Rationale:

This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing i_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (fire and the hand gesture of fanning themselves), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i_e = /I/. 

 

Materials:

Graphic image of a fire truck and fire fighter; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smart board; Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: i, e, c, d, k, b, s, f, r, t, list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: kite, fire, ice, tire, bike, sick; decodable text:  The Bike Ride (focusing on i_e =/I/), 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 words with i like bit, and today we are going to learn about long I. Today we are going to learn about long I and the silent e signal that is used to make I say it’s name /I/.

 

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 the back of my throat is producing the sound while my tongue stays flat on the bottom of my mouth /I/. [Make vocal gesture for /I/.] I’ll show you first: tire. I heard I say its name and I felt the back of my throat make the /I/ sound [touch the back of your throat to show where the sound starts]. There is a long I in tire. Now I’m going to see if it’s in skit. Hmm, I didn’t hear i say its name and my tongue didn’t stay flat on the bottom of my mouth nor did my throat make that sound /I/. Now you try. If you hear /I/ say, “Fired up!” If you don’t hear /I/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in fire, hip, mice, trio, sail? [Have children raise their left pointer finger up they feel /I/ say its name in the back of their throat.]

 

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /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 strike? “If I strike the ball hard, it will go far.” Strike means hit in this sentence. To spell strike in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//t//r//I//k/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /I/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an i in the 4th box and the silent e signal outside the last box. 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//I//k/. I think I heard /t/ so I’ll put a t right after the s. One more before the /I/, hmm . . . /s//t//r//I//k/, 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//I//k/.] The missing one is /k/ = k.

 

 

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with three boxes for ice. Ice is frozen water. “We needed ice to keep our drinks cold.” 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. [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 /I/. Here’s the word: tire, “The fire truck has six tires.” [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: t – i – re and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: bike ; The boy learned how to ride his bike! [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 /I/ in it before you spell it: kick; It is not kind to kick your friend. Did you hear /I/? No! Right, because we don’t hear I say its name. We spell it with our short vowel i. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Model like this for the rest of the letterbox words. Now lets try 4 phonemes: drive; the drive took 5 hours! One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: strike. If I strike the ball hard, it will go farther. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word!

 

5.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 one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

 

6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Bike Ride. This is a story about Nate, who has been visiting Tim and Jan but lately, he is not much fun.  Can Tim and Jan come up with a plan to get their friend away from the television? Let’s pair up and take turns reading to find out how Tim and Jan come up with a plan. [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 The Bike Ride aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

 

7. Say: That was a fun story.  Who were the characters in the story? Right, Nate, Tim, and Jan. What was Nate's problem? He could not stop watching television! Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /I/=i, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some different pictures with the word of what it is next to them. Your job is to look at the pictures and the words, and decide which word has an /I/ in it. First try reading all the words underneath the picture, then choose the picture that has an /I/ in the word. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

 

Resources:

 

Hurdlow, Audrey, I scream you scream we all scream for “I”ce Cream! https://sites.google.com/site/hurdlowshelpfulreadinglessons/home/beginning-reading

 

Murray, G. (2004) Oh, I didn’t know!. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html

 

Assessment worksheet:

http://www.kidslearningstation.com/phonics/long-vowels/long-vowel-i-sounds-worksheet.asp

 

 

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