Beginning Reading

Rocking with E

Rationale

In this lesson, children will learn about the short vowel correspondence e = /e/. Learning to recognize words by their spellings is a critical part of children learning to read. This lesson will help children learn to spell, read, and recognize words that contain the spelling e = /e/. Students will work through a Letterbox Lesson that contains this correspondence, helping them to learn how to spell and read words containing the short e. They will also learn a meaningful representation of the sound (an old creaky rocking chair), as well as read a decodable book concentrated on the sound.

Materials

Image of a rocking chair
White board (to model for Letterbox Lesson)
Letterboxes for each individual student
Letter manipulatives for each student
Magnetic letters (for teacher)
Poster with list of spellings words: bed, pet, send, bag, swell, fret
Decodable book: Pen Pals
Cover-up Critter
Assessment worksheet for each child (link at the end)

Procedures

1. Say: In order for us to become expert readers, we need to understand the code that shows us how to pronounce words. This can be tricky, so we will break it down piece by piece to help make it easier. We learned about the short a sound already, and how to read words that are made with the sound, like mat and black. Today, we are going to learn about the short e, which makes the /e/ sound. When I hear the /e/ sound I think of an old, creaky rocking chair (show the image).

2. Say: Before we learn how to spell /e/, we need to find it in spoken words. When I hear it spoken, ill hear the “ehh” sound, like the old rocking chair. When I make the short e sound, my mouth will stay open and my tongue will touch the back of my bottom teeth, like this (demonstrate this). Let me show you first how to find it! Let’s take the word neck. I heard the /e/ sound and my mouth opened a little while my tongue stayed at the bottom. Let’s try it with the word need. I didn’t feel my tongue stay at the bottom of my mouth, and I didn’t hear the rocking chair “ehh” either. Now y’all try! If you hear /e/ say, “ehh” and gently rock back and forth like a rocking chair (also remind them that this is just with their bodies, their chairs need to stay on the ground). If you don’t hear it say “mmm nope!” Is it in bed, jump, vest, back, leg, hen?

3. Say: Next, we are going to look at spelling with /e/. To spell out the /e/ sound that we hear, we need the letter e (write e on the board). Let’s see what would happen if I tried to spell the word best. “The bird built a nest to lay its eggs.” In this sentence, nest means a safe place for the bird. To spell the word nest in letterboxes, I will need to know how many phonemes the word has, so I’ll stretch it out: /n//e//s//t/. I counted four phonemes, so I’ll need four boxes. I heard /n/ before I heard /e/, so I will put the e in the second box. I know the word starts with /n/ so I can go ahead and put that in the first box. The end can get a little tricky so I’m going to stretch it out again, very slowly: /n//e//s//t/. I think I hear /s/ next so I’ll put it on the other side of /e/. I have one more box to fill... hmm… /n//e//s//t/ I hear /t/ on the end, so I’ll put that in my last box

N E S T

4. Say: Now it’s your turn; I want you to spell some words in letterboxes. We will start of with an easy one. You will need three boxes for bed. “This morning I made my bed.” What do you think should go in the first box? (Wait and respond to children’s answers). What goes in the second box? I will check your spelling as I walk around the room. (walk around and observe progress). Our next word also needs three boxes. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box, and then listen for the /e/. Our word is pet. “I have a pet dog.” (Allow students to spell words.) Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: p-e-t and see if you have spelled it the same way. Try another one, this time with four boxes: send; “I will send you a letter in the mail.” (Have a volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.) Ready for the next word? Okay, listen to see if the word has /e/ in it before you spell it: bag; I put my groceries in the bag. Did you use an e? Why not? (wait for responses.) Right, because we don’t hear the sound /e/. We spell it with out short vowel a. Let’s try another one: swell; “We had a swell time at the ball.” (Volunteer spells it out on board.) Did you remember to spell /l/ with two l’s. Next word: fret; “Don’t fret, it’ll be okay.” Remember to stretch it out when it’s a tough word! (Have volunteer spell it on the board.)

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 spend on the top and model reading the word.) First I see there is an e in it with no other vowels; that’s my signal that the e will probably 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.) /f//r/ = /fr/. Now I can blend that with /e/ = /fre/. Now I just need the end, /t/ = /fret/. Fret; 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 spelling and reading words with our new spelling for /e/: e. Now we are going to read a book called Pen Pals. This book is about a baby named Ben that is in his pen! His pet cat wants to play with him, but he can’t get in. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Pen Pals to find out if they get to play together! (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 Pen Pals aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.)

7. Say: That was a fun story. What did the dad do to fix the pen? Right, he mended it. What did Ben do after Ted climbed in the pen? Right, he was petting him. Before we finish up with our lesson about /e/, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, there is a box of words. You need to circle the ones that you hear /e/ in, and then you will write the words on the lines below in ABC order. Try saying the words in the box out loud if you can’t figure out if it makes the /e/ sound. (Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.)http://carlymgrisham.wixsite.com/mscarlyreading/beginning-reading

Geri Murray, Oh, I Didn’t Know!: https://sites.google.com/site/readingwritingconnection/beggingreadingdesign

Assessment Worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics/short-e-abc_EEEEE.pdf

gif: https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/legalgentledungenesscrab

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