“Icky, Sticky, Pig”

Madison Wolanek

 

Rationale: This lesson teaches children 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 the spelling i = /i/. They will learn a meaningful representation (icky pig!), 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/.  

 

Materials: Graphic of muddy pig; cover up critter; whiteboard or smart board Elkonin boxes for modeling; individual Elkonin letterboxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: i, b, t, t, s, c, k, f, f, r, l, l, n, w, p; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bit, stick, frill, sniff, stich, brisk, twist, sprint, script, brick, drink, drisk; decodable text, Liz is Six; assessment worksheet. 

 

Procedures: 

• Introduce: 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, and today we are going to learn about the short vowel i and it’s sound, /i/.  When I say /i/, I think of an icky, sticky, pig. [show image of pig].  Now, when we see the letter i today, we know it says /i/ like an icky, sticky pig. [write the letter i on the board]. 

 

• Review: Say: Before we learn about spelling words with /i/, we need to listen for it in some words.  When I listen for /i/ in words, I hear the i, i, icky sound and my mouth gets a little bit wider. [make vocal gesture for /i/.] I’ll show you first: sit. I heard that i, i, icky i sound and I felt my mouth get a little wider [point to the corners of your mouth drawing out]. There is a short i in sit. Now I am going to see if it’s in dot. Hmmm, I didn’t hear the i, i, icky sound and my mouth didn’t get wider like it did with the short i. Now, you try. If you hear /i/, say “i, i, icky. If you don’t hear /i/, say “That’s not it.”  Is it in mad, bit, yawn, stick, lip, boat? [Have children point to the corners of their stretched mouth when they feel /i/ say its name.] 

 

• Model: Say: What if I want to spell the word sprint? “I want to win the race, so I will sprint ahead of the other kids.” Sprint means run fast. To spell sprint in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s/ /p/ /r/ /i/ /n/ /t/. I need 6 boxes.  I heard that /i/ just before the /n/ and the /t/, so I am going to put an i in the 4th box.  The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now I am going to say it slowly, /s/ /p/ /r/ /i/ /n/ /t/. I heard a /p/ so I am going to put a p right after the s. One more letter before the /i/, hmmm.... /s/ /p/ /r/ /i/ /n/ /t/, I think I heard an /r/, so I’ll put an r.  I have two boxes left after the /i/ now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word /s/ /p/ /r/ /i/ /n/ /t/] I heard the /n/ after the /i/, so we’ll put an n there. /s/ /p/ /r/ /i/ /n/ /t/...the last one is /t/ so I’ll put a t in our last box. /s/ /p/ /r/ /i/ /n/ /t/, sprint! Great! Now I will show you how I would read a tough word. [write the word script on the board and model reading the word.] I am going to start with the i, that letter says /i/. Now I am going to put the beginning letters with it: s-c-r-i, /scri/. Now I will put that chunk together with the p, /scrip/, now I will add the last letter, scrip-t, Oh, script, like, “She got a script to learn for the play.” 

 

• Guided Practice 1: Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes.  You will start out with 3 boxes for bit. “The dog bit the toy.” Listen for that /i/ sound. I will check your spelling as I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You will need 4 letterboxes for the next word.  Listen for the beginning sound to spell in the first box, then listen for /i/. Here is the word: stick. “I walked in the woods and found a big stick.” [Allow children to spell remaining words, giving sentences and correct number of letterboxes for each word:

  • 4 letterboxes: frill, sniff,  stitch, bled

  • 5 letterboxes: brisk, twist,

  • 6 letterboxes: script, strand, sprint

 

• Guided Practice 2: Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you have spelled. [Show the words bit, stick, frill, sniff, brisk, twist, sprint, script, the extra words brick and drink, and the pseudoword drisk. Have children read the words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

 

• Whole Text: Say: You’ve done a great job at reading words with i says /i/. Now we are going to read a book called Liz is Six. “Has anyone ever played baseball with a pig? I have not either, but in this book we are about to read a girl named Liz does. She gets a baseball mitten for her birthday and decides to play baseball with her friends. The first person up to bat is pig. Let’s read the story to see if the pig gets a hit!” [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 Liz is Six chorally, stopping between page turns to discuss the story.]

 

• Assessment: Say: Before we finish up our lesson on the icky, sticky /i/, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have words that are missing a letter.  Read each word and write the missing vowel in the blank. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.] 

 

References: 

Cushman, Sheila, Liz is Six. Carson, California. Educational Insights. (1990) pp. 1-9 

 

Lewis, Caitlin. A Sticky, Icky Pig: http://www.auburn.edu/%7Ecel0022/lewisbr.htm

 

Murray, Geri. Oh, I didn’t know! https://sites.google.com/site/readingwritingconnection/beggingreadingdesign

 

Assessment Worksheet: http://www.kidslearningstation.com/phonics/vowels/short-vowels-i.asp

 

 

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