Let’s Go Fly A Kite

           By: Hannah Deaver

 

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/.  In order for a child to be able to read, he or she must be able to decode and learn the spellings that map out certain word pronunciations.  In this less students will learn how to recognize, spell, and read words that contain the long I sound and the spelling i_e.  They will learn through a meaningful representation of pretending to fly a kite, spelling and reading words with this correspondence in a Letterbox Lesson, and read a decodable book that contains words with this vowel correspondence.

 

Materials:

• Graphic image of a kite

• Cover-up critter

• Elkonin boxes for the whiteboard or smartboard

• Magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher

• Individual Elkonin boxes for students

• Letter manipulatives for each student

• Letters: s, l, i, m, e, n, b, k, g, r, p

• Large notecards to hold up for students to read with words: slime, line, bike, gripe, slip

• Decodable Book: The Bike Ride

• Assessment Worksheet: http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/html/phonics_worksheet_v1-38.html

 

 

Procedures:

1. In order to become a reader, it is important to learn the code for how to pronounce words.  We have already learned how to read short vowel words with i, like tip, and today we are going to learn about long O.  There is a silent e that signals the long I sound.  When we say /I/ let’s think about flying a kite.

 

2. Before we learn how to spell words with /I/, let’s listen for it in some words.  When I am listening for /I/ in words, I pay attention to my mouth and the way it opens wide [Make vocal gesture for /I/.]  Let me show you an example first: kite.  I heard i say its name and felt my mouth open wide, so I know there is a long I in kite.  Okay, now let’s see if we hear this sound in slip.  I didn’t hear /I/ and my mouth didn’t open wide.  Now it’s your turn. If you hear the /I/ sound like in, “Let’s Go Fly a Kite.” Is it in like, trim, goat, pipe, slope?

 

3. Now let’s look at the spelling of the /I/ sound.  One way to spell this sound is with the letter i and a signal e at the end of the word [Write i_e on the board].  This blank line here represents a consonant, which comes after the letter i, then after this consonant there will be a silent e which signals /I/.  What if I want to spell the word slime?  First in order to spell this word in letterboxes, I need to know how many phonemes are in the word.  Let’s stretch it out and count the sounds: /s/ /l/ /I/ /m/.  So I need 4 boxes.  I heard that /I/ right before the /m/ so I’m going to put an i in the 3rd box and the silent e outside of the 4th box.  Our word starts with /s/ so I can put that letter in the first box.  Okay what is the next letter in our word?  Let’s say it slowly together /s/ /l/ /I/ /m/…I heard /l/ so I’m going to put an l in the 2nd box.  It looks like we are still missing one letter [Point to the letters in the box and simultaneously stretch out the word: /s/ /l/ /I/ /m/.]  It looks like our missing letter is /m/ = m.

                                                               

 

                                                                                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Now you are going to spell some words in letterboxes.  Let’s start with the word line.  The line for the movie was really long.  First we need to figure out how many letterboxes we need.  Can you show me?  What letter should go in the first box?  [Respond to given answers]  What letter goes in the second box?  What about our silent signal letter?  Where should it go?  [Walk around and observe students’ efforts.]  Now see if you can figure out how many letterboxes are needed for the next word: bike, I rode my bike to the park.  Remember to stretch out the word and listen for the sounds.  [Allow children to spell word.]  Now it’s time to check your work.  Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes and see if your spelling matches: b – i – k – e.  Try another: gripe, which means to complain about something.  Let’s not gripe about the homework.  [Have a student demonstrate the correct spelling. Repeat this for any other new words]  Listen carefully to see if this next word has the /I/ sound in it: slip.  Did you need a silent e?  Why not?  [because we don’t hear /I/]  We spell it with a short i. [Let a student demonstrate the spelling for the class.] 

 

5. Now you’re going to have the opportunity to read the words that you just spelled.  [Call on children to read words off of the list.  Give them time to decode the word and discover /I/.]

 

6. Thank you all for your hard work with our new spelling for /I/: i_e.  Now you are going to read a book called The Bike Ride.  This book is about a boy named Nate who doesn’t like to ride bikes, and would rather be watching TV.  His friends Tim and Jan try to get Nate to go with them by coming up with a plan to trick him.  Let’s have everyone find a partner so that you can read the story and figure out how and if Nate decides to play with his friends.  [Children find a partner and take turns reading alternate pages.  During this time the teacher walks around to observe the students’ progress.  After this activity, the class comes back together to read the story, stopping to discuss the plot.]

 

7. That was an interesting story.  So did Nate decide to go ride bikes with his friends Tim and Jan?  He did but how did Tim and Jan get him to go with them?  They did decide to trick him by attaching a kite to Tim’s bike and telling Nate that he could ride the bike to fly the kite.  Before we finish up our lesson about how to spell /I/ = i_e, I would like to see how you can solve a reading problem.  I have a worksheet with pictures of various objects.  There is a place underneath the pictures for you to write its name.  Your job is to look at the pictures and decide if the object is spelled using short i or long I.  First, figure out what the picture is and then right down your word.  Remember your i_e rule.  When you are finished check your answers with the person next to you, and then we will go over the answers together. [Teacher will need a copy of the worksheet to display to the class.  Collect worksheets to see students’ progress.]