Lesson

     “Say weeeeee on the roller coaster!”
 

 

 

A Beginning Reading Lesson 
By Hannah Louise Perkinson
 
     Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence e, ee, ea = /E/. 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 e. They will learn a meaningful representation (person riding a roller coaster saying weee), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable text The Green Feast (http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html) and an assessment worksheet (http://www.sightwordsgame.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ee-words.pdf) that focuses on the correspondences e = /E/, ee=/E/, ea=/E/.  
 
Materials: Graphic image of person riding roller coaster, cover-up critter, a pack of crayons for each table, whiteboard, letter tiles for each child and magnetic letters for teacher to model: l, e, a, d, c, r, p, f, s, y, m, o, n; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read:  see, lead, creep, flea, easy, money (non /E/ words: want, sort) ; decodable text: The Green Feast, and assessment worksheet.  
 
Procedures:  
1.  Say: In order to become the best readers we can be, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read short vowel words with e, like end, and today we are going to learn about long E, which sounds like it’s name /E/. When I say /E/ I think of a person riding down a super fast roller coaster and yelling “weeeeeeee” all the way down. [show graphic image] 
 
2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /E/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /E/ in words, I hear e say its name /E/ and my lips make a little e shape like this. [Make vocal gesture for /E/.] I’ll show you first: week. I heard e say its name and I felt my lips make a little e [make a wide smile motion and show teeth]. There is a long E in week. Now I’m going to see if it’s in bend. Hmm, I didn’t hear e say its name and my lips didn’t make that wide e shape that looks like a big smile. Now you try. If you hear /E/ say, “weeeee” If you don’t hear /E/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in breeze, want, catch, knee, fleas, belt? [Have children make a wide smile showing their teeth when they feel /E/ say its name.] 
 
Weee! 
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /E/ is with the letters ee to tell me to say E’s name. [Write ee on the board.]  What if I want to spell the word free? “Are you free to play after school?” Free means able, or available in this sentence. To spell free in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /f/ /r/ /E/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /E/ just after the /r/ so I’m going to put the e in the third box. The word starts with /f/, that’s easy; I need an f. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /f/ /r/ /E/. I think I heard growling /r/ so I’ll put an r right after the f. Hmm . . . /f/ /r/ /E/. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /f/ /r/ /E/.]   
f r ee
 
 
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for see. This see is the kind that you do with your eyes, like “I don’t want my parents to see my bad test grade.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about the second e, did you put it next to the other e in the second box?  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 /E/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes.  Here’s the word: lead, I will lead my classmates to the gym, lead. [Allow children to spell words.]  Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: l – e – a – d  and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: creep; I had to creep down the stairs so my parents wouldn’t wake up. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] The first word we spelled made the /E/ sound by having an e next to an a; this word made the /E/ sound by having two e’s next to each other. Next word. Listen to see if this word has /E/ in it before you spell it: want; Do you want a puppy? Did you need an e in that word? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear e say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. [volunteer spells it on the front board.]  Now let’s try 4 phonemes: spear; The fighter threw his mighty spear at the enemy. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scream; If I scream, the baby will wake up from the loud noise. 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 scream on the top and model reading the word.]  First, I see there’s an e right next to an a; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel e. It must say /E/. 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/ /c/= /sc/ + /r/= /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /E/ = /scrE/. Now all I need is the end, /m/ = /scrEm/. Scream; 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.]  
 
m a s e c r  
6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /E/: ee, or ea. Now we are going to read a book called The Green Feast. This is a story about a boy named Nate. Nate is visiting his friends Tim and Jan. They love their mom's cooking but Nate doesn't agree when it comes to veggies. Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Green Feast to find out if Nate eats the meal or not. [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 Green Feast aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]  
 
7. Say: That was a fun story! Did Nate end up eating the meal with his friends? What was Jake’s joke? Right, he didn’t eat the dinner, but Tim and Jan’s mother snuck the veggies into a cupcake and he ate it. Did Nate like the veggie cupcake? Right, he said it still tasted good even though it had vegetables in it.  Before we finish up with our lesson about the ways to spell /E/ = e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have a list of words. Your job is to decide which ones have long /E/ sound. Once you find the long /E/, you will trace the word and practice writing it on your own. If you finish early, you can color the pictures with the crayons at the table. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.] 
 Resources:
Murray, G. (2004) The Green Meal. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html
Assessment Worksheet:
https://www.google.com/search?q=assessment+worksheet+for+grapheme+E&tbm=isch&tbo=u &source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjL6Yzvi6HVAhWF4SYKHaqsARIQsAQIIw&biw=1518 &bih=724#tbm=isch&q=assessment+worksheet+for+long+E&imgrc=S7XZ4QlN0XdLbM:&spf =1500870939395 
Reference:
https://www.education.com/lesson-plan/i-see-long-e/