EEK! Run from that BEE!

Beginning to Read

By: Ali Long


Rationale: When learning how to read it is very important that students have phonemic awareness.  This is when they can match the phoneme (sound) to its grapheme (letter).  In this lesson we will use a letter box lesson to teach the spelling and reading of words with the correspondence ee= /E/.  Spelling the words first in the LBL will help students to read and remember the words better.



Lee and the Team- a copy for each student.

Elkonian boxes for each student

Letter tiles (l,e,e,b,f,t,p,r,u,n,m,a,k,s)

Review flashcards (pet,bed,crept)

Flash cards with words 2- (lee, bee, eel) 3- (feet, pet, tree, run, weed) 5- (street)

Document camera, smart board, or overhead to demonstrate how to spell using the elkonian boxes, and letter tiles for teacher demonstration.

Chart paper with tongue tickler:  A bee on his knee made him weep and say eek!

White board

Dry erase marker



1.  Start by reviewing the correspondence e=/e/.  You can introduce this by saying, "does anyone know what sound e makes in the word pet?"  Yes that's right!  The e in pet says/e/.  Can you hear /e/ in bed? What about crept?  That's right! We can hear /e/ in all of those words.


2. Today we are going to learn a different e sound!  e can also say /E/.  This sound is often made when two e's are put together.  Write the word eek on the board and underline the two e's.  For example, when I'm surprised sometimes I scream EEK! Did you hear the /E/ when I shout EEK?  Good!


3. I want you all to read this tongue tickler aloud.  "A bee on his knee made him weep and say eek!" Now, I want you to draw out the /E/ and hold both hands up to your cheeks when you hear the /E/ sound as if someone surprised you!  "A b-eee-eee on his kn-eee-eee made him w-eee-eee-p and say ee-eee-k!"  Very good.


4.  Make sure the students can find the ee = /E/ in some of the words in the tongue tickler.  Raise your hand if you hear /E/ in knee?  Raise your hand if you hear the /E/ in shoot.  Raise your hand if you hear /E/ in weep.  Raise your hand if you hear the /E/ in hen.


5. Put out three boxes under the document camera to model how to spell feet.  Line up the letters needed for the letter box lesson above the boxes.  Tell the students that they will need one box per SOUND. Explain that the number of boxes won't always be the same as the number of letters. "We will be working today on spelling words with the /E/ sound.  Remember that the /E/ has two e's.  They are friends so they won't be separated.  They will stay together because they make one sound.  I will show you how to spell feet.  Then model how to sound out the phonemes and put them in the boxes.  Start by saying "/f/ is the first move that my mouth makes. /f/ that is the sound that f makes, so I'm going to put that in the first box.  Next is /E/, ee makes the /E/ sound, and it is just one mouth move, so I'm going to put both e's in the second box.  /t/ tttt is the last mouth move that I make.  So I will put the t in the last box. 


"Now it's your turn!"  Make sure you have all of your letters out in front of your boxes.  First you will need 2 boxes.  Spell bee, lee, eel.  Now you will need 3 boxes.  Spell, feet, pet, tree, run, weed. Now make 5 boxes. Spell street.


While the students are spelling the words walk around and make sure they understand.  Help students who are off task or struggling.  After they have spelled all the words use each word in a sentence.


6.  After students have spelled the words, ask them to read the words as you hold them up on flashcards.


7.  Now have students' pair up and buddy read the decodable book Lee and the Team.  Before they read give a short book talk: Lee is the leader of his baseball team.  His team is being very lazy and won't get up to go to their game.  Lee is afraid that they are going to be late!  We will have to keep reading to find out if Lee and his team make it to the game on time! Walk around a monitor the students reading.


8. Walk around and assess students with a checklist during the letterbox lesson and the buddy reading. 




Davis, Courtney. Wee with EE! http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/solutions/davisbr.htm


Murray, Bruce. The Reading Genie. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html


Return to the Invitations index