Beginning Reading

Icky, Sticky Glue!

A Beginning Reading Lesson

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence i = /i/. To be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that demonstrate word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling i. They will learn a meaningful representation (glue bottle being squeezed) 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/. In the end, the goal of learning this phoneme is to be able to decode words and add those words to the reader’s sight vocabulary.

Materials:

Graphic image of a glue bottle being squeezed
Cover-up critter
Individual Elkonin boxes for each student
Expo marker to draw boxes on board
Letter manipulatives for each child: i, c, t, k, b, l, s, f, r, n, g
Expo marker for teacher
List of spelling words on computer slide show to read: it, bit, lick, list, lift, string
Decodable text: Jig and Mag
Assessment worksheet (linked below)

Procedures:

Say: To become awesome readers, we need to learn the special code that tells us how to pronounce words. Today we are going to learn about short i and how to say /i/. When I say /i/ I think of when we use glue and it gets on our hands and we say, “icky, sticky glue!” [show graphic image and demonstrate pulling hands apart].

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 short vowel name /i/. It’s the little brother sound for the letter i, and my lips make a little half smile. [Make vocal gesture for /i/.] I’ll show you first: bit. I heard the /i/, and I felt my lips make a little smile [make a line motion around the separated lips]. There is a short i in bit. Now I’m going to see if it’s in bite. Hmm, I didn’t hear the little brother /i/ and my lips didn’t make that half smile. Now you try. If you hear /i/ say, “icky, sticky glue.” If you don’t hear /i/ say, “No that’s not right” Is it in Big, Pain, List, Lips, Lime, Lift? [Have children separate their hands like they have glue on their hands, as they say “icky sticky glue,” when they feel the /i/ sound.]

Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /i/ that we are learning today. One way to spell /i/ is with the letter i. [Write i on the board.] By not having anything after the vowel i, we know it’s going to be the little brother sound. What if I want to spell the word lick? “I lick my ice cream cone at the fair.” Lick means to eat in this sentence. To spell lick in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /l//i//k/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /i/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an i in the 2nd box. The word starts with /l/, that’s easy; I need an l. Now it gets tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /l//i//k/. I think I heard /k/, but the /k/ sound is not just k, it’s with ck, so I’ll put them together in the third box. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /l//i//k/.

Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ick. It is an unknown thing, “Can you go grab it?” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? I’ll check what you’ve spelled as I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] Now, 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: bit, “I bit an apple today.” [Give time for children to spell words.] Let’s check your work. Watch how I spell it with my letterboxes on the board: b – i – t and look at your boxes and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: dig; “I need to dig a hole for the treasure.” [Ask for volunteers to spell the word in the letterbox on the front board for the rest of the class to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Time for the next word. Listen to see if this word has /i/ in it before you spell it: bite; “Don’t bite the core of the apple.” Did you hear the baby brother sound? Why or why not? Right, because we don’t hear the baby brother sound /i/, it must be the big brother sound of /I/. So, then we spell it with our long vowel i. [ask for a volunteer to spell it on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /I/ with a silent e? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: lift; “I had to lift the books from the ground.” Now we only have one more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: string; “I have a string hanging off my shirt.” Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

Say: Now I am going to let you read all the words you’ve spelled. First, I’m going to show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with string on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a baby i in my word, so that is my signal it’s going to make the baby brother sound /i/. I’m going to use a cover-up critter to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /s//t/ = /st/ + /r/ = /str/. Now I’m going to blend that with /i/ = /stri/. Now all I need is the end, /ng/ = /string/. String; that’s it. Now I want you to try: one, two, three… [Have children read words together. Afterwards, individually call on students to read one word on the list until the whole class has had a chance.]

Say: You’ve done an awesome job spelling and reading words with our new spelling for /i/: i. Now we are all going to read a book called Jig and Mag. This is a story is about a big pig named Jig and a dog named Mag. Both like to dig. Read more to find out who won the digging contest. Let’s get into pairs and take turns reading Jig and Mag to find out who won the digging contest. [Children pair up and read alternate pages each while a teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After, the class comes together and reads Jig and Mag out loud and talk about the plot.]

Say: That was a cool story. Who won the digging contest? Right, Jig. Who won tag? Right, Mag. Before we wrap up our lesson about spell /i/ = i, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, you will read the words in the first box of every row and circle all the endings that they share. Then look at the image and use it as a clue to write another word with the same short vowel and sound ending. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

Resources:

Anne Clupo, Icky, Sticky Glue: https://anneclupo.wixsite.com/my-site-1/beginning-reading

Bobby Lynn Maslen (1976), Jig and Mag

Assessment worksheet: https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/meet-word-family-short-i/

Awakenings, Reading Genie