Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ee= /E/. In order for the children to be able to read, they 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 saying “beep!”), 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:

1. Graphic image of a honking car

2. Cover-up critter

3. Whiteboard/smartboard

4. Expo Markers

5. Elkonin boxes for modeling

6. Individual Elkonin boxes for each student

7. Letter manipulatives for each child (m, e, n, t, o, e, d, c, a, b, s)

8. Magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher (m, e, n, t, o, e, d, c, a, b, s)

9. List of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: men, toe, need, cat, bee, seat

10. Decodable text: Lee and the Team

11. Worksheet: assessment worksheet

 

Procedures:

1. Say: 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, like red, and today we are going to learn about long E. When two e’s are next to each other, it makes the /E/ sound which also sounds like E saying its name. When I say /E/, I think of someone sounding their car horn, “Beep!,” and the driver saying “Please Move!” [show graphic image].

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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/. You can feel your lips go out wide like you are smiling, and your tongue almost touches the back of your bottom teeth when you say /E/. [Make vocal gesture for /E/.] I’ll show you first: beep. I heard e say its name and I felt my lips go out wide [make a circle motion around my lips out wide]. There is a long E in beep. Now I’m going to see if it’s in pet. Hmm, I didn’t hear e say its name and my lips didn’t go out wide to make the long E sound. Now you try. If you here /E/ say, “Beep! Please move!”. If you don’t hear /E/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in men, toe, need, cat, bee, seat?  [Have children make a circle motion around their widened lips when they feel /E/ say its name.]

 

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /E/ is with the two-letter e’s following each other to tell me to say E’s name. [Write ee on the board.] What if I want to spell the word tree? “Look at that huge tree.” To spell tree in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /t/ /r/ /E/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /E/ just before the /r/ so I’m going to put two ee’s in the 3rd box together. The word starts with /t/, that’s easy; I need a t. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /t/ /r/ /E/. I think I heard growling /r/ so a r right after the t. Now we have /t/ /r/ /E/, tree, and we are all done spelling the word!

 

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start easy with two boxes for bee. The word bee is short for bumblebee, “Bees make yummy honey.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answer]. What goes in the second box? 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 /E/. Here’s the word: Need, you will need to study; need. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work! Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: n-ee-d and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: feel; I feel great today. [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 /E/ in it before you spell it: let; Did you let the dog outside? Do you need two e’s? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear e say its name. We spell it with short vowel e. [Volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: bleed; I bleed when I get a cut. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes; screen; There is a screen on the window. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

 

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 screen on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there are two e’s in the middle of the word. That is my signal that the vowel is saying its name. It must 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.] /s/ /c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I am going to blend that with /E/= /scrE/. Now all I need is the end, /n/= /scrEn/. Screen; that’s it. Now it is your turn, everyone together. [Have children read words in unison. Afterward, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

 

6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /E/:ee. Now we are going to read a book called Lee and the Team. Lee is the baseball coach in this story. His team is running late for their baseball game and they need to hurry. The kids on the team do not listen to Lee and hurry to the game. Instead, they lean on a tree and see a bee. The bee lands on Lee’s foot. Will the bee sting Lee? Will the team make it to the baseball game on time? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Lee and the Team to see if they make it to their baseball game on time! [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 Lee and the Team aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

 

7. Say: That was a great story! Did the team make it to their baseball game on time? Right, they did, and the bee did not sting Lee. (I will call students individually to my desk to read three pages from the book to me while I note miscues). Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /E/= ee, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices at the top of the page and decide which ee word fits best to make sense in the sentence. First, try reading all of the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the blank.  Reread your answers to see if they make sense and that each word fits correctly in its spot. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

References: 

Bruce Murray, The Reading Genie, http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/

 

Education.com, “Long “e” Sound,” https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/finish-sentence-long-e-second/

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Lee and the Team, Sheila Cushman, Phonics Readers

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Sanders, Grace. EEEK! There's a Bee! Beginning Reading Design. https://gms0035.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading

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Super Teacher Worksheets, “Long-E Vowel Sound,” https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-long-e.html

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Turtlediary, “Long /ē/ Sound,” https://youtu.be/hCjNJcUQBrI

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