Ms. Boyd's Brainy bits

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Icky Sticky

Beginning Reading Design by Logan Boyd

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Rationale:

This lesson teaches children about the vowel correspondence i = /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. They will learn a meaningful representation (lady shaking hands saying “icky”), 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/.

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Materials:

• Graphic image of confused man

• cover-up critter

• whiteboard or smartboard

• Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student

• letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, c,  g, h, i, k, l, n, p, s, t

•  list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: in, lid, pig, ship, king, snack, stick, spring

• decodable text: Slip and Spin, and assessment worksheet

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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 a and e, like add and egg, and today we are going to learn about short i and is used to make its sound /i/. When I say /i/ I think of a pretty lady saying “Icky Sticky!” [show graphic image].

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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 sound /i/ and my mouth is open and my tongue is slightly lowered. [Make vocal gesture for /i/.] I’ll show you first: chick. I heard i say its sound and I felt my mouth open a little iii-icky i sound [make an open mouth with tongue lowered]. There is a short i in chick. Now I’m going to see if it’s in class. Hmm, I didn’t hear i say its sound and my mouth opened more with this sound. Now you try. If you hear /i/ say, “Icky Sticky.” If you don’t hear /i/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in slid, bad, nest, big, brick, lips? [Have children make an open mouth with a lowered tongue when they feel /i/ say its sound.]

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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 when you hear the icky sticky i in a word. [Write i on the board.] What if I want to spell the word stick? “If I go outside, I will throw my dog a stick.” Stick means a thin piece of wood in this sentence. To spell stick in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//t//i//ck/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /i/ just before the /ck/ so I’m going to put an i in the 3rd box and the ck in 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//i//ck/. I think I heard /t/ so I’ll put a t right after the s. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//t//i//ck/.] The missing one is /k/ = k.

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4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for in. In is being inside of an enclosed area, “The teacher and the students were in the classroom.” 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: lid, I have a lid for the container.; lid.  [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: l – i -- d and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: pig; The pig is rolling in mud at the farm. [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: sled; children sled in the snow in the winter. Do you hear the icky sticky i in sled? Right, you don’t and that is because it is the short e sound, not the short i sound. We spell it with our short vowel e. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Let’s try 4 phonemes: stick; the stick was in the dog’s mouth. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: spring; a morning person can spring out of bed to start the day. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

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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 stick 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/ + /i/ = /sti/. Now all I need is the end, ck = /k/ = /stik/. Stick; 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/t/i/ck

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6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /i/: i. Now we are going to read a book called Slip and Spin. This is a story of a pig named Slim. Slim has just had a bath and is slick. He slips and hits Elf. Elf skids on the floor and Slim spins. What happens to fix this problem when Slim is slick? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Slip and Spin to find out what the fix is. [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 Slip and Spin aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

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7. Say: That was a fun story. What did Dad do to fix the problem with Elf and Slim? Right, he built a pen for Slim. Why was Slim slick? Right, he had just had a bath. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /i/ = i, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have three columns. One with pictures, one with letters, and one with lines where you will write the word. First, you will name the picture. Next, you will spell the word. Finally, you will write that word on the line. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

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Resources:
Amanda Merkel, Ted and Tim: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/yanceybr.htm

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Murray, G. (2004) Slip and Spin. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html

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Assessment worksheet: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/ShrtiWkPk.pdf

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