B"ee" a Reader

By: Amy Spurlock
Last updated November 20, 2000

Materials:  One large bee hive drawn on poster board or butcher paper, enough bees for each student to have one (make bees using yellow and black construction paper), enough ee=/E/ words to write on each bee, tape to attach bees around the bee hive, ee=/E/ bingo cards, chalk board, chalk, the tongue twister Bees sleep deep in trees, the book Hide and Seek, primary paper

Procedure:
1. Hang the large bee hive on the wall and tape the bees around the bee hive.  Each bee should have a ee=/E/ word written on them such as sleep, keep, feed, tree, feet, etc.  Then review the long e vowel sound with the class.  “Listen as I make the ee=/E/ sound.”  “Lets all make the ee=/E/ sound together.”
2. Explain to the children that sometimes in words there maybe two e’s together side by side.  “Boys and girls when there are two e’s side by side they are like twin sisters and together they have the same sound.”  Have the word sleep written on the board as a model word.  “Who can tell me what this word it?”  “That’s Right”  “Even though there are two e’s they are twins so they make the same sound.”
3. “Let’s try a tongue twister.”  Have the tongue twister Bees sleep deep in trees written on the board with all the ee=/E/ underlined so the children can see the ee=/E/ sound.  “Everyone say it three times together.”
4. Then model writing ee on the board as well as a couple of other ee=/E/ words.  “Boys and girls let’s read these words together as a class.”  “Just like we did with the tongue twister.”
5. When we are done pronouncing the words on the board have each child get a bee off the wall and take it back to their desk.  Now, call on students to read the word on the bee they have selected.  If the child decodes the word correctly they can exchange their bee with another classmate who has done the same.  “I want each of you to read the word on the bee you have chosen and if you read it correctly you can then trade bees with someone else.”  Each child must exchange bees at least twice.
6.   For a review exercise, rewrite the same words on the board that the children read earlier.  “Boys and girls lets read these words together again.”  When they are done reading them have them write them on their primary paper.  “Boys and girls I want each of you to write the words that we just read on your primary paper.”
7. Give each student a copy of the book Hide and Seek and have the students read it.
8. For the assessment step, play ee=/E/ bingo.  Make bingo cards that have words in each box.  The words should be ones that have the ee=/E/ in them.  They should be some of the words that were in the tongue twister and book as well as the ones on the board that the children practiced writing.  Call out the words and the children will cover them up as they hear them.  The rules will be the same as a regular bingo game.

Reference:  Dean Scarbrough, Troy Elementary School, Troy, Al. 3rd grade, 1993

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