The Interesting Iguana
Beginning
Reading
Gina Reynolds
Rationale: The goal of this lesson is to teach the i= /i/ correspondence. During the
lesson, the children will learn that i=/i/
by teaching a meaningful representation and they will learn to identify spoken words with /i/. Children
will also learn to spell and
read words with i=/i/ by teaching a
letterbox lesson and reading a new book.
Materials:
1. Primary paper and pencils for each child
2. Letterboxes and letters (i, s, t,
n, l, p, k, f, a, e, g, m, k, and
w)
3. Chart with "The interesting iguana went inside the pit filled with
insects."
4. Large Elkonin letterboxes and letters for teacher
5. Copies of Liz is Six for each student (Educational Insights)
6. List of words used in letterbox lesson (2-{is}, 3-{lip, fit},
4-{spin, swim,
gift}, 5-{print})
7. Chalk
8. Handout with pictures of a fish, a twig, an inch, a kid, and a pig
(also
include pictures of words without the i = /i/ correspondence)
Procedures:
1. Introduce the lesson by explaining to the students that they are
going to
learn about the letter i and its corresponding sound. "We are
going to learn i = /i/. The letter i is a vowel
that we see
in many words. So far we have learned a and e.
But i is
important because we find it
in so many words like milk, hit, kick, and drip. Today, we are
going to
learn how to spell and read words that have i = /i/."
2. Show children a gesture for remembering i =
/i/.
"Have you ever gotten something really sticky on your hands, like
glue? Well, to remember the /i/ sound, I want you to make this
motion
with your hands. (Model rubbing your hands together as if
something is
stuck on them.) Great!”
3. Have children direct their attention
to the
tongue-twister chart. "To practice our /i/ sound, let's say a
tongue-twister. Listen first and then we’ll say it together. "The
interesting iguana went inside the pit filled with insects." Now lets say it together.
Great job!
This time, lets make our icky sticky motion when you hear /i/
and really
stretch out the /i/ in each word. The iiiinteresting iiiiguana
went
iiiinside the piiiit fiiiilled wiiiith iiiinsects. Did
everyone
hear the /i/ sound? Great!"
5. Hand out the letters and letterboxes to each student.
Words
included are is, lip, fit, spin, swim, gift, and
print. Review words are
lap
and peg. "Today, we are going to do a letterbox lesson
using i
= /i/. Everyone turn your letters over so that only the lower
case 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. My
word
has three phonemes, so I am going to use three boxes.
My word is sit and
this is how I am going
to spell it. Ssssss, ok I know /s/ is s so I’m going to put the s in the first box.
Sssssiiiii,
the second sound is /i/ and I
know that is the i sound so I
am going to put the i in the
second
box. Sssssiiiiiitttt.
And I know that the /t/ sound belongs to t
so I’m going to put the t in
the last box.
Sssiiittt. Sit.
Now, I
am going to show you how to read a word.
Ok, I know that i says
/i/ and I know that l says
/l/, so
lets put
them together llii. And I know that f
says /f/ so lets add that. Lliiff. We’re almost there. And
I know that t says /t/ so
lets put that
on the end. Lliifftt.
Lift" The
teacher will
then start the letterbox lesson. Start with two phoneme words and
move up
to five phoneme words. After each word is spelled, the teacher
should
walk around the room to check each student's work. If a student
misspells
a word, the teacher should pronounce the word as it appears and ask the
student
to fix the word. After the
spelling of each word, the teacher writes the word on the chalkboard.
6. After spelling all of the words, have students read the words as
the
teacher spells them. "After everyone has spelled all of the
words, we are going to read them. I am going to use my large
letters to
spell the words, and you will read them." The teacher should pay
close attention to each student to assess whether or not the child is
able to
read each word. If a child cannot read a word, the teacher should
use
body-coda blending to facilitate reading.
7. Hand out copies of "Liz is Six "to each student.
"Now, that all of you are expert readers and spellers we are going to
read
a story called Liz is Six. This book is about Liz, a
little girl
who is having a birthday party. One of her presents is a
mitt. She
and her friend, a pig, play a game of softball with Liz's new
mitt. Pig
hits the ball toward Liz, but can Liz catch it? We need to read
the book
to find out what happens!"
8. Have students read "Liz is Six." "Everyone is
going to read the book. While you read, I will be walking around
the room
to hear your reading."
9. Help the students identify the pictures on the
handout.
"Everyone take out your picture handout. Let's help one another
identify the pictures that have /i/ in them." The teacher should
walk around the room and make sure each child has identified the
pictures.
10. Have each student write a message while other students are
being called
to the teacher's desk. "I want each of you to think about
your
most favorite activity. For example, in our story, Liz enjoyed
playing
softball. After you have chosen your activity, write a message."
Assessment:
For assessment, each child should individually come
up to
the teacher's desk. Each child should bring the picture
handout.
The teacher may say, "I want you to circle all of the pictures that
show
words containing /i/. Then, I want you to choose a word that you
would
like to write." (Provide primary paper.) For other
assessment, the teacher could have each student individually read Liz
is Six.
The teacher could take a running record of the student's miscues.
Sources:
1. Eldredge, J. Lloyd, Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms.
2. http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/connect/williamsbr.html. Icky Sticky Iguana by Andrea Williams
3. http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/insp/ritterbr.html. Icky
Sticky!!!! by Shannon Ritter
4.www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/insp/hillbr.html. Icky
Sticky Pig by Courtney Hill.
5. Murray, B.A., & Lesniak, T. (1999). The Letterbox Lessoon: A
hands-on
approach for teaching decoding. The
6. Liz is Six. Educational Insights, 1990.
Return to Innovations