Rational:

In order for children to learn to read, they need the ability to recognize the spellings that map out word pronunciation. This lesson will teach students about the short vowel correspondence i = /i/. In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to learn to recognize, spell, and read words that contain the i. A meaningful representation will be provided (hand movements trying to get the icky sticky off of their hands, similar to Mickey trying to remove his face from the icky sticky table). They will learn to spell and read /i/ in a letterbox lesson, and then read a decodable book afterwards that focuses on the correspondence i = /i/.

 

Materials:

Image of sticky Mickey

Cover-up critter

Whiteboard/smart board/ chalkboard

Markers or chalk

Elkonin boxes, one for each student

Letters manipulatives (p, i, g, k, t, e, c, r, s, f, b, l, d, n)

Notecards with; pig, fix, swim, fig, crisp, drink, bit, fit, flip, spring)

Decodable book; Liz is Six (several copies, enough for 1 per every pair of students)

Assessment worksheets

 

Procedure:

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 short vowel words with the short a such as fat and hat, the short e such as egg or leg. So now we are going to move on and learn the short i. When I say /i/, I want you to imagine you got something super icky sticky all over your hands and you are trying to shake it all off.” (demonstrate shaking your icky sticky hands).

2. Say: “Before we learn how to use /i/ in our spelling, we are going to listen for it in a few words. When I am listening for the /i/ in words, I hear it say its own name /i/. My tongue stays low in my mouth as it opens. (Make a vocal gesture for /i/). I’ll show you first: pppp-iiii-gggg. I heard it say its name, I felt my tongue stay low and my mouth open wide. There is a short i in the word pig. Now I am going to see if the short i is in the word kite. Hmm, I didn’t hear the i say its own name, and my tongue didn’t stay low and my mouth didn’t open. My throat also didn’t make the /i/ sound. Now I want you to give it a try! If your hear /i/ say, “Icky Sticky Mickey” and point to your mouth as it opens and your tongue stays low. If you don’t hear the /i/ sound, say, “No, that’s not it.” Are you ready? Here are the words: fix, dice, swim, fig?

3. Say: “Now we are going to look at the spelling of /i/. You will find spelling i to be very simple, i. (Write a lowercase i on the dry erase board). What if I would like to spell a word like crisp. “The chip was crisp and salty.” When you think about the word crisp, things that can be brittle should come to mind like potato chips or bacon. To spell crisp in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word. That means I have to stretch it out and count! : /c/ /r/ /i/ /s/ /p/. I need 5 boxes. I heard the /i/ just before the /s/, so I am going to put the /i/ in the third letterbox. At the beginning of the word, I hear the /c/ so I need to put that in the first letterbox. I also hear a /r/ right after the /c/ but before the /i/ so I need to put the “r” in the second letterbox. Now I have two boxes left. This might seem tricky but I believe you can handle it! I hear the s before the p, so I will put “s” in the fourth box, and “p” in the last box. So now altogether we have crisp!”

4. Say: “Now I want you to try to spell some words in letterboxes. We’ll start with easy words that only need two letterboxes for the word: it. What belongs in the first box? (respond to children’s answers) What goes in the second? (respond to the children’s answers) I am going to walk around the room and check your spellings! (observe progress). Great job! For the next one we are going to get a little harder! This time you will need three boxes. The word I want you to spell is fit. An example of fit would be 10 people trying to squeeze into a tiny car! “Not everyone could fit into the car.” (Allow children to spell the word). Now you may check your own work as I spell it in letterboxes on the board: f-i-t, see if you spelled it correctly. Try another with three boxes: “bit, I only have a bit left.” (Have a volunteer come to the front board to spell it in the letterboxes  as the students check their work. Repeat this for every new word that you teach) Next word, listen and see if this word has /i/ in it before you spell it: kite; I love to fly my kite. Do you hear /i/? No! We don’t hear /i/ says its’ name. That’s because that word uses the long vowel /I/ which is spelled i_e. (have volunteer come and spell it on the front board). Now let’s move on to 4 phonemes: flip; I did a flip in the air. (check progress) Great! One more and we will be done with spelling, and this time make sure you have 5 letterboxes! Spring; It is almost spring break! Remember to stretch it out to help you get through this difficult word!”

5. Say: “Now I want you to read the words that we have spelled, but first, I’ll show you how I would read a hard word. (show a poster with the word drink at the top and model how to read the word). First, I see our i which is our icky sticky Mickey /i/. So now I will use a cover-up critter to decode the first part. (uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel and then blend with the vowel). /d/ + /r/= /dr/. Now I will blend that with the /i/= /dri/. Now all I need to complete the word is the end! /n/ + /k/= /nk/. Lets try and put that all together /drink/. Drink, that’s it, now I want you to try!” (Have each student read words alone and then have all the students read the words aloud together).

6. Say: “You all have done a wonderful job reading words with our new spelling for /i/= i. Now we will read a book that focuses on /i/. This book is called Liz is Six. In this story we will see a little girl named Liz. It’s Liz’s birthday and she and just received a mitt as a present, now she wants to use her new mitt to play with her friends. Her friend the pig will bat first! Will Liz be able to use her new mitt to catch the ball? We are going to have to read to find out! Let’s all find a partner and a special place to read, take turns reading the story and return to the table when you have finished!” (Children find a partner and take turns reading, teacher walks around room and monitors progress. Teacher should then read Liz is Six out loud to the children, then discuss the story line and other important aspects of the story).

7. Say: “Wow, that was such a fun story! Who were all the characters is the story? Correct Liz, her friends, and her pig. What did Liz do in the story? Yes, she hit the ball super far away. Before we are done with this lesson about how to spell and read /i/=i, I want to see what you learned from the lesson! So, let’s do a worksheet about our icky sticky Mickey /i/ sound. On this worksheet there are some different pictures and under each picture there are a few different words. Your job is to look at the picture, read the words below, and decide which of the three words has our Icky Sticky Mickey /i/ in it! Circle the word where you hear /i/. Make sure to go back and check your work to make sure that they make sense!” (collect all worksheets and evaluate each students individual progress).

Resources:

Assessment Worksheet: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonics/mc/i-short/

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Book: Cushman, Sheila. Liz is Six. Carson, California. Educational Insights, 1990. Pages: 8

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Goodwin, Cody http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/realizations/godwinbr.htm

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Griffin, Meg http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/realizations/griffinbr.htm

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