Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence i = /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 phonemes /i/. They will learn a meaningful representation (touching sticky bubble gum and saying iiiii gross!), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i = /i/.

 

Materials: Graphic of stretching gum

Coverup Critters

Whiteboard or smartboard

Elkonin boxes for modeling

Individual Elkonin boxes for each student

Letter Manipulatives for each child and Magnetic or Smartboard letters for teacher; i, n, b, t, w, g, p, e, s, k

List of Spelling Words on poster or whiteboard to read: in, bit, wig, pen, skin

Decodable Text: Tin Man Fix-It

Assessment Worksheet

 

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 words with short a and short e sounds and today we are going to learn about short i and how it says /i/. When I say /i/ I think of someone touching sticky bubble gum and saying ‘iiiiii gross!’ [show graphic image]

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 short vowel name /i/. I’ll show you first: fit. I heard i say its short vowel name. There is a short i in fit. Now I’m going to see if it’s in pot. Hmm, I didn’t hear i say its short vowel name. Now you try. If you hear /i/ say, “iiii gross!” If you don’t hear /i/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in snow, lick, still, coat, nose, lips?

3. Say: Now, we need to learn to spell words with short i sounds. We will use a practice word and our letterboxes to practice. Our practice word will be pick. “I’m going to pick my favorite pumpkin in the pumpkin patch.” Pick, in this sentence, means to choose it over all the others. To spell pick in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes are in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /p/ /i/ /k/. I need 3 boxes. I heard the short i sound in the middle, so I will put the i in the second letterbox. I also heard /p/ at the beginning so I will put a p in the first letterbox. I need to sound it out again for the last phoneme: /p/ /i/ /k/. There’s a hard c sound but I know that ck is one phoneme so ck goes together in the last letterbox. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /p/ /i/ /k/.]

| P | | i | | ck |

1. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for in. To be in something means it is all around you. “I am in my house.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? I’ll check your spelling while 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 /i/ and our icky sticky bubble gum. Here’s the word: bit. The neighbor’s dog bit him because it was mad; bit. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: b – i – t and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: wig. My dad wears a wig because he can’t grow hair. [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: pen. I write my notes with a pen. Did you hear our icky sticky bubble gum? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear i say its short vowel name. We spell pen with our short vowel e. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try four phonemes: skin. There is skin all over our bodies. That was the last word to spell!

2. 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 skin on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see i in the word and I know it will make the short i sound. 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/ is the first sound in the word skin. The next sound is /k/. I’m going to blend those two sounds together to get /sk/. Next, I’ll add my short I sound onto that /sk/ sound. That makes /ski/. All that’s left on the end is /n/. Skin; 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.]

3. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /i/ = i. Now we are going to read a book called Tin Man Fix It. This story is about a tinman named Tim. He’s hanging out with Jim. Jim likes to fix things that are broken. A bad boy named Sid rides by on his skateboard and knocks over Tim and breaks him! How will Jim fix him? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Tin Man Fix It to find out how Jim fixes tinman Tim. [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 Jakes Joke aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

4. Say: That was a fun story. How did Jim fix Tim? That’s right! He used his toolkit on him. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /i/ = i, I want to see if you have mastered the icky sticky i. On this worksheet, there are lists of word families. There are blanks in the worksheet where you will have to fill in the word for what the picture is showing. There are lists of endings as a hint of what the word may be. Check over your work at the end. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

John David Phillips, Icky I: https://johndavid2332.wixsite.com/jdp0058/beginning-reading

 

Phonics Readers, Tin Man Fix-It: https://www.amazon.com/Tin-Man-Fix-Phonics-Readers/dp/0886798566#customerReviews

 

Assessment Worksheet: https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/meet-word-family-short-i/

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