Icky Sticky i
A Beginner's Reading Design
By Caroline Parsons
By Caroline Parsons
Rationale: This lesson teaches early learners about the short 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 i = /i/. They will learn a meaningful representation (Icky Sticky), be able to spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on i = /i/.
Materials:
Procedures:
Say: “In order to become expert readers we must learn how to crack the code that tells us how to pronounce certain words. Today, we are specifically going to learn how to recognize, spell, and read the short vowel correspondence: i = /i/. When I say i = /i/, I think of a Winnie the Pooh with icky sticky fingers trying to lick honey” [Show image]. For more practice, you can use the tongue tickler: Izzy is icky in her sticky igloo.
Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /i/, we need to listen for it in some words first. When we hear for /i/, we can feel our mouths turn up and create a soft smile. [Make vocal gestures for /i/]. I’ll show you first: lip. I can feel my mouth curl into a smile [Trace smile with both fingers, starting at the center of your lips and until you reach the corners of your mouth). Now we know there is a short i, i = /i/ in lip. What about the word mop. Hmm, I didn’t feel my mouth smile, so that means there cannot be a short i in mop. Now you try! If you can hear /i/, say ‘Icky Sticky.’ If you don’t hear /i/, say ‘That’s not it.’ Alright: list, pick, snow, stoop, it, ate, might?” [Have students trace their smiles with their fingers when they feel their mouths making the /i/ sound].
Say: “Now let's look at the spelling of /i/. When we spell with /i/, we use the lowercase letter, i. Let’s use this new knowledge and try spelling the word twist in ‘Let’s twist and shout.’ When we spell with our letterboxes, we need to know how many phonemes there are in each word. To do this, we're going to stretch out the word sit and count how many we hear: /t/w/i/s/t/. I hear 5 phonemes, so we’ll need 5 letterboxes. I hear the /i/ right before the /t/w/, so I'm going to put my i in the third box. The word starts with /t/, so t is going to go in our first box. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /t/w/i/s/t/. I think I heard /w/ so I’ll put a w right after the t and right before the i. So far we have /t/w/i/ and we need /t/w/i/s/t/ so all that's missing is our /s/t/. So, s goes in our fourth box and t in the last one! With these five letterboxes, we can sound out /t/w/i/s/t to spell twist” [Point to each letter while sounding each phoneme].
Say: “Now I am going to spell some words in letterboxes. We’re going to start with two boxes for: it. ‘Tag, you’re it!’ What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the last box? [Observe progress] Very good! Now let's move on to our 3 letterbox word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /i/. Here’s the next word: sip, ‘I took a sip of water.’ [Allow students to spell words]. Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: s-i-p and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another 3 box word: fix: ‘Can you fix my broken chair?’ [Have a volunteer spell it in the letterbox upfront 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: back. I have an itch on my back. Do we need our Icky Sticky [hand gesture] /i/ to spell back? No! Why not? [Have students answer] We spell it with a short a. [Volunteer spells it out on the board]. Did you remember to spell /k/ with ck? Now let's try 4 phonemes: sting. ‘Ow! Those bees sting.’ Did you remember to put /ng/ in 1 letterbox? Almost done! sled. ‘In the winter, I like to ride my sled.’ Alright everyone, last word. This one will use 5 letterboxes: twist. ‘Let’s twist and shout!’ Remember to stretch this one out, because this one’s a tough one.
Say: “Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve just spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with twist on the top and model reading the word]. First I see there’s a short i on the end; that’s my signal that this i will 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]. /t/w/ = /t/ + /w/ = /tw/. Now I’m going to blend that with /i/ = /twi/. Now all I need is the end, /s/t/ = /s/ + /t/ = /st/. /twist/. Twist, that's it! Now it's your turn. Have students read words in unison. Afterward, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn].
Say: You guys have done an amazing job reading and recognizing words with our i = /i/ sound. Now we’re going to read a book called Liz is Six. In this story, Liz gets a mitt for her birthday and decides to have a baseball game with all of her friends. Her game is tied and it all comes down to her pet pig to catch the game-winning ball. Will pig catch it? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Liz is Six to find out! [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Liz is Six aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.
Say: “That's a fun story! Did pig catch the ball? He did, that's right! And did they win the game? Yes! Before we finish up with our lesson about i = /i/, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices and decide which i word fits best to match the picture. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense.” [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
References:
Cushman, S. Liz is Six. Phonics Readers: Short Vowels, Book 5 Short i (1990).
Murray, G. Oh, I didn't know! Reading Genie. https://murraba.wixsite.com/readinglessons/beginning-reading
Worksheet assessment: https://mrsvanessawong.com/phonics-worksheets-cvc-write-the-words-for-kindergarten-and-first-grade/
Clich here to return to Awakening Index
Materials:
- Graphic image of Winnie the Pooh with sticky hands
- Cover-up critter
- Whiteboard/Smartboard
- Cardboard or plastic squares for letterboxes
- Letter manipulatives for each student and teacher: i, s, p, t, w, b, l, e, c, a, x, k, n, g, d, f
- List of spelling words on flashcards: it, sip, fix, sting, back, sled, and twist
- Decodable story: Liz is Six
- Assessment worksheet
Procedures:
Say: “In order to become expert readers we must learn how to crack the code that tells us how to pronounce certain words. Today, we are specifically going to learn how to recognize, spell, and read the short vowel correspondence: i = /i/. When I say i = /i/, I think of a Winnie the Pooh with icky sticky fingers trying to lick honey” [Show image]. For more practice, you can use the tongue tickler: Izzy is icky in her sticky igloo.
Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /i/, we need to listen for it in some words first. When we hear for /i/, we can feel our mouths turn up and create a soft smile. [Make vocal gestures for /i/]. I’ll show you first: lip. I can feel my mouth curl into a smile [Trace smile with both fingers, starting at the center of your lips and until you reach the corners of your mouth). Now we know there is a short i, i = /i/ in lip. What about the word mop. Hmm, I didn’t feel my mouth smile, so that means there cannot be a short i in mop. Now you try! If you can hear /i/, say ‘Icky Sticky.’ If you don’t hear /i/, say ‘That’s not it.’ Alright: list, pick, snow, stoop, it, ate, might?” [Have students trace their smiles with their fingers when they feel their mouths making the /i/ sound].
Say: “Now let's look at the spelling of /i/. When we spell with /i/, we use the lowercase letter, i. Let’s use this new knowledge and try spelling the word twist in ‘Let’s twist and shout.’ When we spell with our letterboxes, we need to know how many phonemes there are in each word. To do this, we're going to stretch out the word sit and count how many we hear: /t/w/i/s/t/. I hear 5 phonemes, so we’ll need 5 letterboxes. I hear the /i/ right before the /t/w/, so I'm going to put my i in the third box. The word starts with /t/, so t is going to go in our first box. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /t/w/i/s/t/. I think I heard /w/ so I’ll put a w right after the t and right before the i. So far we have /t/w/i/ and we need /t/w/i/s/t/ so all that's missing is our /s/t/. So, s goes in our fourth box and t in the last one! With these five letterboxes, we can sound out /t/w/i/s/t to spell twist” [Point to each letter while sounding each phoneme].
Say: “Now I am going to spell some words in letterboxes. We’re going to start with two boxes for: it. ‘Tag, you’re it!’ What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the last box? [Observe progress] Very good! Now let's move on to our 3 letterbox word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /i/. Here’s the next word: sip, ‘I took a sip of water.’ [Allow students to spell words]. Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: s-i-p and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another 3 box word: fix: ‘Can you fix my broken chair?’ [Have a volunteer spell it in the letterbox upfront 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: back. I have an itch on my back. Do we need our Icky Sticky [hand gesture] /i/ to spell back? No! Why not? [Have students answer] We spell it with a short a. [Volunteer spells it out on the board]. Did you remember to spell /k/ with ck? Now let's try 4 phonemes: sting. ‘Ow! Those bees sting.’ Did you remember to put /ng/ in 1 letterbox? Almost done! sled. ‘In the winter, I like to ride my sled.’ Alright everyone, last word. This one will use 5 letterboxes: twist. ‘Let’s twist and shout!’ Remember to stretch this one out, because this one’s a tough one.
Say: “Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve just spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with twist on the top and model reading the word]. First I see there’s a short i on the end; that’s my signal that this i will 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]. /t/w/ = /t/ + /w/ = /tw/. Now I’m going to blend that with /i/ = /twi/. Now all I need is the end, /s/t/ = /s/ + /t/ = /st/. /twist/. Twist, that's it! Now it's your turn. Have students read words in unison. Afterward, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn].
Say: You guys have done an amazing job reading and recognizing words with our i = /i/ sound. Now we’re going to read a book called Liz is Six. In this story, Liz gets a mitt for her birthday and decides to have a baseball game with all of her friends. Her game is tied and it all comes down to her pet pig to catch the game-winning ball. Will pig catch it? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Liz is Six to find out! [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Liz is Six aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.
Say: “That's a fun story! Did pig catch the ball? He did, that's right! And did they win the game? Yes! Before we finish up with our lesson about i = /i/, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices and decide which i word fits best to match the picture. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense.” [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
References:
Cushman, S. Liz is Six. Phonics Readers: Short Vowels, Book 5 Short i (1990).
Murray, G. Oh, I didn't know! Reading Genie. https://murraba.wixsite.com/readinglessons/beginning-reading
Worksheet assessment: https://mrsvanessawong.com/phonics-worksheets-cvc-write-the-words-for-kindergarten-and-first-grade/
Clich here to return to Awakening Index