WE learn about E! 

Rationale: This lesson teaches students about the long vowel correspondence ee=/E/. In order to be a fluent reader, children must learn to recognize the different spellings that signal word pronunciations. In this specific lesson, children will be able to recognize, spell, and read out loud words containing the ee spelling. The students will learn meaningful representation, they will spell and read words in a letterbox lesson, and they will read a decodable book.

Materials: White board, decodable book “What will the seal eat?”, pencil and paper, picture of dolphin 

Procedures

Say: In order to become an expert reader we need to learn the code that tells us how to properly pronounce the words we read. Today we are going to learn all about the Long E. We are going to learn about the long E when a word has two little e’s in it. When I say the /E/ sound I think of a dolphin saying “e-e-e”. (Show picture of dolphin) Have the students make the dolphin /E/ sound. 

Before we learn how to spell the ee=/E/, we need to be able to hear it in words out loud! Let’s try and listen for the dolphin sound! . What about the word sea? I do hear a dolphin?  s-E-a. What about leg? Nope, I do not hear any dolphins, so this must be a short e and not a long E. 

Now lets look at spelling! There are several different ways to spell the long /E/ sound. Today we are going to be focusing on the double e. (Write ee out on the board). Let’s look at the word tree, it has the ee at the end and does Mr. E say his name? Yes! 

Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You will start out with an easy word with two boxes for the word: see. Can anyone think of a sentence that has the word see in it? I can see the playground from the window. Now let’s try a little bit harder of a word. What about the word sheep. 

Next were going to read a story! This story is called, “What will the seal eat?” This story is about Mr. Seal. He is so hungry but cannot find anything he wants to eat. Can someone raise their hand and share what their favorite food is? Now let’s get with a buddy and take turns reading the story. (The students pair up and read the story while the teacher walks around). After everyone is done we will come back together as a big group and read the story aloud. 

I am going to write ten words on the board! I only want you to copy the ones that have the ee in them and make the dolphin sound! Then take those words and write a sentence! Words: Tree, seal, beat, see, me, knee, ten, bee, sea, been 

Resources: 

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/murraybr.htm