Ehhh? What Was Said?
Beginning Reading Design
Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence of e = /e/. In order to be able to read fluently and effortlessly, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. This will keep students from relying on contextual guessing. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the short vowel e. They will learn a tongue tickler, as well as a meaningful representation by putting their hands cupped around their ears and saying “eh?” They will learn to spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson. They will then apply their learned correspondences by reading a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence e = /e/.
Materials:
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Graphic image of a man cupping his hand around his ear because he did not hear something
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Cover-up critter
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Whiteboard and marker for modeling
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Class set of letterboxes (Elkonin boxes)
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Class set of letter tiles
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Magnetic or smartboard letters for the teacher
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Word list: 2 phonemes - {egg}; 3 phonemes – {peck, rep, tap, web}; 4 phonemes – {desk, clef, rent, last}; 5 phonemes – {spent}
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Letters: e, g, p, c, k, t, a, r, w, b, l, s, n, g, d, f
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List of spelling words on poster (pseudowords sep and pleft) and poster with the word crept
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Decodable Text: Peg the Hen
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Assessment worksheet
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Pencils
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Scissors
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Glue
Procedures:
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Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. Today we are going to learn about short vowel e! Short e makes the sound /e/. When I say /e/, think about someone who could not hear what you said. “Ehhh? What was said?” Can you cup your hand around your ear like you could not hear me and say “ehhh?” [Show graphic image.] Try it!
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Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /e/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I say /e/ in words, my mouth is open with my tongue resting at the bottom of my mouth while the sides of my mouth stretch, and I make the sound in the back of my throat. [Make vocal gesture for /e/.] Let’s practice saying /e/ with a tongue tickler. Eddie and the Eskimo were very adventurous. One day they decided they were going to ride an elephant. While they were on the elephant, they decided to see if they could fit on an elevator. Everyone saw them and could not believe it. So, this is our tongue tickler: Everybody saw Eddie and the Eskimo enter the elevator on the elephant. Now, stretch the /e/ sounds. Eeedie and the Eeeskimo eeenter the eeelevator on the eeelephant. Now, you try to say it by yourself. I’ll try to help you find /e/ in words now. Here is our first word: bed. I heard e make the /e/ sound, and my mouth opened while the sides of my mouths stretched. There is a short e in bed. Now, I’m going to see if I can find it in band. Hmm, I didn’t hear e make an /e/ sound. Now you try! If you hear /e/, say “What was said?” If you don’t hear /e/, say “that’s not it” Pet? Dog? Met? Nat? Rip? Net? Rep? Is it in bet, cat, sped, dot, end, tip, red? [Have children cup their hand around their ear when they feel /e/ make its /e/ sound.]
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Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /e/. We spell /e/ with the letter e. [Write the letter e on the board.] What if I want to spell the word bed? “I was so tired that I was in bed until ten o’clock.” To spell the word bed in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes there are in the word. Let’s stretch out the word and count: /b//e//d/. I need 3 boxes. I heard /e/ right after /b/ and just before the /d/, so I will put e in the 2nd box. The word starts with /b/, so I will put the letter b in the 1st box. The word ends with /d/, so I will put d in the 3rd box. Let’s read the word in the boxes. /b/ /e/ /d/. Bed!
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Say: Now, we are going to spell some words in letterboxes. You are going to start with two boxes. Our first word is egg. “I cook a fried egg for breakfast every morning.” What goes in the first box? [Student responds.] What goes in the second box? Remember, more than one letter can go in a box. It is all about how many sounds that the letters make. The letterboxes help us split up the sounds in words. [Walk around and observe.] For our next five words, you are going to need three letterboxes. Remember to listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box, and then listen for /e/. Our word is peck. “I saw the bird peck at its food.” [Wait for students to spell the word.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Let’s check our work! Watch how I spell peck using my letterboxes: p-e-c-k. Did you spell it the same way? Awesome! Now let’s try to spell another word. The word is rep. “Corey was chosen as the rep of his team.” [Have a 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 closely because some of these words are review words and may not have the /e/ sound in them. The next word is tap, like “I felt someone tap my shoulder.” Do you need e to spell tap? Right, we need crying baby a instead. [Volunteer spells it on the front board.] Let’s do one more three box word. The word is web. “The spider spun its web” [Volunteer spells it on the front board.] Continue this with the remaining 4 and 5 phoneme /e/ words and review words: desk, clef, rent, last, spent.
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Say: Now, I am going to let you read all of the words you just spelled, but I am going to show you how I would read a tough word before you do that. [Display poster with crept on it and model reading the word.] 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.] /c//r/ = /cr/ + /e/ = /cre/. Let’s add our last two letters, p and t: /p//t/=/pt/. Now let’s put it all together: c-r-e-p-t, so /crept/. Crept; that’s it! Now it’s your time to try. [Show students the poster of words: egg, peck, rep, tap, web, desk, clef, rent, last, spent; pseudowords: sep, pleft. Then have students repeat the words in unison. Afterwards, let every student read one on their own.]
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Say: You’ve done a great job at learning our new sound, /e/! Now, we are going to read a book called Peg the Hen. Peg decides to go on a trip in this story. She hops in her jet to go for a flight. However, Peg will have a very interesting flight. Do you think she will have some trouble? Will the weather be good? Will there be anything in her way? Will she have fun? You will have to read to find out! If you come to a word that you are not sure about, finish the sentence to see if you can figure it out. If you still do not know, use your cover-up critter to break up the word. If you still do not know, ask your partner or me for the word. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternating pages while teacher walks around to monitor progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Peg the Hen aloud together, and stops between pages and turns to talk about the plot.]
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Say: That was a funny story! Did you notice how Peg had so much trouble flying? At least she ended up landing in her bed when she fell! Before we finish up our lesson on e = /e/, we are going to do a worksheet. On this worksheet, there will be five sentences for you to read out. There are five pictures at the bottom of the page. Once you read a sentence, look at the five pictures at the bottom of the page and pick the picture that best goes with that sentence. You will cut the picture out and glue it in the box beside the sentence. You will do this for all five sentences. Make sure you read each sentence carefully before you choose the picture that goes with it. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
References:
Kendall Mckone “Creepy, Creaky E”
https://kendallmckone1.wixsite.com/educationalportfolio/beginning-reading
Assessment Worksheet
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Peg the Hen. Starfall Publications, 2004.
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