Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence u_e = /U/. 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 u_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (fascinated man going “ooo!”) they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence u_e = /U/.
Materials: Graphic image of fascinated 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, b, e, f, h, m, r, s, t, u; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: use, tube, fume, bush, amuse, refuse; decodable text: The Huge Tube, and assessment worksheet (attached to lesson)
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 u, like cut, and today we are going to learn about long U and the silent e signal that is used to make U say its name, /U/. When I say /U/ I think of a funny little fascinated man saying “Ooo that’s cool! [show graphic image].
2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /U/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /U/ in words, I hear u say its name /U/ and my lips make a kissy face like this. [Make vocal gesture for /U/.] I’ll show you first: cute. I heard u say its name and I felt my lips make a kissy face [make a circle motion around pursed lips]. There is a long U in cute. Now I’m going to see if it’s in shut. Hmm, I didn’t hear u say its name and my lips didn’t make come together to make a kissy face. Now you try. If you hear /U/ say, “Ooo, that’s cool!.” If you don’t hear /U/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in tube, rub, mouth, huge, pat, cube? [Have children make a circle motion around their pursed lips when they feel /U/ say its name.]
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /U/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /U/ is with the letter u and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say U’s name. [Write u_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after u, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word flute? “The man is good at playing the flute.” Flute is an instrument in this sentence. To spell flute in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /f//l//U//t/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /U/ just before the /t/ so I’m going to put a u in the 3rd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /f/, that’s easy; I need an f. One more before the /U/, hmm . . . /f//l//U/t/, I think I heard flying saucer /l/ so I need an l. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /f//l//U//t/.] The missing one is /t/ = t.
Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for use. Use means to take or hold something, “I use my favorite pencil when I write.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second 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 for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /U/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: tube, there is water in the tube; tube. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: t – u – b – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: fume; there is a weird fume coming from the kitchen. [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 /U/ in it before you spell it: bush; the rabbit is in the bush. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear u say its name. We spell it with our short vowel u. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /sh/ with a sh? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: amuse; he made faces to amuse her. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: refuse; I refuse to go to bed. 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 refuse 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 u. It must say /U/. 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.] /r//e/ = /re/ + /f/ = /ref/. Now I’m going to blend that with /U/ = /refU/. Now all I need is the end, /s/ = /refUs/. refuse; 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.]
Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /U/: u_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Huge Tube. This is a story of a boy named Nate and his friend Luke. Nate is playing the flute one day when Luke asks him if he wants to ride tubes in the stream together. Nate said he is scared because the tubes never fit him and he gets stuck. Luke says he has a big tube for him. Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Huge Tube to find out if Nate goes tubing and if he gets stuck or has fun. [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 The Huge Tube aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: That was a good story. Did Nate go tubing? Yes, he did. Did he have fun and fit in his tube? He sure did! Before we finish up with our lesson about spelling /U/= u_e words, let’s see if you can fill out this chart. On this worksheet, we have pictures of long /U/ words with a silent e, and short /u/ words. Your job is to decide what word each picture is and if it’s short /u/ or long u_e, then glue it on the proper side. First try deciding what word each picture is, then cut it out and glue it on the side it belongs. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress].
Resources:
Fascinated man goes “ooo image: https://www.littlemissmomma.com/2014/05/boring.html
Murray, Bruce (2019) The Huge Tube. Reading Genie: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/geniebooks/
Assessment worksheet: (picture below)