State and Model the Objective
The children will tell bees to flee and let them be and then read and write words with -e and -ee spellings, such as me, be, he, bee, tree, flee, free, and three.

Literacy Activities
Buzz like a bee

• Comment on how the words be and bee both have the long e sound.
• Explain that the phrase “Let me be” means “Leave me alone.”
• Show the three bee pictures (see below) and label them Bee One, Bee Two, and Bee Three.

Let kids flee from bees

• Read the Flee, Bee target text (see below) with the children.
• Explain that flee means to get away from a scary thing. 
• Have the children make a sign saying, “Let me be, bee!”
• Choose three children to make paper bees flee.  
• Let the other children hold up the sign, “Let me be, bee!”
• Have the bees flee and have the children cheer, “We are free from bees!”

Let the bees flee

• Read The Bees Flee target text (see below) with the children.
• Read the text again, fading support.
• Pretend that the bees shoo away the children.

Sort words spelled with -e and -ee

• Give the children mixed-up -e and -ee word cards (see below).
• Have the children sort the words into piles—one with -e (e.g., me, be, he, we, she) and one with -ee (e.g., bee, three, flee, free, tree).   

More Practice 
Read target words

• Engage the children in reading the Flee, Bee target text as a group.
• Read it again, fading support.
• Help the children make lists of the words with -e and -ee.

Sort and write about the activity using target words

• Invite the children to write words from dictation (e.g., bee, see, tree, flee, free, me, be, he, she). 
• Let the children write about what they did with the bees during the activity.