Beginning Reader Lesson Design

Ice Ice Baby!!

A Beginning Reading Lesson

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. In order to reader, children must first learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciation. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling i_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (ice ice baby), 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 ice cube; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Eklonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulative for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: c, d, e, h, i, l, m, n, p, r, s, t; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ice, line, tide, time, smile, chime, stride, sprite; decodable text: and assessment 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 six, and today we are going to learn about the long I and the silent e signal that is used to make I say its name, /I/. When I say /I/ I think of the phrase “Ice Ice Baby” [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 like this [Make vocal gesture for /I/]. I’ll show you first: lime. I heard i say its name and I felt my mouth open [Point to mouth]. There is a long I in lime. Now I’m going to see if its in mint. Hmm, I didn’t hear I say its name and my mouth didn’t open wide. Now you try. If you hear /I/ say “ICE ICE BABY.” If you don’t hear /I/ say, “that’s not it.” Is it in mine, tent, ramp, stripe, print? [Have children point to their open mouths when they feel I say its name]
Say: Now lets look at the spelling of /I/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /I/ is with the letter i and the silent e at the end of the word to tell me I’s name. [Write i_e on the board]. This blank line here means there is a consonant after I, and at the end of the word there is a silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word strike? “If you knock all the bowling pins over, you will get a strike.” Strike is a bowling term in this sentence. To spell strike in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//t//r//I//k/. I need 5 boxes. I hear that /I/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an I in the 4th box and the silent e signal outside the last 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//t//r//I//k/. I think I hear a /t/ so ill put a t right after the s. One more before the /I/, hmm…/s//t//r//I//k/. I think I hear a growling /r/, so I need an r. I have one empty box now [point to the letters in boxes with stretching out the word /s//t//r//I//k/.] The missing one is /k/ = k.
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 what you put in your drink to make it cold. “Sam asked for ice in his sweet tea.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about the silent e, did you remember to put it outside of the boxes? 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 /I/ and don’t forget to put the signal for the silent e at the end, outside of the boxes. Here’s the word: line, please line up for lunch; line. [Allow children to spell words]. Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: l-i-n-e and see if you’ve spelled it in the same way. Try another with three boxes: tide, watch out for the strong rip tide in the ocean. [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 /I/ in it before you spell it: hint; Can you give me a hint? 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: smile; Smile for the camera!. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: sprite; can I have a sprite to drink? 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 strike on the top 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//t/ = /st/ + /r/ = /str/. Now I’m going to blend that with /I/ = /strI/. Now all I need is the end, /k/ = /strIk/. Strike; 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.]
Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Bike Ride. In this book, there is a boy named Nate who doesn’t like to move. He just likes to sit around all day, but his friends want him to come out and play with them. They try to get him to ride a bike and fly a kite. Do you think they’ll be able to get him up and moving? You’ll have to read to find out! I am going to put the book up on the smart board and I will call on someone to read each page. [Have students read each page, stopping to discuss events before each page turn. Once the story is finished, discuss the plot as a whole with the class].
Say: They did it! They got Nate to ride the bike and he was even able to fly the kite. Isn’t it so important to get out and be active sometimes? Okay, now before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /I/ = i_e, I want to see how well you can identify i_e words when you read. On this worksheet, there are a bunch of different words. I want you to read every word and circle the ones that have /I/ in them. You can read the words in your head or quietly out loud to yourself. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

Resources:

Murray, G. (2007) The bike ride. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html

Assessment worksheet: http://www.funfonix.com/worksheets/book3_page16.php

Alexa Kirchharr, i_e, i_e, Captain! http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/edifications.html

Return To Handoffs Index