Teaching Tips for "Le, El, Al, Il"
 

Children learn several spelling patterns in this song. I have put suggestions for spelling notebook titles in quotations:

“_le says /le/” in words like beagle, eagle, noodle, poodle, pickle and tickle.
“_el says /le/” in words like tunnel, funnel, angel, bagel, camel and channel.
“_al says /le/” in crystal, dental, final, plural, sandal and signal.
“_il says /le/” in words like pencil, stencil, fossil, tonsil, April and gerbil.

• Clap the syllables in /le/ words. Discuss the fact that “le” is the unaccented syllable. Explain to children that the vowel sound heard in these words is called the “schwa.” The children will learn more about the schwa sound soon.

• Show children how we would divide syllables in “le” words (usually before the consonant-le). Examples: bea/gle, ea/gle, noo/dle, poo/dle. In my class, I call this “chunking.” When a child has trouble reading a multisyllabic word, I tell them to “chunk it.” Children will learn how to correctly divide syllables soon. Even if they do not master syllabication rules, the important thing is that they understand that they can “chunk” large words into small, easily readable parts.

• Brainstorm /le/ words. Record on a poster, bulletin board, or the white board. Sing the song without the music, using new words developed by the class.

• Sort words by /le/ ending.

• Circle /le/ spellings as you see them in words.

• Create /le/ word cards. At the top, write the word in blue. At the bottom, write the word in blue, but write the /le/ spelling red.

• Decorate a new shoe box for “/le/” words. Discuss periodically with the class.