Beginning Reading Design
BEEP BEEP! Here I Come!
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A Beginning Reading Lesson: BEEP BEEP! Here I Come!
By: Kathryn Stubblefield
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 car beeping), 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 beeping car, cover-up critter, letter tiles for LBL (t, r, e, f, l, d, w, k, n, d, s, h, p, c, k), colored squares for LBL, list of words for the lesson: tree, fleet, feed, week, need, sheep, creek, and screen, a flashcard with the word street, Fun Games with Lad and Slim decodable book The Green Feast, assessment worksheet, and pencils.
1. Start by saying “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, words like bed and wept, and today we are going to learn about what happens when two e’s are put together. When two e’s are side by side, they make the letter e say its name /E/. When I hear this sound, I think of the sound my horn makes when it beeps- BEEP BEEP! Sometimes you use your horn when you are trying to let another driver know “Here I Come!” when you’re right behind them. Whenever we hear the sound /E/, let’s pretend to press our imaginary car horns and make them good “beep”.
2. “Before we learn about how the sound /E/ (honk pretend horn) shows up in our spelling, let’s think about what it takes to make that sound. When I make the sound /E/ (honk pretend horn), I spread my mouth out in the shape of a smile, and my tongue touches the back of my bottom teeth. /E/! /E/! (honk pretend horn) Now that we have practiced making the sound, let’s see if we can listen for it. When I listen for /E/ in words, I hear e say its name. I’ll show you first. Let’s think about the word wheel, like what I’d use to make my car go “beep”. When I say the word wheel, I hear e say its name, and I felt my mouth move into a smile. I can hear the /E/ in wheel. (honk pretend horn). Now, I want to try one more. What about the word peg? When I stretch out the word /p/ /e/ /g/ I don’t feel my lips go wide and I didn’t hear my “beep” noise. There must not be a long /E/ (honk pretend horn) sound in this word. Now it’s YOUR turn. When I say a word and you think you hear the /E/ sound, I want you to pretend to honk your horn. You can show me that you don’t hear the /E/ sound by keeping your hands still and in your lap. Tree? Plant? Green? Yellow? Car? Jeep?
3. “Now that you’ve become an expert listener, let’s move on to spelling with /E/. To practice my spelling, I am going to use my letterbox tools. Let’s get started! What if I had to spell the word sheet? As in, 'I wrote my notes on a sheet of paper'. To spell sheet with my letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word. To count my phonemes, I need to stretch out my letters /sh/ /E/ /t/. I heard three phonemes, so I need three letterboxes. I heard that beep beep /E/ sound just after the /sh/ sound, so I’ll put that in the second box. And remember, I need two e’s squished together to make that /E/ sound. Next, I know I heard the /sh/ sound first, so I’ll add that to my first box. Let’s check our progress (I will point to the letters as I stretch out the word) /sh/ /E/ and I’m missing my /t/. Last but not least, that means I’ll have that /t/ /t/ t sound right at the end, so I will put a t in my final box. All good to go!”
4. “Now I’m going to have YOU spell some words in letterboxes. Everyone pull out your letter tiles and your squares, and show me your ready by holding a pretend bubble in your mouth. Awesome job! You’ll start out easy with three boxes for tree, as in 'The forest was full of tall, green trees.' I’ll check your spelling as I walk around the room! (I will walk around, observe their progress, and scaffold as needed). You will need to add on another letterbox for the next word, so you’ll have four in total! Make sure you remember to squish two e’s together in one box to make that beep beep /E/ noise. Here’s the word: fleet. 'I saw a fleet of ships across the water'; fleet." (I will continue to observe the class, and I will follow this pattern for the remaining words: need, frost, grip, sheep, creek, and snap)
5. “Now, I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. (I will pull out a flashcard with the word street on it) I’m going to start with the ee part that I know says /E/ like my car horn. Now, I’ll put that together with my beginning letters. /s/ /t/ /r/ /E/. That was a big chunk! Now, we just have to add on the ending sound /t/. So let’s put it all together /s/ /t/ /r/ /E/ /t/. Oh, my word says street. Like, ‘I drive my car, that can beep, down the street.’ Now, it is YOUR turn to read!” (Pull out our pre-printed word list.) I will add the pseudowords brid and fleep. I will have the children read their words in unison. Afterward, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has a turn.
6. “Wow! You have done such an incredible job of reading words with our spelling for /E/: ee. Now, we are going to read a book called The Green Feast. In this book, Nate sits down for dinner with his friends Tim and Jan. But no dessert for Nate- he won’t eat his veggies. Do you think he’ll decide to eat the greens to get the sweets? I guess we’ll have to read to find out! Let’s get into pairs and read The Green Feast to see what Nate decides to do."(Children will pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class will reread The Green Feast all together, and they will discuss the story with the teacher between each page.)
7. “Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /E/ = ee. I want to see if you can help find some more of our beep /E/ words on a fun scavenger hunt. On this page, you first need to circle the words you see with the long /E/ sound. Then, once you have circled those words, I want you to circle the picture that those words describe. Double-check your answers to be sure they make sense! I will be walking around to check on your progress, and I will collect the worksheets once you’re done. Great job today!"
Reference:
Bruce and Geri Murray. The Green Feast. (from Fun Games with Lad and Slim)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VFWW3YD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
Himmelwright, Hanna. “OWW! I am hurt!”
https://hghimmelwright.wixsite.com/literarydesign/beginning-reading
Murray, Geri. “Oh, I didn’t know!”
https://murraba.wixsite.com/readinglessons/beginning-reading
Langman, Meredith. “BEEP! Please Move!”
https://meredithlangman.wixsite.com/readinglessons/beginning-reading
Assessment:
(for more lessons like this!)
