Rationale: This lesson teaches the vowel correspondence i = /i/. By learning this correspondence, children will be able to better their ability to map out word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the correspondence i = /i/. Students will learn a meaningful representation of the phoneme (using their fingers to scratch an itch on their arm), they will spell and read words using this spelling in a letterbox lesson and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i = /i/. 

 

 

Materials: Gif of iguana; cover-up critter; digital letter boxes for modeling and cardstock letter boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each student and magnetic or digital letters for teacher: c, a, e, i, s, h, d, b, t, w, g, p, n, m, r, k; list of spelling words on a poster or the whiteboard to read: is, cap, hip, set, grid, twig, spin, mist, brisk, sprint

 

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Procedures:

1. Say: In order to become experts in reading, we need to learn the code that will tell us how pronounce words. We have already learned short a with words like cap and short e with words like pen, and today we will be learning short i. When I hear /i/ I think of the word itchy. Like itchy, itchy iguana. (show gif of iguana). Write lowercase i on the board. 

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of words with /i/, we need to listen for it in some words. I hear little i say its name /i/ my mouth opens halfway, then my tongue goes to the bottom of my mouth, and lastly, I push air from the back of my throat to make the sound. I will show you first: pig. I hear /i/ say its name and I felt my mouth open halfway, my tongue go to the bottom of my mouth, and I pushed air from the back of my throat. There is a short /i/ sound in pig. Now I am going to see if it’s in shine. Hmm, I didn’t hear /i/ in this word, and I had to open my mouth wider. Now you try. If you hear /i/ say, “itchy, itchy iguana”. If you don’t hear /i/ say “that’s not it.” Is it in pit, cow, cat, lips, baby, kid? (You can also have the kids scratch an itch on their hand if they hear /i/ in the word) 

3. Say: What if I want to spell the word brisk? “The air is brisk today”. Brisk means cold, fresh air in this sentence. To spell brisk in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in this word. To figure this out, I stretch it out and count: /b/ /r/ /i/ /s/ /k/. This means that I will need 5 boxes. I heard /i/ after /r/ so I’m going to put it in the 3rdbox. The word starts with /b/, so that is easy, I will put a b in the 1st box. I heard /r/ after the beginning sound /b/, so I need to put an r in the 2nd box. This means now I only have to find the last two phonemes. I think I hear an s, brisk. I need to put the s in the 4th box. This must mean in my last empty box I need to put the letter k. Now I will show you how to read a tough word. (Display poster with print at the top and model reading the word.) I’m going to start with i, the part that is /i/. Now I’m going to put the beginning letters with it s-p-r-i, /spri/. Now I’ll put that part together with the last two sounds, spri-n-t. Sprint! Like “let’s sprint across the football field.” 

4. Say: Now I want you to practice spelling some words in letterboxes. You’ll start with two easy boxes for is. Like, “My name is Miss Smith.” I’m going to walk around the room and check your spelling. (This allows you to observe progress) For the next word, you will need three letter boxes. Make sure to listen to the beginning sound to spell in the first box. Then, listen for /i/. The word is: hip. Like “My hip hurts today.”; hip. (Allow the children to spell the remaining words you have listed, and give sentence examples for each one: sit, grid, twig, spin, mist) 

5. Say: Now I will let you read the words that you have spelled. (Show the words is, hip, sit, grid, twig, spin, mist, print, brisk, and the pseudoword swip. Have the children read the words in unison. After this, call the children one by one to read one word on the word list until everyone has had a turn. Allow them to use their cover-up critter to discover each sound and blend to make the word.

6. Say: You’ve done a great job with reading our new words with /i/, Now we are going to read a book called My Short i Book. This story is about Jim the pig who has a friend named Tim. Tim gets sick. Will Jim be able to help his friend feel better? Let’s read the story to find out! Each child will be paired with a partner to read and discuss the story (the students can take turns reading every other page). The teacher should walk around the room monitoring progress. After the individually paired reading, the class can reread the story My Short i Book chorally, discussing the story between each page. 

Assessment: 

1. Say: Before we wrap up our lesson on /i/, I want to assess your knowledge on itchy, itchy i. I have a worksheet for you to complete. Your job is to circle the word that best describes each picture. Make sure you read each word carefully before choosing and writing your answer. I will call you individually to check your answers when you have had enough time to complete the worksheet. 

 

References:

• Cate Behl: Open Wide for O

• Book: Short i Decodable Book - Freebie! 

• Assessment worksheet: Short I Sound Worksheet  (the worksheet is the middle bottom, click on it and it will automatically download the free printable pdf)