Red
Gets Fed
Beginning Reading Lesson Design
Rationale:
There are prerequisites to becoming a fluent reader. One being children
must
have the knowledge of the alphabetic principle, or the idea that
letters
represent phonemes and spellings map out phonemes in spoken
words.
Another prerequisite is knowledge of letter-sound correspondences. This
allows
children to be successful in decoding words. Another is being able to
decode
words with appropriate speed and ease. Short vowels are one of
the first
letter-sound correspondences taught in beginning reading
instruction.
This lesson is aimed at helping children identify the correspondence e
=
/e/. Children will learn the sound that makes by learning a
meaningful
representation, and they will learn to identify /a/ in spoken
words. In
addition, children will learn to spell and read words with the e =
/e/
correspondence through the use of a letterbox lesson and by reading a
new book.
Materials:
1. Primary paper and pencils for each child
2. Letterboxes and letters (e, g, f, d, p, t, w, b, n, h, l, s, t, c,
r) (1 set
per child)
3. Chart with the tongue twister—"Everyone saw Eddie and the Eskimo
enter
the elevator on the elephant"—written on it.
4. Large Elkonin letterboxes and letters for teacher
5. Copies of Red Gets Fed for each student (Educational
Insights)
6. List of words used in letterbox lesson (2-{eg}, 3-{fed, pet, web,
ten},
4-{help, dent, nest}, 5-{crept, blend, spent})
7. Chalk
8. Handout with pictures of the color red, eggs, a web, the number ten,
and a
nest (also include pictures of words without the e = /e/
correspondence)
Procedures:
1. Introduce the lesson. Explain to the students that they are
going to
learn about the letter e and its corresponding sound. Write the
letter e
on the board. "Good morning boys and girls! Today we are
going
to learn about the letter e and the sound it makes; e says /e/. The letter e is a vowel that we see
in many words and that makes it a very special letter! I am sure
that you
remember the other vowel that we learned last week, a.
Does anyone
know why the letter e is so important? We find the
letter
e in so many words like red, nest, ten, and smell.
Today, we
are going to learn how to spell and read words that have an e who
makes
the sound /e/."
2. Show children a gesture for remembering e = /e/.
"Has anyone ever been trying to talk to someone that is far away, like
outside or in another room? Well, I have too, and sometimes I have a
hard time
hearing them that far away. Have you ever had a hard time hearing
someone? What
do you do to try to hear them better? Well, I usually cup my hand
behind my ear
and say /e/ (model the gesture for the class). Have you ever done that?
Of
course you have! I want everyone to do that together. I am going to say
something
really low and if you can’t hear me cup your hand behind your ear and
say /e/.
(Pretend to say something really low.) Good! Perfect! Well that just
happens to
be the exact sound the letter e makes. So every time you hear the /e/
sound I
want you to cup your hand behind your ear. Okay! Is everybody ready to
start? I
am going to read a tongue twister so you can practice.”
3. Practice finding /e/ in spoken words. "Before
we do
our tongue twister, I want you to practice finding /e/ in spoken words.
Listen
carefully to the words I say. Do you hear /e/ in eggs or apple? In
help or hurt? Ten or eleven ?
Wonderful!"
4. Direct the children’s attention to the tongue-twister chart.
First, model
for them. Read the tongue twister aloud and make the hand gesture every
time
you hear /e/. Then have them practice saying it with you a couple of
times.
Remember to stretch the /e/. Remind them to make their hand gesture
when they
hear /e/. "Now we are going to practice the /e/ sound
by
saying a really goofy tongue twister together. I am going to read
it once
to you and then you say it with me. Remember to cup your hand behind
your ear
every time you hear /e/. Perfect! Now let's say it again, but this
time, I
want you to really stretch out the /e/ in each word. Everyone
saw
Eddie and the Eskimo enter the elevator on the elephant. Did
everyone hear
the /e/ sound? Great!"
5. Hand
out the letters and the letterboxes to
every student. Explain that each box represents a sound. Tell the
students that
every time you say a word, they are to listen to the sounds in that
word and
place the appropriate letters in the boxes to make the word you say.
Model this
for them by placing the letter b while saying /b/ in the first
box, e
while saying /e/ in the next box, and d while saying /d/ in
the last
box to make the word bed. "Today, we are going to do a
letterbox lesson using e = /e/. Everyone turn your
letters over so
that only the lowercase sides are showing. Each of your boxes
represents
a sound in a word. Be sure to listen so that you can hear how
many boxes
you will use for each word. I will show you an example of how to
spell a
word. I will spell bed. For my word, I have three
sounds.
So, I am going to use three boxes. First I hear /b/, so b goes
in the
first box. Next, I hear /e/, so e goes in the second box.
Finally, I
hear /d/, so d goes in the last box.” Proceed with the
letterbox
lesson. Start with two phoneme words and move up to five phoneme
words. Say the words—egg, pet, web, ten, help, dent, test, crept,
blend,
and spent—one at a time, allowing the students to create the words in
their
letterboxes. Remind them again that the boxes are not necessarily for
individual letters, but for sounds. Be sure to give students enough
time to
attempt each spelling on their own. Walk around the room and observe,
assisting
any students who need help. If a student misspells a word, pronounce
the word
as it appears and ask the student to fix the word. After checking each
student’s work, model the correct spelling for each word (just like you
did bed)
in your large letterboxes to the entire class. Remember: Do not have
the
students read the words while in the letterboxes.
6. After the
students have
spelled the words, have them read the words as you spell
them. Make each
word with your large letters and have the class read it aloud. Do not
use the
letterboxes for this part of the lesson. (You may decide to write the
word on
the chalkboard if it is inconvenient to make it with your letters.)
"Okay boys and girls, now that all of you have spelled the words, you
are
going to get to read them. I am going to spell them for you.
After I
spell them I want you to read them." Pay close attention to
each
child and assess their ability in reading the words. If a child
cannot
read a word, the teacher should use body-coda blending (vowel first) to
facilitate reading.
7. Hand out copies of Red Gets Fed to each student. Give a
brief book
talk. "Boys and girls now for the really fun part! You are
actually going to read a book all on your own! Today we are going to
read Red
Gets Fed. Red is Meg’s dog and he gets hungry, but Meg is sleeping.
Red
goes into Meg’s room and begs for her to get up and fed him. So finally
Meg
does get up and fed Red. Well, there is one problem. Red is still
hungry after
eating what Meg fed him so now he goes to dad’s room, but dad is sound
asleep.
To find out if Red gets fed again, you’ll have to read the book Red
Gets
Fed.”
8. Have
students read Red Gets Fed. Walk
around the room to observe. "Now, I want everyone to read
the
book, and while you read I will be walking around the room to
listen to
your reading."
9. Pass out the picture handout and help the students identify them.
"Everyone look at the picture handout. Let's see if we can help
one
another identify the pictures." The teacher should walk
around
the room and make sure each child identifies the pictures.
10. Have each
student write a
message while other students are being called to the teacher's desk.
"I am going to pass out the primary paper and you will need a pencil. I
want you to think about a food that you really, really like to eat just
like
Red who loved his dog food. After you’ve thought about it, write a
message
about what it is and why you like it so much.”
Assessment:
For assessment, each child should individually come up to the teacher's
desk. Each child should bring the picture handout and a pencil.
According
to the teacher’s instructions, each student should be assessed on the
understanding that e = /e/. The teacher should say, "I
want
you to circle all of the pictures that show words containing /e/.
Then, I
want you to look at the pictures that you’ve circled and choose one
word that
you would like to write. For example, you would write red for
this
picture (pointing to the picture of the color red)." Be sure to
provide primary paper. The teacher should grade each child
according to their ability to identify the pictures representing words
with
/e/, as well as their ability to recognize and write a word that
includes the
letter e. For other assessment, the teacher could have
each
student individually read Red Gets Fed and take a running
record of the
student's miscues.
Sources:
1. Red
Gets Fed. Educational Insights, 1990.
2. Eldredge, J. Lloyd, Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms. Upper
Saddle
River, NJ. 1995.
3. Murray, B.A., & Lesniak, T. (1999). The Letterbox Lesson: A
hands-on
approach for teaching decoding. The Reading Teacher, 52, 644-650
4. Jennifer Adams, Jack the Fat Cat http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/innov/adamsbr.html
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