Melissa Murphree

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence e = /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 (man putting his hand up to his ear saying eh, I can’t hear you), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence e = /e/.

Materials:

            -      Graphic image of man with hand behind his ear

            -      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, d, e, m, n, r, s, t

            -      List of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: smell, test, hat, bent, trend, bed, bag

            -      Decodable text: Red Gets Fed (Educational Insights)

            -      Assessment worksheet

Procedures:

1. Say: In order to become expert readers we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. Today we are going to learn about short vowel e and use it to say its name, /e/. When I say /e/ I think of a man with his hand up to his ear saying, “Eh, I can’t hear you!” (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/, my mouth opens and my top and bottom teeth almost touch each other (make vocal gesture for /e/.) I’ll show you first: bed. I heard e say its name and I felt my mouth open and my lips stretch to each side (make vocal gesture). Now let’s see if we hear /e/, say, “Eh, I can’t hear you” and cup your hand behind your ear. Is it in bead, left, nose, test? (Have children cup their hand behind their ear when they feel /e/ say its name).

3. What if I want to spell the word smell? “I went outside to smell the flowers.” Smell means breathe in the scent in this sentence. To spell smell in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//m//e//ll/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /e/ just before the /ll/ so I’m going to put an e in the 3rd 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//m//e//ll/. I think I heard /m/ so I’ll put an m right after the s.  I know the e goes in the 3rd box, so I have one empty box. (Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//m//e//ll/.) The missing one is /ll/.

    
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with three boxes for bed. “I went to sleep in my bed.” 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 four letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound to spell in the first box. Then listen for /e/. Here’s the word: test, I have a test today; test. (Allow children to spell remaining words: smell, bent, hat, trend, bag.)

5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled. (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 reading words with our new spelling for /e/: e. Now we are going to read a book called Red Gets Fed. This is a story about of a dog named Red who is very hungry. Red’s family is asleep, but he wants to wake them up so he can get fed. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Red Gets Fed to find out if Red gets fed. (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 Red Gets Fed aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.)

7. Say: Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /e/, e, I want to see how you solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words that are spelt with /e/. First, try to say each word, then trace it, and finally write it on the line provided. (Collect worksheets to evaluate comprehension progress.)

Resources:

Decodable book:

Cushman, Shelia. Red Gets Fed. Educational Insights, 1990. Print.