Ms. Cieslak's Reading Lesson Designs
Beginning Reading Design: Ehhh What’s Up, Short e?
Morganne Cieslak
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 = /e/. They will learn a meaningful representation (Bugs Bunny saying “Ehh what’s up doc?”), 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 Bugs Bunny, cover-up critter, whiteboard, Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin letterboxes for each student, letter tiles for each child and magnetic letters for teacher: e, d, s, t, h, n, b, a, l, r, c, k, m, p; list of spelling words on whiteboard to read: set, help, hen, bad, led, test, smell, rack, blend; poster with word: strength, decodable text Elf in the Tent, and assessment worksheet copies for each student
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 words using the short vowel a = /a/, like cat, and today we are going to learn about the short vowel e. Have you ever seen the cartoon Loony Tunes? The character Bugs Bunny always says, “Ehh what’s up, Doc?” when he meets someone. When I say /e/ I think of “Ehh what’s up, Doc?” and this guy! [display graphic image of Bugs Bunny]. That ehh is the sound /e/ makes!"
2. Say: "Before we learn about the correspondence /e/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I say /e/ in words, my mouth is opened slightly and my tongue doesn’t touch my teeth, it just lies flat, like this." [Make vocal gesture for /e/.] "I’ll show you first with the word belt. Bbb-eee-lll-ttt. I heard ehh and I felt my mouth opened slightly [point to position of lips]. There is a short e in belt. Now I’m going to see if it’s in mask. Mmm-aaa-sss-kkk. Hmm, I didn’t hear ehh and my mouth was open a little bit more when I said /a/. Now you try. If you hear /e/ say, Ehh what’s up, Doc? If you don’t hear /e/ shake your head no side to side. Is it in nap, bed, job, wet, peg, bag?" [Have children hold up two fingers behind their head for “bunny ears” while they say “Ehh what’s up, Doc?” when they hear the /e/ in the words.]
3. Say: "What if I want to spell the word, dress? The beautiful princess put on her purple dress for the evening ball. In this sentence, a dress is a noun meaning a piece of long clothing similar to a skirt. To spell dress in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /d//r//e//s/. I need 4 boxes. I heard the /e/ just before the /s/ so I’m going to put an e in the 3rd box. The word starts with /d/; so I need a d. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /d//r//e//s/. I think I heard /r/ so I’ll put an r right after the d. So far, we have /d//r//e/ but we still have one box left. After the /e/ box, it sounded like a hissing snake." [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /d//r//e//ss/.] "That last sound I hear is the double s /s/. Even though there are two s’s, they make the same sound /s/ so they share the same letterbox."
4. Say: Now I’ll show you how I would read a tough word with the /e/ spelling. [Display poster with strength on the top and model reading the word.] I’m going to start with the e; that part says /e/. Now I’m going to put the beginning letters with it: s-t-r-e, /stre/. There’s that ehh. Now I’ll put that chunk together with the last few sounds, /ng//th/; /stre-ng-th/. Oh, strength like You have to have a lot of strength to lift a car.
5. Say: "Now I’m going to let you spell some words in the letterboxes. You’ll start out with three boxes for the word set. We know that to set something is to place it down. When I get home from school I set my backpack on the floor. I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room." [Observe progress.] "For the next word you’ll need four letterboxes. Listen for the beginning sound to determine what goes in the first box. Then listen for /e/. Here’s the word: help. I decided to help my dad clean up the garden; help." [Allow children to spell remaining words, giving sentences for each word: hen, bad, led, test, smell, rack, blend.]
6. Say: "Now I would like you to read the words you’ve spelled." [On the whiteboard show the words set, help, hen, bad, led, test, smell, rack, blend, and the pseudowords vell and nen. Have children read words aloud in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]
7. Say: "You’ve done an ehhxcellent job reading words with our new short vowel spelling e = /e/. Now we are going to read a book called Elf in the Tent. Jan and her dad are going on a camping trip! Jan’s friends sent her a tent. After the van is packed, Jan and her dad set up camp. But Jan’s pet cat, Elf, sneaks out to the water and gets wet. Cats don’t like to be wet! You’ll have to read the book to find out what happens to Elf. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Elf in the Tent to find out what Elf the cat does after he gets wet." [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After paired reading, the class will reread Elf in the Tent together, stopping between page turns to discuss the plot.]
8. Say: "That was a fun book, right? Elf is such a silly cat. Before we finish up with our lesson about e = /e/, I want you to put this knowledge into practice. On this worksheet, we will read a poem aloud. In the poem, you have to color each word with /e/ in it. If you get stuck on a word, read it aloud, slowly. On the back page, read through the word lists and circle the words where you hear /e/. Once you are finished you can use your crayons to color the hen and draw some eggs. If you get stuck, raise your hand and I will come help you." [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
References:
Sarah Haulser, “Ehh? Speak Up I Can’t Hear You!” http://sdh0017.wixsite.com/mysite
Melissa Murphree “Ehh, I Can’t Hear You!” http://mjm0065.wixsite.com/melissamurphree/beginning-reading
Assessment Worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-vowels/short-e-hen-poem.pdf?up=1466611200
Decodable Book: Murray, G. (2004) Elf in the Tent. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/Geniebooks/ElfTent.ppt
