Blue and Blew

Teaching the difference between "blue" and "blew" can be tricky for any second grader, but especially so for students who have English as an additional language. So, to help my EAL students learn the difference I wrote a story using the words "blue" and "blew" many times. I read through the story while going through the powerpoint with the pictures first, as an anticipatory set. I then asked if they heard two words that sounded very similar. They all said, "Blue!" Then I taught the difference in spelling and meaning.

As a closing activity I read through the story again. This time they each had two pieces of paper - one was colored blue with the word "blue" written on it; the other was a cloud with the word "blew" on it. As I read through the story for the second time we held up the corresponding piece of paper every time the word was read. The students enjoyed this and it seemed to help them understand the difference.

Below is the story I wrote. I am not sure how to post the powerpoint pictures I used to go along with the story, but you can see the first one above.

The BLUE  and BLEW Story

Once upon a time there was a boy who lived in a BLUE house. He liked to play in a field with his BLUE kite. This boy loved watching as the wind BLEW his BLUE kite high up in the BLUE sky and would play with it for hours every day.

One day the BLUE kite BLEW into a tree and the boy could not get it down. The boy began to cry. A woman in a BLUE dress came walking by and saw the boy crying. “Why are you crying?” asked the woman in the BLUE dress. “The wind BLEW my BLUE kite into the tree and I can’t get it down,” the boy answered. The woman in the BLUE dress said, “You should find a long stick to poke it out with.” “Good idea!” the boy said.

The woman in the BLUE dress walked away and the boy ran to find a stick. He finally found a long stick covered with dirt. He picked it up and BLEW the dirt off of it. He then tried to poke his BLUE kite out of the tree. Sadly, the BLUE kite did not come out and the boy began to cry again.

This time a man came walking by carrying a BLUE ladder and humming a song. He saw the boy and asked, “Why are you crying?” “The wind BLEW my BLUE kite into the tree and I can’t get it down,” the boy answered. The man with the BLUE ladder said, “Do not cry anymore! I will use my BLUE ladder to get your BLUE kite out of the tree.”

So, the man with the BLUE ladder climbed up the tree and got the boy’s BLUE kite down. “Thank you very much!” the boy said. He was very happy to have his BLUE kite. The boy began to play with his BLUE kite again and laughed as the wind BLEW his BLUE kite high up in the BLUE sky.