icky slime!
“iiiiicky”
A Beginning Reading Lesson
By Tindall Morring
Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel i= /i/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. Throughout this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the short i vowel. They will learn a meaningful representation (iiicky slime), 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 image of icky slime; cover-up critter; whiteboard, boxes for modeling and individual boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: b, r, i, c, k, g, d, s, w, m, p, n, g; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: brick, grid, swim, spring; decodable text: Pig in a Bag http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/pig/pigcover.html , and assessment worksheet https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics/mysterypicture-short-i-fish.pdf?up=1466611200 .
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 other short vowel words with a and e, like tap and ten, and today we are going to learn about short I and the sound it makes, /i/. When I say /i/ I think of a slime stretching out and going “iiiiicky”
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 name /i/ and my tongue touches the bottom of my mouth behind my teeth and I blow air out. [Make vocal gesture for /i/.] I’ll show you first: grid. I heard i say its name and I felt my tongue touch behind my bottom teeth and air come out. [touch tongue to bottom of mouth and act like making the /i/ sound]. There is a short i in grid. Now I’m going to see if it’s in spat. Hmm, I didn’t hear i say its name and my tongue didn’t touch behind my bottom teeth to make /i/ sound. Now you try. If you hear /i/ say, “iiiicky.” If you don’t hear /i/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in snap, rat, bed, lick, net, lips? [Have children act they are stretching out icky slime when they feel /i/ say its name.]
iiiicky
​
3. Say: Now let’s look i= /i/ when its in a word. [Write i on the board.] What if I want to spell the word brick? “the house is made of brick” To spell brick in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /b//r//i//ck/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /i/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an i in the 4th box. The word starts with /b/, that’s easy; I need a b. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /b//r/i//ck/. I think I heard /r/ so I’ll put a t right after the b. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /b//r//i//ck/.] The missing one is /k/ = ck.
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for it. 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/. Here’s the word: pig, There was a pig on the farm; pig. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: p– i– g and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: big; I had a big cookie at lunch. [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: step; I took a step along the path. Did you need a short i? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear i say its name. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: swim; lets go swim in the pool. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: ; I love going outside when it is spring. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
5. 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 spring on the top and model reading the word.] First I see it begins with an s. There’s the vowel i. It must say /i/. 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//p/ = /sp/ + /r/ = /spr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /i/ = /spri/. Now all I need is the end, /ng/ = /spring/. Spring; 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.] s/p/r/i/ng/
6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our spelling for i=/i/. Now we are going to read a book called Pig in a Bag. This is a story of about a little boy named Tim who gets a pet pig and names him Slim. Slim makes all kinds of different friends throughout his day. Lets keep reading to hear all about his adventures! [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 Pig in a Bag aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: That was a fun story. What was did Time receive in a bag? Right, a pig! What did he name the pig? Right, slim! Before we finish up with our lesson about short i, i=/i/. I want to see how well you can recognize the short i in words you see. On this worksheet, we have some words with the letter I in them inside various shapes. Your job is to look in all the shapes and choose which words have the short i, i=/i/ and then color in those shapes. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
Resources: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/
Murray, G. Pig in a Bag. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/pig/pigcover.html
Assessment worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics/mysterypicture-short-i-fish.pdf?up=1466611200
Sadie Shell, The Yawning O- https://sadieruthh.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading
