“Ewww, That’s Gross”

Beginning Reading
By: Courtney Dobbel

Rational: To learn to read and spell words, children need to break the alphabetic code and understand digraphs in order to match letters to phonemes.  This lesson will help children recognize the digraph ew= /ew/ in both written and spoken words by reading and spelling words with ew = /oo/.

Materials: Primary paper, pencil. Elkonin letter boxes. Letters: e, w, n, c, r, t, h, s. flashcards of the letterbox words, a chart with the following tongue twister on it: “The new crew threw the screws”,multiple copies of "Shoe Man" by Alice Kunka.

1. Introduce the lesson by asking them if they have ever tasted or smelled anything gross. Then ask them if they have ever made the sound “ewwww” when they tasted or smelled something gross. Then explain words with ew makes the /ew/ sound. Now allow them time to make the ewww sound.
2. Let's try a tongue twister.  "The new crew threw the screws”. I will read the sentence real slow and see if you can here that gross “ewww” sound. Repeat the sentence very slow holding out the /oo/ sound in each word. Now everybody say it together.  Good job!  How many words have the ew = /oo/ sound?  You are right, 4 words.  Now let's say it again, but this time let's stretch out the /oo/ sound.  "The neeww creeww threeww the screewws”.
3. Students will be given letterboxes with letters.  "Now we will be spelling some words with the /ew/ sound in them.  Each box contains one sound, so for every word we spell, you put the corresponding letter(s) that matches the sound you hear in that box.  We know that ew together makes only one sound, so we will put those two letters in one box showing that they represent one sound.  Are there any questions?"  I will model an example on the board.  I will spell our using two letterboxes—f-ew.  Let's spell some words: out new (n-ew), crew (c-r-ew), drew (d-r-ew), threw (th-r-ew), screw (s-c-r-ew), strew (s-t-r-ew).
4. I will hold up flash cards with the words we practiced, and call on a student to read the word on the card.
5. I will then read "Shoe Man" by Alice Kunka to the class. If they hear the /oo/ sound have them hold their noses like something stinks.

Assessment: Students will finish reading "Shoe Man" and I will walk around giving running records. 


http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/chall/locklinbr.html (Katy Locklin, "OW" O U Hurt Me)

KunKa, Alice. (1991) "Shoe Man".  Steve Vaughn Company

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