Rationale: This lesson will teach children about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. Beginning readers must learn the sequence o letters in a written word maps out the sequence of phonemes in a spoken word. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words contained the spelling i_e. They will learn a meaningful hand gesture (Raise hand in a salute as in “Aye, aye Captain”). They will spell and read word containing this spelling in a Letterbox Lesson and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i_e = /I/.

​

Materials: Cover-up critter, whiteboard or smartboard, Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student, letter tiles for each child, electronic letters for teacher; list of spellings word on whiteboard to read: ice, time, five, chirp, smile, tribe, strike, pseudoword list: bire, fim, tite decodable text: Kite Day at Pine Lake https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1172076/files/142439474/download?wrap=1

​

Procedures:

1. Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have learned to read short vowel words with i, like win, and today we are going to learn about long I and the silent e signal that is used to make I say its name, /I/. When I say /I/ I think of pirate saying aye, aye Captain (While doing the hand salute gesture). [Show them this gesture and have the students reflect it.]

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /I/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /I/ in words, I hear I say its name /I/ and my mouth opens to make a big o shape like this. [Make vocal gesture for /I/.] I’ll show you first: bike. I heard I say its name, and I felt my lips make a big o [Make a circle motion around open mouth.] There is a long I in bike. Now I’m going to see if it’s in tick. Hmm, I didn’t hear I say its name and my lips didn’t make that open o. now you try. If you /I/ say, “Aye, aye captain.” If you don’t hear /I/ say, “I don’t like it.” Is it in lips, rain, tire, fly, blue? [Have children make salute hand gesture when they hear /I/]

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling /I/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /I/ is with the letter i and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say I’s name. [Write i_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after i, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word spike? “I will spike the ball down to stop the game-time.” To spell spike in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /s//p//I//k/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /I/ just before the /k/, so I’m going to put an i in the third box and the silent e outside the last box. The word starts with /s/. I need an s. Now it’s going to get a little difficult, so I’m going to say it slowly, /s//p//I//k/. Ah, I heard a /p/ right after the s. So, I’ll put a p right after the s and one more after the /I/, hmm… /s//p//I//k/. I think I heard /k/, so I need an k for my last empty box. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//p//I//k/.]     

                                                               

1. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some word in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ice. “I would like ice in my tea please.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes int eh first box. Then listen for the /I/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: time, I checked the time and it is 10 o’clock, time. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the boards; t-i-m-e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: five, my dog is five years old, five [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Now let’s work with 4 phonemes, so you should have 4 boxes now. Listen to see if this word /I/ in it before you spell it: tribe, the Spokane tribe are from Northwest United States, tribe. This one can be tricky, so try to listen for growling(rrr) sound. For this last spelling you will need five boxes:  strike, I love when I get a strike in bowling, strike. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

2. 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 strike on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel i. It must say /I/. 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’m going to blend that with /I/ = /strI/. Now all I need is the end, /k/ = /strIk/. Strike; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have children read words in unison.]  [Afterwards, call on individuals to read a pseudoword on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

3. Say: You’ve all done an amazing job and reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now we are going to read a book called Kite Day at Pine Lake. This is a story of a boy named Bob who sees many of his friends have kites to fly at the lake, but he is sadden because he does not have a kite of his own. His friends see that Bob doesn’t have one and what happens next? We will see. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Kite Day at Pine Lake to find out what Bob’s friends do for him. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Kite Day at Pine Lake aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

4. Say: That was a fun story. What did Bob’s friend do for him? Made him a kite! Did the friends have to do that? No, but why did they?. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /I/ = i_e, On this worksheet, we have some words and a picture. Your job is to look at each word and decide if it make the long vowel /I/ sound. First try reading the word, and then check to see it makes sense with the picture. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

Murry, G. (2004) Oh, I didn’t know. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/murraybr.htm

Assessment worksheet: https://cdn.education.com/worksheet-image/1447395/read-find-long.gif

Briles, P. Cushman, S. Komblum, R (1990). Kite Day at Pine Lake.  https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1172076/files/142439474/download?wrap=1

Reading Genie Advancements, http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/advancements/