MS. SMITH'S CLASS

 

 

 

 

 

Tweet, Tweet

Beginning Reading Lesson

By Sara Smith

 

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ee= /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 ee. They will learn a meaningful representation (a bird saying tweet tweet), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ee = /E/.

 

Materials: Graphic image of a bird saying tweet,tweet; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: b, c, d, e, h, k, l, m, p, r, s, t, w; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bee, sheep, week, them, bleed, screech; decodable text: The Bee and The Flea, 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 e, like pet, and today we are going to learn about the sound that two ee make when they are sitting next to each other. When I say /E/ I think of a little bird in the morning saying “Tweet, Tweet!” [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 smile shape like this. [Make vocal gesture for /E/.] I’ll show you first: bee. I heard e say its name and I felt my lips make a little smile [make a semicircle motion around smiled lips]. There is a long E in see. Now I’m going to see if it’s in set. Hmm, I didn’t hear e say its name and my lips didn’t make that smile movement. Now you try. If you hear /E/ say, “Tweet, Tweet.” If you don’t hear /E/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in street, road, drank, feed, deep, shallow? [Have children make a semicircle motion around their lips when they feel /E/ say its name.]

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /E/ is with the letter e immediately followed by another e to tell me to say E’s name. [Write ee on the board.] What if I want to spell the word screech? “The loud screech made me jump.” Screech means a loud and piercing noise in this sentence. To spell screech in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//c//r//E//ch/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /E/ just before the /ch/ so I’m going to put an ee in the fourth 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//c//r//E//ch/. I think I heard /c/ so I’ll put a c right after the s. One more before the /E/, hmm . . ./s//c//r//E//ch/. 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//c//r//E//ch/.] The missing one is /ch/ = ch.

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for bee. A bee is a type of insect, “My mom told me to stay away from the bee.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes 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 two e’s to make the e say /E/. Here’s the word: sheep, the sheep were let loose in the field.; sheep. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: sh – ee – p and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: week; Her week was hard. [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 /E/ in it before you spell it: them; Did she show them the secret formula? Did you need two ee’s? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear e say its name. We spell it with our short vowel e. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /th/ with a th? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: bleed; her cut was bleeding. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: screech; The loud screech made me jump. 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 screech on the top and model reading the word.] First I see there’s two ee’s together in the middle of the word; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. 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, /ch/ = /scrEch/. Screech; 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 /E/: ee. Now we are going to read a book called The Bee and The Flea. This is a story about Bea, the bee, and Lee, the flea. Lee always wanted to be a bee. He loved the taste of sweet nectar like the bees. Bea saw this and invites Lee into the bee hive to talk to the Queen Bee. Do you think the Queen Bee will be okay with Lee, the flea, in her hive? Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Bee and The Flea to find out what the Queen Bee does. [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 Bee and The Flea aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

7. Say: That was a good story. What happened to Lea, the flea? Right, she made a deal with the Queen Bee to live in the bee hive. What activity did Lee have to do to live in the hive? Right, he had to keep the hive squeaky clean. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /E/ = ee, I want to see if you can complete a crossword puzzle. This puzzle gives you clues to what the word is by giving you a visual representation, a picture. You will use the picture and the word bank to determine the words with /E/= ee that fit in the boxes. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

Noie Yancey, Oh, Oh, My Knee Hurts: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/yanceybr.htm

 

Ryan, Cheryl. The Bee and The Flea. Reading A-Z:

https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=53

 

Worksheet: Miss Giraffe. No Prep ee & ea.Teacherspayteachers.com. Pg 32.

 

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/horizons.html

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