“Piper Flies her Kite”

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling i_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (Piper Flies a Kite), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i_e = /I/.

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Materials: Graphic image of Piper Flies a Kite; cover-up critter; Letter tiles and letterbox note cards for modeling as well as for the student to use to spell each word with the letter tiles; letter manipulatives for each child and letter tiles for teacher: h, i, d, e, b, t, m, n, s, p, l, l, r, k; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: hide, bite, mine, spill, bride, strike; decodable text: Kite Day at Pine Lake, and assessment worksheet.

 

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 short vowel words with i, like tip, and today we are going to learn about long I and the silent e signal that is used to make I say its name, /I/. When I say /I/ I think of a pretty little girl in a field and the caption says “Piper flies her kite.” [show graphic image].

 

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 mouth make a smiling shape like this where I show my teeth. [Make vocal gesture for /I/.] I’ll show you first: time. I heard i say its name and I felt my mouth making the smiling face [smile and show teeth]. There is a long I in time. Now I’m going to see if it’s in pill. Hmm, I didn’t hear i say its name and my mouth did not smile big with my teeth to say i. Now you try. If you hear /I/ say, “Piper flies her kite.” If you don’t hear /I/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in pipe, pain, ripe, milk, nice, like? [Have children make a teethy smile when they pronounce the long vowel i in the words.]

 

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /I/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /I/ is with the letter i and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say I’s name. [Write i_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after i, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word strike? “If I strike the baseball gently, it will not go over the fence.” Strike means baseball in this sentence. To spell strike in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /s//t//r//I//k/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /I/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an i in the 4th box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s//t//r//I//k/. I think I heard /t/ so I’ll put a t right after the s. One more before the /I/, hmm . . . /s//t//r//I//k/, I think I heard growling /r/ so I need an r. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//t//r//I//k/.] The missing one is /k/ = k.

 

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with three boxes for hide. “My favorite game to play is hide and seek.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second and third box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes again for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /I/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: bite, my dog is still learning not to bite, bite. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: b – i – t – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: mine; Those tennis shoes are mine. [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: spill; I did not mean to spill my drink. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear i say its name. We spell it with our short vowel i. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: bride; the bride wore a white dress. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: strike; I always to my best to strike the baseball. 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 strike on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. 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//t/ = /st/ + /r/ = /str/. Now I’m going to blend that with /I/ = /strI/. Now all I need is the end, /k/ = /strIk/. Strike; 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.]

 

6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /I/: i_e. Now we are going to read a book called Kite Day at Pine Lake. This is a story of a group of friends that go to Pine Lake to fly their kites. Jeff is the first to fly his kite. Fay’s kite was not as successful and fell next to Ike’s kite. After it is Jan’s turn, the friends realize that their friend Bob does not have a kite to fly. What is Bob going to do? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Kite Day at Pine Lake to find out what happens. [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 Kite Day at Pine Lake aloud together. Add stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

 

7. Say: That was a fun story. What did Bob end up doing? Right, his friends made him a kite to fly! How did Jeff decorate Bob’s kite? Right, it was white with lines. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /I/ = i_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to read each sentence, look in the box of words, and decide which i_e word fits best to make sense of each of these sentences. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to make sure you chose the right words. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:
i_e = /I/ spelling words teacher page: https://psjamyear2.wordpress.com/2017/08/06/i_e-spelling-words/

 

Cushman, Sheila. Kornblum, Rona. (1990) Kite Day at Pine Lake. Phonics Long Vowel Readers

 

Assessment worksheet attached below:

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