Beginning Reading
By: Leah B. Smith
Rationale:
In beginning reading, it is imperative that students learn to decode written words in order to become successful readers. Through decoding, children are able to gain sight words, which leads to enjoyable reading success. Because all words in the English language contain at least one vowel, it os of the utmost importance to teach these to children very early in reading instruction. During this lesson, the focus will be on the vowel correspondence e=/e/. This correspondence will be taught with a memorable letterbox lesson, which involves the use of gestures, tongue twisters, letterboses, and reading a decodable text.
Materials:
- Poster that displays the tongue twister: Everybody saw Eddie enter the elevator on the elephant!
- Picture of the letter e with a creaky door from Valerie Gilmore's Phoneme Pictures
- Dry erase board
- Dry erase markers
- Large letter boxes for teacher use
- Large letters for teacher use
- Letter boxes for each student
- Letters for each student: a, b, c, d, e, h, k, l, n, p, r, s, t
- A Copy of the book, Red Gets Fed for each student
- Overhead projector
- Word lists for each student of words spelled in the letterbox lessons:
3 boxes- pal, shed; 4 boxes- bent, track, test, sled; 5 boxes- blend, trend
Procedures:
- I will
begin
this lesson by explaining to the students the importance of knowing the
different sounds that letters, especially vowels, make in words because
this help us learn how to read. Today
we are going to learn about the vowel, e and the sound that it makes. Has anyone ever opened an old door and heard
the sound that it makes? Right! It says, 'eeeeeeeehhhh.'
Take a look at this picture. We'll
pretend that it is an old, creaky door.
- Now I'm going to pretend that I am opening a door, and I'm going to make the 'eeeehhh' sound when I do it. Model this for students. Did you hear the /e//sound? Give praise. Why don't we try it together?? Have students do this with you.
- To help us remember this sound, we
can
use a silly tongue twister with the 'eeehhh' sound.
Present the poster with the tongue twister to students. I'm going to read it first, and while I
read it, I want you to listen for that creaky /e/ sound! Read tongue twister to students, while
modeling opening the door as I say the /e/ sound. Let's
try it together. Give praise. Now, I want you to try it again, and this
time, let's really stretch that /e/ sound out and pretend to open that
creaky door! (Eeeeeeverbody saw
Eeeeeedie eeeeenter the eeeeeeelevator on the eeeeeelephant!) Great work! I
really heard that /e/ sound. Did you?
- Now, we are going to become word detectives, and we are going to try to find the /e/ sound in a few words. I'm going to say some words, and I need my detectives to tell me which word has the /e/ sound! Are you ready? Do you hear the /e/ sound in bag or beg? Pig or peg? Arm or leg? Allow students to give answers and provide praise for correct answers.
- Since you have done such a great
job as
a word detective, I think we are ready to get some extra practice using
our letter boxes! Everyone take out your
letter boxes and your letters! I will
also take out my letter boxes and letters and prepare to use them on
the overhead projector. Check to make sure
all students are ready to move on before moving ahead with the lesson. Ok, I'm going to spell the first word, but
I'm going to need your help. The first
word is egg. Ask for student's help
while doing this, but really model for them how to do it, so that those
who are unsure will have a clear understanding. Let
me think about the first sound I hear... Right! It's
the /e/ sound, so I'm going to place the e in my first letterbox. What the second sound I hear?
Right! It's g, so I'm going to
place the g in my second letterbox, but I'm actually going to put two
g's, since the word egg is spelled e-g-g.
- Now it's your turn. I will tell the students how many letterboxes they need for each word prior to giving them the word to spell. Your first word is fed. I will continue this process with each of the remaining words: 3- pal, shed, 4- bent, test, sled, track, and 5- blend, trend. If you need help, you may ask your neighbor, or you can raise your hand, and I will come to help you. Have students spell each of these words, while giving them ample time to complete each one before moving to the next. Great work boys and girls! Did everyone hear the /e/ sound in those words? I will walk around and monitor students' progress.
- One way of the very best ways to get better at reading is to practice! So, now I'm going to give you a list of the words that we just spelled, and we are going to read them together! Give each student a list of the words. Read each of the words aloud with the students, modeling appropriate decoding strategies when necessary.
- Since you are doing such a great job reading, we are going to keep up the good work and get some more practice so that we can be even better readers! Today, we are going to read the story, Red gets Fed. This story is about a dog named Red. Red is a very hungry and playful puppy, and all he wants to do is get fed. He looks and looks to try and find someone to feed him and make him happy! Will he be able to find someone? I guess you'll just have to read to find out! Pass out books to each student. Does everyone having their reading buddy next to them? Students have "reading buddies" or partners to read new stories so that they will have help if needed. Great! If you come across a word you don't know, you can ask your reading buddy for help, and if they don't know, raise your hand, and I will come by to help you! Really pay attention and look closely to find the letter e that makes the /e/ sound! If you finish reading before your friends do, it would be a good idea to read your book again, because how do we get better at reading? Right... We practice!
- Once students finish reading, direct
their
attention to the board. Ok boys and
girls, can anyone tell me any words that they came across in the story
that had the /e/ sound? Have students
provide these words and write them on the board, while requesting the
students' help in writing them. I love
the way that all of my friends were such great word detectives and
really found that /e/ sound in their story!
Assessment:
I
will take note of the students that participate in the class
discussion after
they have read the book and will be able to assess my students based on
their
ability to find the /e/ sound in Red gets Fed.
In addition, I will have them individually read this book,
and I will walk around the class and note various miscues the students
make of
the e=/e/ correspondence.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/gorebr.html
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/millerbr.html
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/phonpics.html