Eek! A Mouse

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1. Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ee=/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 ee. They will learn a meaningful representation (a mouse), 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/.

2. Materials: Picture of a mouse; letterboxes for each student and magnetic ones for teacher; letter manipulatives for student and magnetic ones for teacher: b,e,e,s,d,c,h,k,r,w,t,n;  flashcards: bee, seed, cheek, red, sweet, screen; projector; cover-up critter; individual and electronic copies of decodable book Lee and the Team; assessment worksheet (link below); safety scissors; glue

3. 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 short vowel sounds with e like ‘wet’ and today we are going to learn about long E and the sound it makes, /E/. When I say /E/, I think of a little mouse squeaking [show picture of mouse]. Can everybody squeak like a mouse? [have the students say /E/]

   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/ and my mouth smiles. [Make vocal gesture for /E/]. I’ll show you first: meet. I heard e say its name and I felt my mouth go into a smile. There is long E in meet. Now I’m going to see iff it’s in pen. Hmmm, I didn’t hear e say its name and my mouth didn’t smile. Now you try. If you hear /E/, pretend to be a mouse. If you don’t hear /E/ shake your head no. Is it in feet, rip, school, glee, creep, roll?

   3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /E/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /E/ is with two e’s [write ee on the board]. What if I wanted to spell the word sheep. “Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep”. To spell sheep in letter boxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /sh/ /ee/ /p/. I need 3 boxes. I heard the /E/ right in the middle so I am going to put two e’s in the second box. S and H make the shhhh sound so I am going to put those in the first box. The last sound is /p/. P makes /p/ so I will put that one in the last box.

   4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for bee. What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers.] Did you remember to put two e’s in the box together? I’ll check your spelling as 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/ and don’t forget to put 2 e’s in the box together. Here’s the word: seed. [Allow children to spell words]. Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the bord s-ee-d and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: cheek. [Have a 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: red. Did you need one or two e’s? Why? Right, because we don’t hear e say its name. We spell it with our short vowel e [volunteer spells it on the front board]. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: sweet. One more then we’re done with spelling and this time we will need five boxes: screen. 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 flashcard with screen on the projector and model reading the word.] First I see there’s two e’s, that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. I am 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’m going to blend that with /E/ = /scrE/. Now all I need is the end /n/ = /scrEn/ Screen. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have children read words the following words in unison: sweet, sheep, peet, treep, screen, cheek, creep, glee, seed. 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 reading words with our new spelling ee = /E/. Now we are going to read a book called Lee and the Team. Lee is the captain of his team and he needs to get them to run, but his team is tired and won’t listen. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Lee and the Team to find out if Lee can get his team to run. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while the 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 fun story. How did Lee get his team to run? Right, he yells about the bee. Where was the team resting? Right, by the tree. 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. This worksheet has pictures that either have the /e/ sound or the /E/ sound. Your job is to put the pictures in the correct group depending on which sound they have. [collect worksheets to evaluate individual child’s progress]. (link to worksheet is in resources)

4. Resources:

   1. Cushman, Sheila; Kornblum, Rona; Bob Brugger; Lee and the Team; Educational Insights; 1990

   2. Oh! I didn't know by Geri Murray

   3. Assessment Worksheet (Use page 12)