BEGINNING READING

Rationale:

This lesson teaches students about the correspondence ew=/ew/. Students must learn to map word pronunciations through spellings of words. This lesson will teach the students read and spell words using the ew=/ew/ correspondence. They will learn a visual and auditory representation of a trashcan “Ew! That smells!” Ehri tells us that guided spelling is more useful than just decoding alone so they will use a letterbox lesson to help them spell words with this correspondence and they will work on a formative assessment to help them read words using the same correspondence. They will also read a decodable text with ew=/ew/.

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Materials:

Image of a trashcan with smelly lines, smartboard or projector, cover-up critter, letterboxes, letter manipulatives: n, e, w, f, b, l, t, h, r, s, c, u, a, k. List of words: new, few, blue, blew, take, threw, screw, shrew, strewn, Worksheet, decodable text: The Storm That Blew.

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Procedures:

1. Say: We need to figure out how to pronounce words through a code. We have already learned long vowel e=/E/ as in he andwe, but today, we are going to use 2 letters to make a sound. We are going to learn that ew=/ew/. When I say ew, I think of a smelly trashcan and what I would say as I walk past “Ew! That smells!”(I would show the image here).

2. Before we can learn the spelling, we need to be able to find it in different words that we hear. When I hear it in words, my face squishes together, moves outward into a kissing face and my tongue moves forward so I can make a nasty face to go with the nasty smell. (I would show this here). I will show you with the word new. When I say new my face squishes together a little bit, moves out into a kissy face and my tongue moves to the front of my mouth. Can you hear it? If you can, say “ew! That smells!” but if you can’t, say “it’s not there”. Is it in few, hat, blew, foot, screw? (students would find words that it is in).

3. Say: The next step is to look at the spelling of the sound. The way we spell this sound is with an e and a w right next to each other. (Write this on board). If I want to spell screw as in there is a screw in that piece of wood, I would want to use ew. We need to find the number of phonemes that this word has which means we have to stretch it out. /s//k//r//ew/. I only need 4 boxes for this word. I heard the ew at the end so am going to put it in the last box. Then I can tell that the word has an s at the beginning so I will add that in. Now let me think about the next sound. /s//k//r//ew/. Is it a c or a k? I’m not sure yet so I’m going to come back to that. The next sound is r like a pirate. Oh! I remember that c and r like to sit together so that must be the right one! (We would then point to the letters in the boxes and say the word slowly.)

4. Say: Now you guys are going to spell some words with the letter boxes. You need two boxes for few. There are very few cookies left in the cookie jar because Tammy ate them. What goes in the first box? What about the second one? (check students as walking around). The next word needs three boxes and it is blew. Jimmy blew out the candles on his birthday cake. Don’t forget to listen for the ew=/ew/ sound. I am going to do the next one too so look and see if you got the same answer as me. There are three letter boxes for this one. Threw. I threw the baseball with my brother. Continue with the rest of the listed words.

5. Say: we are going to read the words we just spelled, but I am going to show you how to read a tough word. (Display word). I see that we have our ew at the end so I know this word is going to be like my “Ew! That smells” image. The first letter says /s/. The next one says /k/ so that is /s//k/ so far. Next we have the /r/ like a pirate /s//k//r/. Lastly, we add the /ew/ so it is /s//k//r//ew/. Screw. Everyone is going to take turns reading off of their list of words.

6. Say: Everyone has done a great job reading the words on the board, but now we are going to read a little story about a little girl that was eating her stew, but that heard a loud sound and went to see what it was. You are going to have to read to figure out what happens next. We can get into groups to read each section of this story. (After we all read it together and talk about what happened).

7. Say: That was a pretty good story, but now we are going to work on reading and writing ew with a little worksheet. I will be walking around to help you as needed. Remember our trashcan. Your job on this worksheet is to match the pictures to the words that you see written on the page and cut and paste them. Then I want you to use that to help you spell the words on the next paper. (walk around and help). (collect worksheets then go over answers on the board).

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References:

Vowel Dipthongs: "Ew". URL.

Teacher’s Resource Book. Page 41 Retrieved from URL

Carl’s Corner. The Ew Family Set. Page 5 and 6 Retrieved from URL