"Aye, Aye Captain Eyepatch!"

Rationale: In this lesson, children will learn about the long vowel correspondence i_e = /I/. The English language is a tricky code for beginning readers. We must give explicit instruction on how to make the mouth moves and vocal gestures, also known as phonemes, in order for beginning readers to learn the spelling maps that are associated with spoken words. Through this lesson, beginning readers will learn how to recognize, spell, and read words containing the i_e spelling. They will learn a meaningful representation, a pirate in an eyepatch saying “Aye, Aye Captain.” Students will also receive spelling instruction by encoding words with the i_e spelling in a letterbox lesson and read those same words at the end of the letterbox lesson. Lastly, students will read a decodable book that focuses on the i_e = /I/ correspondence and work on an individual worksheet. 

​

Materials:

1. Graphic image of pirate wearing an eyepatch saying “Aye, Aye Captain!”

2. Cover-up critter for reading instruction

3. Whiteboard or Smart Board Elkonin letterboxes for modeling with the correct letter manipulatives for the words, ice, five, tip, white, spine, drip, trike: i, d, e, f, v, t, p, w, h, s, n, r, k

4. Individual Elkonin letterboxes for each student with the correct letter manipulatives for the words, ice, five, tip, white, spine, drip, trike: i, d, e, f, v, t, p, w, h, s, n, r, k

5. List of spelling words and pseudowords on poster or whiteboard to read: ice, five, tip, white, spine, drip, trike, splice, scribe, prife

6. Decodable text, Nate’s Bike Ride

7. Assessment worksheet (URL listed in “References”)

​

Procedures:

1. Explain: Say: Becoming expert readers can be tough, that is why we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. In a past lesson, we learned how to read short vowel i in words like blip. Today, we are going to learn about long /I/ and the silent e signal that is used to make i_e say /I/. When I hear or say /I/, I think of a fun pirate saying “Aye, Aye Captain!” [show graphic image of pirate]. Now let’s look at the spelling of /I/ that we are learning. One of the ways to spell /I/ is with the letter i and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me that it says /I/ not /i/. [Write i_e on the board.] The blank line here just means that there is a consonant after i, and before the e at the end of the word. 

2. Review: Say: Before we learn to use the spelling of /I/ in words, we need to be able to listen for it in words. When I listen for /I/ in words, I listen for i to say its name /I/ and for my lips to be relaxed and almost in the shape of a rectangle [make vocal gesture for /I/, be sure to point out the relaxed lips and rectangle shape of mouth]. Let me show you all how I find /I/ in the word: like. I heard /I/ say its name and I felt my lips relax and form the shape of a rectangle. There is a long i in like. Now I am going to see if it is in frill. Hmm, I didn’t hear i say its name and my mouth was not quite as relaxed. Now you all try. If you hear /I/ say, “Aye, Aye,” and point to the rectangle shape of your mouth. If you don’t hear /I/ say, “Nope, not it.” Is it in lips, flight, drive, hill, strike?

3. Model: Say: Now that we can hear long i in words, let’s spell words to see if they have the long /I/ sound. First, let me show you how to spell using the letterboxes, I am going to spell the word splice. “I am going to splice the audio together.” Splice means to cut and reassemble in this sentence. To spell splice in letterboxes, I have to first find the phonemes in the word, so I have to stretch it out and count: /s/ /p/ /l/ /I/ /s/. I need 5 boxes. I hear the /I/ before the last /s/, so I am going to put i in the 4th box and place the silent e signal outside the boxes at the end of the word. Next, I have to find the letters that make the sounds before /I/. The first sound I hear is /s/, s makes the /s/ sound. Next, I stretch it out again, /s/ /p/ and hear /p/, that’s popcorn p! I put it right after the s. After popcorn p, I stretch it out and hear /s/ /p/ /l/, that is smooth l, and I put it after popcorn p and before long i. So now, I have one empty box [point to the letters in boxes and stretch out the word and say: /s/ /p/ /l/ /I/ /s/]. The sound I am missing is /s/, but remember that c followed by e, i, or y makes the /s/ sound. Since the silent e is outside the boxes and my only space left for /s/ is the last box, I put c in my missing box. Now, I have spelled the word splice. Now I am going to show you how I would read a tough word with /I/ in it. [Display the word on the board and model reading the word using vowel-first body-coda blending.] I am going to start with the i_e, I know that says /I/. Now, I am going to put the beginning letters with it: s-c-r-i, /skrI/. Now I’ll put that chunk together with the last sound, /skrI-b/. Oh, scribe , like “The scribe wrote down the history of the city.”

4. Letterbox Practice: Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You will start out easy with two letterboxes for ice. Ice is frozen water; “I like ice in my tea.” What about signal e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? What about /s/ followed by e, i, or y? I’ll come around and check your spellings. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the first sound to spell in the first box. Then listen for /I/ and don’t forget about signal e. Here’s your word: five, “I have five pennies,” five. [Allow beginning readers to spell remaining words, giving letterbox counts and sentences for each word: tip, white, spine, drip, trike.]

5. Reading Practice: Say: Now, we are going to read the words that we have all spelled and a couple new words and even a fake word. [Show the words: ice, five, tip, white, spine, drip, trike; the extra words: splice, scribe, and the pseudoword: prife. Have students read the words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

6. Use it with Connected Text: Say: You have done a great job reading and spelling words with our new spelling for i_e = /I/. Now we are going to read a book called Nate’s Bike Ride. This is a story about a little boy named Nate and his friends, Tim and Jan. Tim and Jan really want Nate to come outside and ride bikes with them, but Nate is a really lazy little boy. How are Tim and Jan going to get Nate to ride bikes with them on such a beautiful day? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Nate’s Bike Ride to find out how Tim and Jan get Nate outside. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring their progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Nate’s Bike Ride chorally, stopping between page turns to discuss the story and talk through their questions.]

7. Assessment: Say: Before we finish our lesson on the spelling i_e = /I/, I want to see if you all can solve some reading problems. Read the words beside the pictures and circle and color the picture that goes with the word. Print the word beneath the word on the left for some writing practice. Once, you have filled out the sheet, go through and confirm that the word uses i_e. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child’s progress.]

​

References:

Jessica Merritt, Aye, Aye, Captain!: https://jmmerritt9i.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading

Murray, B., Murray, G. (2019) Fun and Games with Lad and Slim: Nate’s Bike Ride, Auburn: Geniebooks, p. 57-69.

Assessment worksheet: https://www.liveworksheets.com/ev261890jm