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 pronunciation. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling ee. They will learn an impactful representation (a picture of an emoji saying ‘Eek!’), they will spell and read words that contain this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ee = /E/. 

 

Materials: Graphic image of an emoji saying ‘Eek!’; cover-up critter; whiteboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic letters for teacher: e, s, k, d, n, t, h, f, t, p, r; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: seek, need, sweet, sleep, green, sweep, street, screech; decodable text: The Bee and the Flea and an assessment worksheet. 

 

Procedures: 

1.) Say: In order for us to become expert readers we must learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. At this point we have already learned to read short vowel words with e, like set, and today we are going to learn about long E and the ee signal that is used to make E say its name, /E/. When I say /E/ I think of someone saying ‘Eek!’ like they are scared on Halloween (show the 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 the /E/ in words, I hear ee say its name /E/ and my lips stretch and my mouth and teeth come closer together (make vocal gesture for /E/.) I will show you first: seem. I heard ee say its name and I felt my lips stretch out for my ee (make your lips stretch out like someone saying ‘eek!’). There is a long E in seem. Now lets see if it is in ten. Hmm I don’t hear /E/ say its name and my lips did not stretch out. Now you try. If you hear /E/ say, ‘Eek!’ If you don't hear /E/ say, “No that’s not it.” Is it in three, when bee, bit, free, wing, knee? (Have children make their lips stretch out when they feel /E/ say its name.) 

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3.) Say: Now let's look at the spelling of /E/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /E/ is with the letter ee that tells me to say E’s name. (Write ee on white board.) These two letters put together signal me to say a long E. What if I want to spell the word screech? “The screech of the train stunned passengers onboard.” Screech in this sentence refers to the sound the train makes. To spell need in letterboxes we must first know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//c//r//ee//ch/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /E/ just before the /ch/ so I am going to put the ee in the 4th box. The word starts with /s/, that's easy; I need s. It can get a little tricky here so let’s say it slowly, /s//c//r//ee//ch/. I think that I heard /c/ so I will put a c right after the s. One more before the /E/… let’s think /s//c//r//ee//ch/, I think that I heard a growling /r/ so I need an r. I have one empty box left. (Point to the letters in boxes when stretching out the word: screech - /s//c//r//ee//ch/.) The letters that make the “ch'' sound go together in the last box. 

 

                                                                                                    |  s   |  c  |  r  |  ee  |  ch  |

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4.) Say: Now we are going to spell some more words in letter boxes. You will start out easy with 3 boxes for seek. To seek is to look, “I will seek out for the best candy in the store.” Which should go in the first box? (Respond now to the students' answers). What will go in the second box? Remember how our lips stretch when we say /E/. What will go in the third box? As I walk around the room, I will be checking your spelling. (Observe students progress). You will need 4 boxes for the next word. Let’s listen for the beginning sound that will go in the first letter box. Then listen for /E/. Here is our word: sweet, “I have a big sweet tooth”; sweet. (Give students time to spell the words). It is time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letter boxes on the board: s-w-ee-t and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Let’s try another with 4 boxes: green; “I like to sit on the green grass”. (Now have a student volunteer spell it on the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Then repeat this step for each new word.) On to the next word. Let’s see if this word had /E/ in it before you spell it: shred; “I need to shred cheese for my sandwich.” Did it sound like ‘Eek!’? Did your lips stretch when you said shred? Why not? Right, because we do not hear e say it’s name. We spell shred with our short vowel e. (Now a volunteer spells it on the front board). Now let’s try 5 phonemes: street; “The car zoomed fast down the street.” One more and then we will be done with spelling, this next word you will still need 5 boxes: screech; “The screech of the train stunned passengers on board.” Let’s remember to stretch it out for this tough word. 

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5.) Say: Alright now I will let you read the words that you have spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. (Now display the poster with screech on the top and now model the reading word). First I see ee in the word; that is my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel ee. It must say /E/. I will now use a cover-up critter to get the first part. (Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.) /s//c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. I’m going to blend this with /E/ = /scrE/. All I need now is the end, /ch/ = /scrEch/. Screech, that’s it. Now it is your turn, everyone read it together. (Have students read the words together in unison. After, call on the students to read one word on the list till everyone has had their turn.) 

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6.) Say: All of you have done such a great job reading words for our new spelling for /E/: ee. Now we will read a book called The Bee and the Flea. This is a story about a bee named Bea and a flea named Lee. Bea and Lee met while eating nectar. Lee has always wanted to be a bee. Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Bee and the Flea to see how Bea can help Lee with his dream. (The children pair up to take turns reading alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room to monitor the progress. After this, the class comes back together and rereads The Bee and the Flea aloud together and stops during reading to discuss the plot.) 

 

7.) Say: What a fun and silly story. How did Bea help Lee achieve his dream of being a bee? Right, Bea took Lee to meet the queen bee. What did the queen bee tell Lee? Right, she told Lee he could live in the hive for free so long as he keeps it clean. Before we wrap up our lesson about one way to spell /E/ = ee, let’s 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 choices and decide which ee word will fit best to make sense of the sentences. First try to read all of the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. After you are finished, reread all your answers to see if they make sense. (Now collect worksheets to assess the students' individual progress.) 

Resources: 

Decodable book: Ryan, Cheryl. (2002) The Bee and the Flea. https://1point3.weebly.com/uploads/6/0/1/8/60184271/beeandflea_clr.pdf 

Assessment worksheet: https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/the-ee-vowel-team/ 

Reference: Murray, Gerri, Oh I didn’t know! https://murraba.wixsite.com/readinglessons/beginning-reading

Awakenings Index: https://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/awakenings/