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 (a person pointing and saying, “Hey You!”), 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 a man pointing; 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: c,u,b,e,s,t,n,l,k,a,r,f; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: use, cube, tune, luck, acute, wune, refuse; decodable text: Rube and the Tube, and assessment worksheet.
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 club 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 superhero pointing and saying “Hey you!” [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 tongue touches the back of my bottom teeth. [Make vocal gesture for /U/.] I’ll show you first: flute. I heard u say its name and I felt my tongue touch the back of my bottom teeth [show tongue touching the back of bottom teeth]. There is a long U in mule. Now I’m going to see if it’s in put. Hmm, I didn’t hear u say its name and my tongue did not touch the back of my teeth. Now you try. If you hear /U/ say, “Hey you!” If you don’t hear /U/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in fume, pain, rant, reuse, tips? [Have children open their mouth and show their tongue touching the back of their teeth 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 silent 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 amuse? “This show amuses me.” Amuse means to entertain in this sentence. To spell amuse in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /a//m//U//s/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /U/ just before the /s/ so I’m going to put an u in the 3rd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /a/, that’s easy; I need an a. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /a//m//U//s/. I think I heard /m/ so I’ll put a m right after the a. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /a//m//U//s/. The missing one is /s/ = s. 
4. 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 something in order to accomplish a task. “You use a pencil when you want to 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: cube, I ate a cube of cheese; cube. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: c – u – b – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: Tune, The radio plays good tunes. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] This next word is what I call a pseudoword, which means it is not a real word, but we are still going to try and spell it! The made-up word is “wule”. I heard the long u just before the /l/ sound so I will put the u on the second box and the silent e outside the last box. The first sound I heard in this word was /w/, so that’s easy, we need to put the w in the first box. Now that only leaves us with one more box and we can put l in it. Next word. Listen to see if this word has /U/ in it before you spell it: luck; It is the luck of the Irish. 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.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: acute; A triangle with a 67 degree angle is an acute triangle. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time we are going to need 5 boxes: refuse; I refuse to stand in this long line. 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.]
6. 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 Rube and the Tube. This is a story about a boy named Duke who sells tubes. His pet mule, Rube, thought it’d be funny to take one of the tubes as a joke. Rube runs off with the tube and now Duke cannot find him. Take turns reading to see where Duke will find Rube. [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 Rube and the Tube aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: I love that story! Where did Duke find Rube? That’s right, he was at the dunes in the sand! Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /U/ = u_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide which long u word fits best to make sense of this very short story. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
Resources:
Godwin, C. (2004). Ewww, It’s so Sticky and Icky! Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/realizations/godwinbr.htm
Murray, G. (2004) Jakes joke. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html
Assessment Worksheet: http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/phonics-worksheet-55.html

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