out their
primary writing paper and a pencil].
"Can anyone tell me what they think the letter is we can use to
make our
/e/ sound? [Allow time for students to
answer, until someone reaches the correct answer].
Now, lets all practice together writing our letter e. To start, get in the center of the space
below the
fence; go toward the door (or window), up to touch the fence, around
and up."
5.
"We
are going to play a game, I am going to
say two words, and you tell me which word has the /e/ sound in it. Raise your hand to answer.
Do you hear /e/ in ball or pet? Red
or blue? Mess or clean?
Test or
study?" [Also ask the students to tell
you how they know the answer].
6.
[Now
have the class line up horizontally
facing you somewhere in the room].
"Since you did so well on the first game, we are now going to
play
another game! I am going to say some
more words that may or may not have the /e/ sound in them.
If I say a word with the /e/ sound, everyone
take a baby step towards me. If it does
not have the /e/ sound in it, then freeze! [Continue saying words with
the /e/
sounds in them and also words like cat, or pit that do not have the
short e in
them]."
7.
Next read the
book Red Gets Fed to
the class and talk about the story.
When you read the book the second time, each time there is a
word with
/e/ in it, have the students use an imaginary spoon and scoop up
imaginary food
to their mouth. [This is a quiet "calm
down" from the activity where they are moving around].
References:
Modification of
activity in the following book:
Linse,
Caroline. 20 Fun-Filled Games That
Build Early Reading Skills: Quick and
Easy
Literacy
Games
That Get Emergent Readers Off to a Great Start! Scholastic
Inc., New York, NY.
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