As children become aware of word patterns and their relationship to spelling and reading, it is helpful to apply this knowledge to stories children have read. This application gives children a reason for performing sorting tasks and heightens their awareness of word patterns in meaningful text. Sorting tasks also help children to become more fluent readers by allowing them to identify words more quickly and automatically.
Teacher reads an interesting big book.
I'll bet we can find some words that have the long or short e sound. The teacher goes through the book and find words with long and short e. These book covers stick to the page, yet can be taken off without tearing the book or removing the print. The children practice finding and categorizing words from the text. The words are written on a piece of paper divided in half or in a word study notebook.