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Beginning Reader Design

By: Hannah Hardin

The cake was "ehhhh" because of the extra eggs

 

 

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   Rationale: This lesson teaches students the short vowel correspondence e = /e/. In order for children to be able to become good readers, they must first learn vowel correspondences and be able to recognize and pronounce words by their spelling maps. In this particular lesson, students will learn to recognize, spell, and read words that have the e = /e/ correspondence. The children will learn the meaningful representation of the cake was ehhhhh because of the extra eggs, spell and read words in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence e = /e/. 

 

   Materials:

  1. Image of cake 

  2. Cover-up critter

  3. Whiteboard

  4. Letterboxes for each student

  5. Letter tiles for each student and magnetic letters for teacher: n,e,s,t,d,k,j,l,g,h,w,b,p,t,v

  6. Poster board with the words for the children to spell: nest, desk, jet, leg, hen, web, help, test, vent, bend.

  7. Decodable text: Red Gets Fed

  8. Assessment worksheet - 

 

   Procedures:

  1. Say: “Today we are going to learn the short e sound. When I say /e/, I want you to think of the picture of the cake. It looks delicious, but let's pretend that this cake does not taste very good because the baker put too many eggs in it.  Let's say this phrase together: the cake was ehhhhh because of the extra eggs." (Have the class repeat it three times). Say: "Now, let's add a step. When you hear the /e/ sound, I want you to hold your hand up to your mouth like you just ate something you did not like." (Have students practice that step). Say: "Now let’s take a look at which letters make the /e/ sound”. (Have the children point out the letter e when they see it in the sentence written on the whiteboard). 

  2. Say: “Now we are going to listen for the sound /e/ in some words. When I say /e/, my mouth widens like it does when I smile. Why don't you try to say the sound too, and watch how other student's mouths smile when they make the sound." (Have the students participate). Say: "Now, let's look at some words that have a short e in them. Web is a good example. Let's say it together web. Do you hear the /e/ sound in the word sun? I didn’t hear the /e/ sound, and my mouth did not widen. It’s your turn now! When you hear the short e in a word, remember to pretend you ate something you didn’t like. Is it in: sat, mop, or jet, let, cool, desk?

  3. Model this on the poster. Say: “Now let’s look at the words we are going to spell today. What if I want to spell the word nest? The red bird was in the nest. To spell nest in the letterboxes, I need to know how many phonemes are in the word, so let’s stretch it out together and count: /n/ /e/ /s/ /t/, So I need 4 letterboxes (draw the letter boxes). Say: "I heard /e/ just before the /s/ and /t/ so I’m going to put an e letter in the 2nd letter box. We know the word starts with /n/, so let’s put an n letter tile in the 1st letter box. We see there are two boxes left after the e. Let’s sound it out n-e-s-t, the letter s goes in the 3rd letter box, so the letter t goes in the 4th box" (Fill in those letters as you go). Say: "Now, I will show you how to read another tough word. (Show poster with desk on the top and model reading the word). Say: "First, I’m going to start with a letter tile that says /e/. Now, I’m going to put the beginning letters with it, d-e, /de/. Finally, we will put the chunk together with the last sound, /de-sk/. Like, your desk at school. 

  4. Say: “Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. Let’s start out with 3 boxes. The first word is jet, like I flew in the jet airplane. What letter should go in your first box? (Respond to children’s answers). What goes in the second and third boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. (Observe). Make sure you listen for /e/ in the word." (Then allow children to spell remaining words: leg, hen, web, help, test, vent, bend.)

  5. Say: “Now I am going to let you read the words you spelled. But first I want to show you how I read a difficult word (show poster with nest at the top and model reading the word). Say: " First, I see there is a n at the beginning of the word. That lets me know that I put that letter in one box by itself because it makes that one sound. Then there is my short vowel /e/. It must say e=/e/. I’m going to use my cover up critter to get the last part of the word. (uncover and blend sequentially after the vowel, then blend with the vowel in place). /s/ /t/ = /st/. Now I’m going to blend with /e/=/est/. Now, we will put everything together; /nest/. Nest, that’s right! (Have the students read the words in unison. After, call on individual children to read one word on the list until everyone who has volunteered has had a turn).

  6. Say: “Students you all have done a wonderful job reading words with our new spelling for e=/e/. Now we are going to read a decodable book called Red Gets Fed. Red is a dog and his owner’s name is Meg. Red loves spending time with Meg, but sometimes she is very busy. He looks to other members of the family for attention, but everyone seems to be doing something else. Will anyone pay him attention? Let’s read to find out! 

  7. Say: “Well that was a very fun story. What was the dog’s name? Oh yes that’s right, Meg! What was his owner doing? Yes, she was sleeping. And who finally payed Red attention? The mom. Before we finish our lesson on short e, I want to see if you can work on this worksheet to individually practice spelling and reading words with the e=/e/ correspondence. While you work on your worksheet, I am going to individually call each student up to my desk to read a few pages in our decodable book Red Gets Fed. (note any miscues on paper in regards to each individual child). 

 

 

   Resources:

 

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