Aïe, Aïe, Let’s Give Long I a Try!

A Beginning Reading Lesson, by Logan Bergeron

 

Rationale: This lesson is designed to teach children about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. To learn how to read, children must first develop the alphabetic principle. That is, they must learn to recognize that the spellings of printed words act as maps for their oral pronunciations. In this lesson, students will learn how to recognize, spell, and write words that are spelled with i_e. First, they will be taught a meaningful sound-gesture analogy for the phoneme (a woman dramatically sighing, “Aïe aïe!”). They will then practice using the phoneme through a phoneme identifying activity. Next, they will spell and read words containing i_e in a Letterbox Lesson. Finally, they will read a decodable story that focuses on the correspondence i_e = /I/, and apply their knowledge in a worksheet.

​

Materials:

• Graphic image of woman sighing with hand to forehead, as seen above

• White board with letterboxes drawn in dry erase marker and magnet letters for teacher

• Letterboxes and letter manipulative tiles for each child

  • Letters needed: i, e, s, s, l, c, r, d, h, k, w, h, t, v, p

• List of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read

  • Words: ICE, RIDE, HIKE, WISH, THRIVE, STRIPE, STRIVE

• Decodable text: Nate’s Bike Ride

• Cover-up critter

• Assessment worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Long-i-Magic-e-Worksheet-3431724

 

Procedure:

1. Say: Did you know that every word in our language has a special map that tells us how to say it? It’s like a treasure map, but for reading! It is important to learn how to read these maps so that we can become expert readers! We already know about short i, and how it says /i/ in words like clip and stick. Today, we are going to learn about long i and how silent e can be written with i to make i say its name, /I/. When I say /I/, I think of a silly, dramatic lady sighing, saying, “Aïe aïe!” [show graphic image and demonstrate, leaning back and placing your hand on your forehead]

2. Say: Before we learn how to spell with long i, we need to practice listening for /I/ in some words. When I am listening for /I/ in words, I can hear i say its name /I/ and I feel my mouth open wide with my tongue just barely resting against my bottom teeth. [Make vocal gesture for /I/] Let me show you: nice. I heard i say its name and I felt my mouth widen and my tongue moved behind my bottom teeth. [Make /I/ vocal gesture again] There is a long i in nice. But is there a long i in sip? Let me think… I don’t hear i saying its name in there, and my mouth didn’t make the /I/ move… No, there is no long i in sip.

3. Say: Now, you try! I will say some words, and if you hear /I/ in a word, pretend to sigh and say “aïe aïe!” like the dramatic lady! Let’s do it together: [dramatically “sigh” while vocalizing the /I/ sound twice] BUT – if you don’t hear /I/, I want you to say “NO!” Is long i in… Slide? Swing? Kite? Plane? Sound? Sight?

4. Say: Next, we are going to look at the spelling of /I/ that we are learning today. Today, we are learning the silent e form of long i, where the e at the end of the word signals for i to say its name. [Write “i_e” on the whiteboard] See the blank line between our i and e? That means that there will be a consonant after i, and the e at the end of the word is silent and tells us to say /I/. What if I am trying to spell the word slice? “Do you want a slice of cake?” A slice is a piece of the cake in this sentence. Make sense? Back to spelling it – first, I need to know how many letterboxes I need. I need one letterbox for each phoneme, so to figure out how many phonemes are in the word slice, I am going to stretch out the word and count: ssslllliiiiccce… /s/ /l/ /I/ /s/. 1, 2, 3, 4… I need four letterboxes. I heard our long i sound /I/ right before that last /s/ sound, so I am going to start by putting an i in the third box and my silent e right beside this last box. And the word starts with /s/, so I bet that’s an s in the first box! What’s next? Hm… let me say it slowly again: /s/… /l/… /I/… /s/… Oh! I can hear an /l/ sound after the starting s, so I bet that means an l goes in the second box! One last box now… [Point at the boxes one by one as you say the phonemes of the word, stretching it out: /s/ /l/ /I/ /s/] Huh, /s/ again? That one is tricky. Maybe another s? No, that doesn’t look right… Ooh, I know! Sometimes c makes the /s/ sound! Let me try a c there! A-ha! S-l-i-c-e makes slice!

5. Say: This time, I am going to have you try spelling some words in your letterboxes. Our first word will be an easy one, using only two boxes. The word is ice, as in, “I put ice in my tea to cool it down.” What do you think should go in the first box? [Wait for student’s answers and respond] If you said i, that is correct! What about the next box? Who can show me that they remember where the silent e goes? Finish your spelling while I walk around the room and check your boxes. [Observe students’ progress] Are we ready for the next word? This one will use three boxes. Remember, listen for /I/ and try to put it where it belongs first, then listen for the beginning sound for the first box and finally, the end sound to the last box. Don’t forget, your silent e goes at the end, outside the last of your boxes. Your new word is ride: “I can ride on a bus or in a train.” [Give children some time to think and spell the word] Let’s check our spellings. Let’s see how I spell it in the letterboxes on the board and see if you spelled yours like mine: r – i – d – e. Let’s try a new word. This time, the word is hike, as in “Let’s go on a hike through the woods”. A hike is like a long walk. You will use three boxes again for this word. [Continue walking around observing progress. Ask a volunteer to spell the word in the letterboxes on the front board after a few moments to allow the children to check their work. Repeat this step for each additional word.] Next word. Still three boxes. Pause and listen to see if this word has /I/ in it before you try to spell it… Ready? Wish; “I wish it was the weekend.” [Pause] Did you need your silent e at the end this time? Why not? [Listen to some responses] That’s right, we don’t need silent e if we don’t hear i say its name, /I/. That was a short i word. [Volunteer spells it on board] Did you make sure to put your s and h in the same box for /sh/? Now let’s do a word with 4 phonemes. [Pause while they set up an additional box] This time, the word is thrive: “The plant will thrive with plenty of water and sunshine.” […] Did you remember to put t and h together for /th/? If so, great! One more, and we will be done with our spelling. For this word, you will need five boxes. Your word is stripe: “Color the stripe on the tiger black.” This is a tricky one, so remember to stretch it out to find all the sounds for the letters you need!

6. Say: Now that we’ve spelled our words, I am going to have you read them. First, let me show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with the word strive on it and model how to read the word.] First, I see that we have our silent e at the end of the word, and i in the middle, so I know that is a signal that our i will say its name, /I/. Now, I will use a cover-up critter to see only the first parts and try to read them. [Uncover the letters before the vowel one by one, blending them sequentially and finally blending them with the vowel, i.] /s/ +/t/ = /st/ + /r/ = /str/… Next, I will blend the first part, /str/, with the vowel sound, /I/, to get /strI/. I just need to find out the end! Okay, /strI/ + /v/ = /strIv/. That’s it! Strive!

7. Say: Alright, now it’s your turn. Everyone do it together. [Have children read the words out loud together. Afterwards, call on students one by one to read an individual word from the list until every child has had a chance.]

8. Say: Wow, you all have done an awesome job with spelling and reading words that use our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now let’s read a book. [Have students flip to page 57 of Fun and Games with Lad and Slim to the story titled, “Nate’s Bike Ride”.] This story is called Nate’s Bike Ride, and it is about a boy named Nate who wants to sit in his house all day. His friend, Tim, wants Nate to go on a bike ride with him, but Nate doesn’t want to. How will Tim get Nate to ride his bike? Let’s pair up and take turns reading the story to find out. [Students will pair up and alternate reading pages. Walk around and monitor progress. Once students finish with paired reading, reread Nate’s Bike Ride aloud as a class, stopping between page turns to briefly discuss the plot.]

9. Say: What a fun story! How did Tim and Jan trick Nate into riding the bike? [Pause for responses] That’s right, they put a kite on the bike. And what happened when they got Nate to ride the bike? Right, it made the kite rise. Do you think Nate liked riding the bike with the kite? Yes? I think so too!

​

Assessment:

1. Say: Okay, now we have one more activity to apply what we learned today as we wrap up with our lesson on reading and spelling /I/ = i_e. I want to see how well you can identify and spell some i_e words, so I am going to pass out this worksheet, but oh no! It has some words missing! Good thing it has pictures, whew! What I want you to do is look at the picture and write down its name on the line. Remember, all of the words will have our long i spelling of i_e and say the /I/ sound, so once you are done writing the words, I want you to check each of them and see if they say “Aïe, aïe!” like our sighing lady. Make sure the words make sense with the pictures too, please! [Collect students’ worksheets when complete to evaluate individual student progress.]

 

Resources:

“Nate's Bike Ride.” Fun and Games with Lad and Slim, by Bruce Murray and Geri Murray, Geniebooks, Auburn University, AL, 2019, pp. 57–69.

​

Bruce Murray, Reading Genie – Letterbox Example Words with 4, 5, and 6 Phonemes:

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/materials/phonwords/

​

Mary Ashley Kinney, Aye Aye Captain: https://mak0066.wixsite.com/mysite/beginningreading

​

Assessment worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Long-i-Magic-e-Worksheet-3431724