Rationale: This lesson will teach students about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. 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 i_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (someone waving hi), 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 waving hello

• Cover-up critter

• Whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student

• Letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: b, i, t, e, m, r, p, s, c, k, f, v, l, d

• List of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bite, time, ripe, stick, drive, slide

• The decodable text: The Red Gem Mine

• Assessment worksheet

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Procedures: 

1. Say: As readers, we need to figure out how to pronounce words based off of their spelling. We have already learned to read short vowel words with i, like tip, and today we are going to learn about long I and the silent e signal that is used to make I say its name, /I/. When I say /I/ I think of our letter I saying, “Hi!” to the letter E [show graphic image and have kids wave to each other]. 

2. 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 lips make a little smile while my tongue moves to the back of my mouth. [Make vocal gesture for /I/.] I’ll show you first: time. I heard i say its name and I felt my lips make a little smile [show the small smile that lips make when saying /I/]. There is a long I in time. Now I’m going to see if it’s in trim. Hmm, I didn’t hear i say its name and my lips didn’t make that little smile. Now you try. If you hear /I/ say, “Hi,” and wave to me. If you don’t hear /I/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in kite, write, lick, trip, kit, bike? [Have children smile and wave when they feel /I/ say its name.]

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /I/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /I/ is with the letter i and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say 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 little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word strike? “I made a strike when we went bowling.” 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 heard 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 heard /t/ so I’ll put a t right after the s. One more before the /I/, hmm . . .  /s//t//r//I//k/, I think I heard growling /r/ so I need an r.  I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//t//r//I//k/.] The missing one is /k/ = k. 

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. To start you will need three letter boxes. We will start with the word bite, as in “We should not bite our classmates.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] Remember to listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /I/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes.  Here’s the word: time, as in what time is it? [Allow children to spell words.]  Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: t – i – m – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: ripe; This fruit is very ripe and delicious. [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: stick; I threw the stick for my dog to catch. 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.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck?  Now let’s try 4 phonemes: drive; my mom will drive us to school. One more then we’re done with spelling, slide; I want to go down the slide. Remember to stretch it out to get this last 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 slide 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//l/ = /sl/. Now I’m going to blend that with /I/ = /slI/. Now all I need is the end, /d/ = /slId/.  Slide; 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 and reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now we are going to read the first chapter of a book called The Red Gem Mine. This chapter is about a man named Pete who wants to find some red gems. He has been searching and searching in his mine but he just cannot find any. What is Pete going to do to find some red gems? Let’s read to find out! [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 The Red Gem Mine aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.] 

7.  Say: That was a fun story. Why was Pete upset? Right, he couldn’t find any red gems in his mine. Who sold the mine to him? Right, Mr. Hume sold him the mine.  Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /I/ = i_e, I want to see how you can solve a word problem. On this worksheet, we have some pictures and underneath they have letterboxes. Your job is to look at the picture and decide what i_e word fits best to make sense. Use the pictures to make sure your answer makes sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.

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Resources: 

Ashtyn Croley, Hi, Mike!: https://atc0040.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading

Matt Sims, The Red Gem Mine, Sound Out Phonics Based Chapter Book Series, 1999

Free Assessment Worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Long-Vowel-Activities-Phonics-Worksheets-Silent-E-CVCe-Printables-4451808

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