Eddy the Elephant

Beginning Reader

Ashley Forster

Rationale:

For beginner readers it is important that the student realizes whole words are comprised of individual letters and that these individual letters has one or more phonemes. It is imperative that children understand that vowels are in every word. In this lesson the correspondence e=/e/ is taught with a letterbox lesson. In this lesson there will be a gesture and a tongue twister to go along with the correspondence. By the end of the lesson the student will be able to spell and read the words from the letterbox lesson.

Materials:

-          Primary paper.

-          Pencils

-          Magnetic letterboxes for teacher (5 squares total).

-          Dry erase board and markers.

-          Large magnetic letters “ b, c, d, e, h, I, n, p, r, s, s, t, w.

-          Individual letterboxes for each student (5 squares total).

-          Individual letters (same as the teacher's letters).

-          Copies of Red Get Fed for the whole class.

-          "Eddy the Elephant Enjoys riding Elevators with Eggs" on a sentence strip for the board.

-          Blank sentence strip for writing the letter e.

Procedure:

1. I will begin the lesson by explaining the importance of individual letter sounds and introducing the letter correspondence for the lesson.  "Today we are going to learn about the sound the vowel “e makes.  There are lots of words that we use everyday that have the letter “e in them.  Let's all say /e/ together.  Very good!  It sounds just like an old creaky door (showing a picture of a door). Lets all pretend we are opening a creaky door while making the sound ready eeeeeeee. Good job!"
2. "Now let's practice writing the letter e. (I will write it on the dry erase board that has a large sentence strip). Start at the bottom and make a c up to the fence, then connect back to the center of the c" (I will demonstrate this on the blank sentence strip). "Very good!" (I will be walking around after my demonstration, to make sure they are writing it correctly on the primary paper I have passed out to them).
3. "Now let's go back to the sound the letter e makes. I have a silly tongue twister that I would like everyone to say with me (I will point to the sentence strip on the board). Eddy the Elephant Enjoys riding Elevators with Eggs. Very good."
4. Let's try it one more time and let's pretend we are opening the creaky door when we hear the /e/ sound. Eeeeddy the Eeeeelephant Eeeeenjoy riding Eeeeelavtaors with Eeeeggs. Good job!!"
5. "So now that we all know how to write and say the letter e, I am going to say some words out loud and I want to you to raise you hand and tell me if you can hear the /e/ sound in them, ready? Red or blue? Tell or tall? Arm or leg? Beg or bag?" (If answered wrong go back and allow the student to say the two words aloud, which one sounds like it has the creaky door in it, praise when correct answer is said.
6. "Boys and girls you did very well on finding the sound and letter e in those words! Now let's try and spell some words using our letter boxes (I will place four letter boxes on the board to begin). All right everyone get out four letterboxes and all your letters. Let's practice one together, everyone spell "bless" with me. Some of you will notice that there are only four boxes and five letters in bless. When you feel your mouth only move once like with the double "ss" you put them together in the last box. Now I want you to try some on your own" (I will give them the word, then allow time for everyone to do it in their letter boxes, I will walk to check. I will then do the word on the board with my letters then give them the next word, until we finish the lesson, the words they will be spelling are 4-[chest, nest, send, went] and 5-[spend, trend].
7. "Boys and girls you did very good working with your letterboxes, now I am going to write the words, we just spelled, up on the board and let's say them together!" (I will write all the words on the board and read them together as a class, listening closely to the sound e).
8. "I have a book called Red Gets Fed. It is about a dog named Red, who wants to eat, so he tries to wake Meg and her dad. Do you think he will get fed? Let's read to find out!" (At this time I will pass out the books to the class). "Follow along as I read. See if you can spot any /e/ sounding words!" (I will then read the book aloud walking around to make sure the student is keeping up with me).
9. "You did very good following along with me, while I read. Did anyone hear some /e/ sounds while we read? Raise your hand if you can tell me a word" (I will give praise if correct and positive scaffolding if incorrect word is said). "Very good boys and girls I am so proud of the work you have done today."
10. My individual assessment will be based on the discussion after reading Red Gets Fed. Their ability to find the letter e and hear the sound /e/, will show their comprehension of my lesson and the correspondence /e/.

References:

Red Gets Fed Educational Insights, Carson, CA 1990.