Reading Lessons by Sarah Northcutt 

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ee= /E/. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling ee. They will learn a meaningful representation (cars saying BEEP!) they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ee= /E/. 

 

Materials: Graphic image of Cars honking, cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard  Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter  manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher, b,e,m,t,k,p,l,s,p,d,r; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bee, met, peel, keep, speed, street ; decodable text: Sheep in a Jeep  and assessment worksheet. 

 

Procedures:

 

1. Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read short vowel worlds with e, like Ted, and today we are going to learn about long E and when two e’s are next to each other it makes the /E/ sound. When two vowels are following each other, there is a saying that says, “the first vowel does the talking.” Think of a car playing its horn and it goes “BEEP!!!” [ show graphic image]

 

1. Say: before we learn about the spelling of /E/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /E/ in words, I hear e say its name /E/ when ­­­­­­you’re lips go out wide and you’re tongue touches or gets close to the back of your bottom teeth.  [Make vocal gesture for /E/.] ill show you first: Beep. I heard e shape and I felt my lips go out long, side to side, and my tongue touch the back of my bottom teeth. There is a long E in beep. Now I’m going to see if it’s in send. I didn’t hear e say its name and my lips didn’t go out wide to make the long E sound. Now you try. If you here /E/ say, “Beep, Get out of my way!” if you don’t hear /E/ say, That’s not it.” Is it in deep, land, kind, keep, peel, dip?  [ have children push out on the corner of their lips out wide when they feel /E/ say its name.]

 

1. Say: now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /E/ is with the two-letter e’s following each other to tell me to say E’s name. [ write ee on the board.] When two vowels follow each other, the first vowel does the talking and says its name.  what if I want to spell the word street? “If you turn on the next street, you will be there. To spell street in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I strtch it out and count: /s/ /t/ /r/ /E/ /t/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /E/ just before the /t/ so I’m going to put two ee’s in the 4th box together. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s/ /t/ /r/ /E/ /t/. I think I heard /t/ so I;; put a t right after the t. one more before the /E/… /s/ /t/ /r/ /E/ /t/, I think I heard growling /r/ so I need an r. I have one empty box now. (Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s/ /t/ /r/ /E/ /t/. the missing one is the /t/ = t            

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          STREET

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1. Say: now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out  with two boxes for bee. A Bee is short for bumblebee, “There are a lot of bees in the summertime. “What should go in the first box? [ respond to children’s answer]. What does in the second box? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [observe progress]. You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /E/. Here’s the word: Keep, you are able to keep that toy; keep. [ allow children to spell words.] time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: k-ee-p and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: peel; will you peel my banana for me? [ Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /E/  in it before you spell it: met; Have you met the new student yet? Do you need two e’s? why not? right, because we don’t hear e say its name. We spell it with short vowel e. now let’s try 4 phonemes: speed; the speed limit is slow right here. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes; street; If you turn on the next street, you will be there. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

 

1. Say: now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word.   [ display poster with Street on the top and model reading the word.] first I see there is two e’s in the middle of the word. That is my signal that the vowel is saying its name. it must say /E/. I’m going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [ uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] s//t/= /st/ + /r/= /str/.  Now I am going to blend that with /E/= /strE/ now all I need is the nd, /t/= /street/. Street; that’s it. Now it is your turn, everyone together. [ Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

 

 

1. Say: you’ve done a great job and reading word with our new spelling for /E/:ee. Now we are going to read a book called Sheep in a jeep. This is a story about sheep riding in a jeep. They go up a steep hill and get stuck. Then the sheep have to get our of the jeep and push it. As they push it, it gets stuck in mud. Will the sheep get the jeep out of the mud? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Sheep in a Jeep and see if the sheep get the jeep unstuck.  [ students pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Sheep in a Jeep aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot. 

2. Say: that was a fun story. Did the sheep get the jeep unstuck? Right, they did but then they ran into a tree and sold the jeep. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /E/= ee, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, is a cross word puzzle with /E/ words with /ee/. Your job is to find where the words go so they match in the correct spot. First look at all the words that you are in the crossword puzzle and figure out how many phonemes they have and how many boxes they will take up. Reread your answers to see if they make sense and that each word fits correct in its spot. [ collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

 

Teaching ideas: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/teaching-ideas/

 

  Murray, G. (2004) Reading Genie: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/geniebooks/

 

 Assessment worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/EE-and-EA-Worksheets-Activities-NO-PREP-1659800?utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest&utm_campaign=tailwind_tribes&utm_content=tribes

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