Words Rule | EL Education Curriculum

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Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A: I can identify the vowel sounds in a word to help me determine how many syllables are in the word and use that information to decode it. (RF.1.3RF.2.3)
    • I can decode a two-syllable word that contains a vowel team (two vowels that make a long vowel sound).
    • I can decode a two-syllable word that contains the CVCe vowel pattern.
  • Work Time A: I can read /ū/ and /ōō/ words with the spelling patterns “oo,” “ou,” “ui,” “ue,” and “ew.” (RF.2.3)
    • I can identify the sounds made by vowel teams “oo,” “ou,” “ui,” “ue,” and “ew.”
    • I can use knowledge of vowel sounds to help me decode words with different spelling patterns.

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Opening A
    • Determine whether they can count the number of syllables by identifying the vowel sounds in the word.
    • Also determine whether they can divide the word and identify the syllable types in order to decode it.
  • Observe students during Work Time A. Determine whether they can identify vowel sounds in words as /ū/ or /ōō/.
  • Exit ticket (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (3-5 minutes)

A. Syllable Sleuth: Two-Syllable Words with Familiar Vowel Patterns: "mer-maid," "con-sume," "tab-loid," "flow-er," "re-mind," "rea-son," "mo-flin," "char-pike"

2. Work Time (10 minutes)

A. Words Rule: Words Spelled with Vowel Patterns "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew": "few," "food," "scooter," "youth," "soup," "chew," "rescue," "clue," "suit," "fruit"

3. Closing and Assessment (3-5 minutes)

A. Reflecting on Learning

4. Differentiated Small Group Instruction and Rotations (40-45 minutes)

In Advance

  • Prepare Words Rule Word Cards for Work Time A.
  • Copy Syllable Sleuth Word List (one per pair).
  • Enlarge T-chart (optional).
  • Gather materials for differentiated small group instruction (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T)

  • column, patterns, similar, syllable (L)

Materials

  • Syllable Sleuth Word List in a transparent sleeve (one per pair)
  • White board markers (one per student)
  • White board erasers (or tissues, socks, etc.; one per student)
  • Words Rule Word Cards
  • T-chart (optional)
  • White boards (one per student)
  • Clipboards if not sitting at a desk (one per student; optional)
  • Cycle 11 Assessment (optional)

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Syllable Sleuth: Two-Syllable Words with Familiar Vowel Patterns: “mer-maid,” “con-sume,” “tab-loid,” “flow-er,” “re-mind,” “rea-son,” “mo-flin,” “char-pike”

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad”):

“We’ve been workin’ on some long words, sound by sound by sound. We’ve been workin’ on some long words, so we can read more words aloud. We take a word like ‘maybe’ and break it into parts. ‘May’ plus ‘be’ makes ‘maybe,’ and now it’s time to start!”

  • Begin the Syllable Sleuth instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: “It’s time to be syllable sleuths. We are going to find some clues to help us figure out how to break longer words into parts so we can read them. Let’s start with a new word.”

2. Teacher writes the word on the board: “mermaid.”

3. Teacher models Syllable Sleuth instructional practice aloud:

      • “Look for the vowels and put a dot below each.”
      • “Look for the consonants between the vowels.”
      • “Divide the word (in this case, between the two consonants).”

4. Teacher draws a swoop under the first syllable and asks:

“What vowel sound do we hear in this first syllable?” (/e(r)/)

“What letters are spelling that sound?” (“e” and “r”)

“How do you know that is the vowel sound in this syllable?” (“r” is controlling the “e”; it is a bossy “r” syllable)

“So how do we pronounce this first syllable?” (“mer”)

5. Teacher draws a swoop under the second syllable and asks:

“What is this second syllable?” (“maid”)

“How do we know that it isn’t ‘mad’?” (vowel team “ai” says /ā/)

“That’s right. So how would we read this word?” (“mermaid”)

6. Teacher says: “Right! Remember, a sleuth is a detective. When you’re a syllable sleuth, your job is to search for the clues that let you know you have found a syllable. As a syllable sleuth, you will look for vowel sounds to see how to divide the words into syllables to read them.”

7. Teacher distributes Syllable Sleuth Word List in a transparent sleeve, white board markers, and white board erasers.

8. Students complete Syllable Sleuth Word List.

  • When working with words such as "mermaid," where two vowels are used to indicate one sound, continue to remind students that every syllable has one vowel sound (as opposed to one vowel letter).
  • Consider annotating the letters in a vowel team by placing a dot under each and drawing a straight line between the dots. This can serve as a visual, reinforcing the fact that while there are two vowels, they make just one sound.
  • Consider annotating the magic "e" by drawing an arrow from below the magic "e" back to the vowel it gives its voice to. This can serve as a visual, reinforcing the role of the magic "e" and the fact that even though there are two vowel letters in that syllable, there is just one vowel sound.
  • Step 8 can be done in a variety of ways, including:
    • Students apply Syllable Sleuth steps to one word at a time. After each word, the teacher models the division and decoding and students check their work.
    • Students work through the list independently or with partners. After a set period of time, the teacher models the division and decoding of each word while students check their work.
  • See Syllabication guidance document as needed (K-2 Skills Resource Manual). Below is the syllable division for words used in Opening A: "mer-maid," "con-sume," "tab-loid," "flow-er," "re-mind," "rea-son," "mo-flin," "char-pike."

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Words Rule: Words Spelled with Vowel Patterns “oo,” “ou,” “ui,” “ue,” and “ew”: “few,” “food,” “scooter,” “youth,” “soup,” “chew,” “rescue,” “clue,” “suit,” “fruit”

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of “The Muffin Man”):

Teacher: “Can you take a closer look, a closer look, a closer look? Can you take a closer look at these words today?”

Students: “Yes, we’ll take a closer look, a closer look, a closer look. Yes, we’ll take a closer look to group the words today.”

  • Begin the Words Rule instructional practice:

1. Teacher displays Words Rule Word Cards on the board and reads aloud words with /ōō/ and /ū/ sounds in random order: “few,” “food,” “scooter,” “youth,” “soup,” “chew,” “rescue,” “clue,” “suit,” “fruit.”

2. Teacher says: “Now read these words to yourself and think about what you notice as you hear the vowel sound in each word.”

3. Students read words silently and notice the vowel sounds /ū/ and /ōō/ in the words displayed.

4. Teacher says: “Now I would like you to share with your elbow partner what you noticed.”

5. Students share what they noticed about the words (in partners).

6. Teacher asks:

“Who would like to share what they noticed about these words?” (They all have the long “u” vowel sound; most are in the middle of the syllable.)

7. Teacher says: “Right. Most of the time, these vowel sounds are in the middle of the syllable, between two consonants. We will be learning these different vowel teams this week. We actually hear two different sounds in these words: /ū/ as in ‘few’ and /ōō/ as in ‘food.’ These sounds are very similar, but try hard to hear the difference as I read those words again: ‘few’ and ‘food.’ Do you hear the difference? Practice saying those two words slowly with your partner.”

8. Students practice saying “few” and “food” slowly with a partner.

9. Teacher asks:

“As you said ‘few,’ what did you notice about the vowel sound?” (It was the /ū/ sound of ‘u’ saying its name.)

10. Teacher says: “Right! And how is it different when you say ‘food’?” (The vowel sound is /ōō/; like the /ū/ without raising your tongue to the roof of your mouth.)

11. Teacher says: “Great! The difference in the sound /ū/ as in ‘few’ and /ōō/ as in ‘food’ is very small. But if we pay attention to hearing the difference, it will help us to be better readers and writers.”

12. Teacher says: “Now we will practice listening for the /ū/ or /ōō/ sound in words. We will read the words together and sort the words into two groups: /ū/ as in ‘few’ and /ōō/ as in ‘food.’ We will make a T-chart on our white boards for sorting our words.”

13. Teacher draws or displays T-chart with two columns: /ū/ as in “few” and /ōō/ as in “food.”

14. Teacher says: “Let’s start with ‘zoom.’”

15. Teacher asks:

“Which sound do we hear in ‘zoom’: /ū/ as in ‘few’ or /ōō/ as in ‘food’?” (/ōō/ as in “food”)

16. Teacher says: “Right! So let’s write ‘zoom’ in that column.”

17. Teacher writes “zoom” in column under “/ōō/ as in ‘food.’”

18. Repeat steps 14–16 with remaining words.

19. Teacher says: “Great work! Now let’s read our list of /ū/ and /ōō/ words together.”

20. Teacher leads students in reading words from the board.

21. Teacher says: “We will learn more words with these sounds this week. Knowing these vowel patterns will help us continue to be better readers and writers.”

  • Note that there are no generalizations for placement of these vowel patterns within syllables. Therefore, the focus of work with these words is on practice to support automaticity.
  • Consider asking students to think of sentences containing the /ū/ and /ōō/ words to help with word familiarity, which will support context for comprehension and automaticity of these words.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning

  • Emphasize that successful learners take responsibility for their learning by setting goals for themselves. Invite students to reflect on something concrete they can work on during whole group or differentiated small group instruction. This might be based on their assessment goal-setting conferences, on feedback during differentiated small group work, or on their own self-identified needs. Example:
    • "My goal is to identify vowel sounds in words. I am going to work toward that goal in small group time."
  • For students who need additional support organizing their ideas: Provide sentence frames. Examples:
    • "My goal is to _____."
    • "When I work toward my goal during small group time, I will _____."

Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher

Suggested Plan: Teacher works with students in the Partial Alphabetic and Full Alphabetic groups. If possible, teacher should also meet with the Consolidated Alphabetic group at least once per week.

Note: Groups not working with the teacher at a given time should be engaged in purposeful independent rotation work. Refer to the Independent and Small Group Work guidance document for more details (see K-2 Skills Resource Manual).

Partial Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students build "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" words using Letter Tiles (see K-2 Word List for examples).
    • Students check spellings by identifying placement of vowel sound.
    • Students write list of words created as exit ticket.
  • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.
  • Use the Assessment Conversion chart to determine appropriate Grade 1 lessons and Activity Bank ideas to use in daily small group instruction.
  • Students complete Cycle 11 worksheet with teacher support.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Letter Tiles (not included in supporting materials; see K-2 Word List for examples)
    • Paper and writing utensils (one per student; for writing words built with Letter Tiles)
    • Cycle 11 worksheet

Full Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students complete Sentence Builders with "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" (found in supporting materials).
    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.
  • Write a sentence with "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" words.
  • Students complete Cycle 11 worksheet (with teacher or during independent rotations) with teacher introduction.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Sentence Builders (found in supporting materials)
    • Paper and writing utensils (optional; for students to write sentences)
    • Cycle 11 worksheet

Consolidated Alphabetic:

  • Students complete exit ticket:
    • Students complete Sentence Builders with "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" (found in supporting materials).
    • Look over the exit tickets with student(s). Analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.
  • Check in with Accountable Independent Reading.
  • Consider inviting students to write an article for the Sunnyside Gazette, using as many "oo," "ou," "ui," "ue," and "ew" words as they can.
  • Students complete Cycle 11 worksheet during independent rotations.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Sentence Builders (found in supporting materials)
    • Paper and writing utensils (optional; for students to write an article for the Sunnyside Gazette)
    • Cycle 11 worksheet

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