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 the spelling i_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (upset boy saying I I I… I can’t believe it!), 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 an upset boy; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes (letterboxes) for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: s, m, i, l, c, e, k, t, f, r, n, h, n, b; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ice, smile, fire, time, shine, nine, tribe; decodable text: Nate's Bike Ride and Assignment Worksheet.

 

Procedures:

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 tip, 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 a cute, little, upset boy saying, “I I I… I can’t believe it!” [show graphic image].

 

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 up all the way like this [make vocal gesture for /I/]. I’ll show you first: nine. I heard i say its name and I felt my mouth open all the way up [make circle motion to show how mouth is wide open]. There is a long I in nine. Now I’m going to see if it’s in sick. Hmm I didn’t hear i say its name and my mouth didn’t open up all the way. Now you try. If you are /I/, say “I I I… I can’t believe it!” and scratch your head! If you don’t hear /I/ say, “that’s not it” and put your hands by your sides. Is it in dime, six, kite, mice, slide, big. [have children scratch their head when they hear /I/ say its name].

 

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 way I’s name [write i_e on the board]. This blank line here means that 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 tribe? “The members of that tribe settled along the river.” Tribe means a specific group of people in this sentence. To spell tribe in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /t/ /r/ /I/ /b/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /I/ just before the /b/ so I’m going to put an i in the third box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /t/, that’s easy; I need an t. Now it gets a little tricky so I am going to say it slowly, /t/ /r/ /I/ /b/. I think I heard /r/ so I’ll put a r right after the t. I have one empty box now [point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /t/ /r/ /I/ /b/]. The missing letter is /b/ = /b/.

 

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Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ice. Ice is the solid form of very cold water, “I need some ice in my drink.” What should go in the first box? [respond to child’s answer]. What goes in the second box? What about the 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 letter boxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /I/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: fire, we have to light the fire, fire [allow children to spell words]. Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: f-i-r-e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Let’s try one more with three letter boxes: time; I am running out of time. [have volunteer spell it in the letterboxes on the front board for children to check their word. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /I/ in it before you spell it: pig; I need to go home to feed my pig. Did you need a silent e? why not? 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]. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: shine; I have to shine my shoes before the party tonight. One more than were done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: smile; It was time to take a picture so I gave a huge smile. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

 

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 smile 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/ /m/ = /sm/. Now I’m going to blend that with /I/ = /smI/. Now all I need is the end, /l/ = /smIl/. Smile; that’s it; it was time to take a picture so I have a big smile. The word smile makes sense in that sentence. 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]. The psuwdoword that I will have my students read is zide.

 

Say: you’ve done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now we are going to read a book called Nate’s Bike Ride. This is a story is about two friends trying to convince a lazy boy named Nate to be active. Will he go on a hike or a bike ride? How will they convince him to go?! Let’s pair up and take turns reading Nate’s Bike Ride to find out! [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 Nate’s Bike Ride aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

 

Say: That was a funny story. Why did Nate not want to go on a bike ride? Right, he was too lazy. Why did Nate end up going? Right, to fly the kite. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /I/ = i_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide which i_e word fits best to make sense of this very short story. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the shape. Reread your answers to see if they make sense [collect worksheet when child is finished to evaluate individual child progress].

 

Resources:

•  Catie Dennis, Aye, Aye Captain!: https://sites.google.com/site/catiesreadinglesson/home/aye-aye-captain

• Murray, G. (2004) Nate’s Bike Ride. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html

• Assessment worksheet: https://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/phonics-worksheet-38.html

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