Icky, Sticky, Icee
Lesson design project for the reading stage of beginning reading (BR): ideas for teaching students to decode or spell words.
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 spelling i=/i/. They will learn a meaningful representation (Icky, Sticky, Icee), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson and read decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i=/i/.
Materials:
Graphic image of “icky, sticky”
Hand motion of waving hands to get rid of the Icee
Flashcards with the words: if, slid, zig, spit, drink, miss, ship
Letter Tiles: d, i, p, s, l, g, t, r, n, k, m, s
Letterboxes
Decodable Book: Tin Man Fix-It
Procedures:
Say: In order to become master readers, we need to understand that a word is mapped out by its spelling. Therefore, we need to understand our phonemes in order to be able to read words of a text. So far, we have learned that short /a/ sounds like a crying baby (stretch /a/ while showing hand gesture of rubbing eyes) and that short e sounds like an elephant yelling, “Ehhhhhhh” (stretch /e/ while showing hand gesture of opening door). Today, we have a new sound to learn, short /i/. We can remember short /i/ because it sounds like what we say if we have something icky and sticky covering our hands, like when we drink an Icee. Show graphic image while stretching /i/ and showing hand gesture of waving or wiping hands with a sticky substance on them. Now you all try to stretch /i/ and show me your hand gesture.
Say: Before we start learning how to spell with /i/, we need to try to test it out by listening very closely for it in certain words. When I listen for /i/ in a word that I am saying, I hear i say /i/ and I can feel my mouth open but my tongue stays low /i/-/i/-/i/. I will show you first: llll-iii-ddd. I heard it! I heard the short i sound, /i/, and I felt my mouth open with my tongue staying low. Now I want you to try a few. I am going to ask you to repeat two words and then I want you to tell me which word you hear /i/ in. Ready? Say lay; say lid. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear /i/ in lay. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear you hear /i/ in lid. Say Tom; say Tim. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear /i/ in Tom. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear you hear /i/ in Tim. Say wash; say wish. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear /i/ in wash. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear you hear /i/ in wish. Say bit; say bun. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear /i/ in bit. Show your icky sticky hand gesture if you hear you hear /i/ in bun.
Say: Now we are going to practice spelling some words with /i/ in them. We are going to practice using our letterboxes. I want everyone to keep their eyes on me and watch how I try to spell the word sticky using my letterboxes. First, I need to know how many letterboxes I will need so I need to stretch out skin and count the phonemes to figure it out: /ssssss//kkkkk//iiiiii//nnnnnn/. I hear 4 phonemes! So I need to lie out 4 letterboxes to try to spell skin. I heard my icky sticky i right after /k/, so I am going to place my icky sticky i in my third letterbox. Next, I am going to go to the beginning of the word. /Sssssss/, I need to place s in the first letterbox. Then I hear /kkkkkk/, that is k, so k should go in the second letterbox. I already have my icky sticky i in my third letterbox, so the next phoneme I hear is /nnnnnn/, so I am going to place n in my last letterbox. Now I need to know how to read the word I just spelled [display board with skin written on it in big print]. I am going to start with my icky sticky i, so /iiiii/. Next, I am going to add the first two letters, /s/-/k/, which gives me /ski/. Finally, I will put /ski/ with the last part, /n/, which gives me skin.
Say: Now I want everyone to take out their letterboxes and plastic letter tiles from their desks so we can all practice spelling a few words. First, I want everyone to lie out two letterboxes. I want you to spell if. If today is Tuesday, tomorrow is Wednesday. [Teacher should walk around the classroom to monitor students’ progress.] Now I want everyone to clear those letters and lay out three letterboxes. Your new word is ship. The ship sailed away in the ocean. Make sure to pay very close attention to the first sound it ship. The /sh/ sound is made with two letters so everyone should have two letter tiles in their first letterbox. [Give a variety of words for the children to spell, each with an example sentence: lid, spin, drink, miss.]
Say: Now I want us to practice the words we just spelled so well in our letterboxes. Remember, when we want to read a word that has icky sticky i, we start with /i/, add the first part of the word to /i/ and then add the rest of the word. [Display board with each word written in large print: if, ship, lid, spin, drink, miss and pseudoword drick.] I want everyone to try to read the words in unison now and then I will call each student up to read a few words with me.
Say: Wonderful job reading those words everyone! I think you all are ready to try reading a book. The book we are going to read today is called Liz is Six. [Give booktalk]: It’s Liz’s 6th birthday. She got a mitt for her birthday. Her and her animal friends decide to play a game of baseball. We will have to read to find out who wins. I want everyone to find a partner. You and your partner will take turns reading Liz is Six and I want everyone to pay special attention to the words with our icky sticky i.
Assessment:
Say: That a fun story! Before we finish up with our lesson, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, you will select the word that goes with the picture and write that word beneath the picture. Make sure to check your answers with a neighbor!
References: