READ 180 • Phonemic Awareness and Phonics
Lesson 15
Vowel /e/ ea, ai, a
Phonemic Awareness
• Orally blend words with /e/.
Oral Blending Say the following sounds, and ask students to blend them.
Provide corrective feedback and modeling as needed.
• /h/ /e/ /d/
• /r/ /e/ /d/ /e/
• /m/ /e/ /n/ /e/
• /f/ /e/ /th/ /ûr/
Connect Sound-Spelling
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Introduce /e/ ea, ai, a Explain to students that the letters ea sometimes
stand for /e/, as in head. Write the word head on the board. Circle the letters ea. Model
how to blend the word.
• Ask students to suggest words with /e/ ea that rhyme with head, such as read,
lead, bread, thread. List the words and circle ea in each word. Have students read
the words. Repeat for feather.
• Write said and any on the board and circle the letters ai and a. Explain that ai and
a can also stand for /e/, as in said and any.
• Identify and read words with
/e/ spelled ea, ai, and a.
/e/ ea
heavy
spread
weather
/e/ a
any
anytime
many
/e/ ai
again
against
said
Guided Practice/Apply
Read Words To practice using the sound-spellings and review previous soundspellings, list the following words and sentences on the board. Have students read
each chorally. Model blending.
heavy
said
bread
any
health
spread
This pair of penguins has short feathers.
Their chicks are born in cold weather.
Dictation Dictate the following words: ready, said, many.
Build Words Have students make letter cards for ea, ai, a, e, b, d, f, h, l, n, p, r, s,
t, v, w, y. Allow them time to build as many words as possible. Students can write their
words on a separate sheet of paper.
Distribute Practice, pages 84–85, to reinforce the skill.
Resource Links
1 RDI Book 1: p. 83
SAM Keyword: Short e
READ 180 Reading Skills and Strategies
83