Sara Knight
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale: It is important for children to understand the alphabetic principle so that they can learn to read and spell words. Children need to understand that letters stand for phonemes and spellings serve as a map for the phonemes. This lesson is aimed at helping childrenâs understanding of the vowel ãaä and identifying /a/ in spoken and written words.
Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with ãAbby asked Allen about animals and applesä; class set of cards with a on one side and ? on the other; picture page with illustrations of apple, bat, cap, fan, bag, bib, bed, sock, and bus; book- Cat Chat.
Procedures:
1. Introduce the
lesson by explaining that writing is a secret code. The tricky part
is learning what letters stand for- the mouth moves we make as we say words.
Today weâre going to work on spotting the mouth move /a/. At
first /a/ may seem hidden in words, but as you get to know it, youâll
be able to spot /a/ in all kinds of words.
2. Ask students:
What kind of sound do you make when you sneeze? A-a-aachoo!
That is right! That is the sound we are looking for in words.
Letâs say that sound together. A-a-aachoo! Iâll show
you how to spot /a/ in a word. Stretch it out, and see if you say
/a/, like when you are beginning to sneeze. Iâll try bat, bbba-a-a-a-at.
Ba-a-a·.There! I said the beginning sound of a sneeze.
3. Letâs
try a tongue twister(on chart). ãAbby asked Allen about animals
and apples.ä Everybody say it together. Now we are going
to say it again, but this time, stretch the /a/ at the beginning of the
words. ãAaabby aaasked Aaallen about aaanimals aaand aaapples.ä
Try it again, and this time break /a/ off each word: ã/a/bby /a/sked
/a/llen about /a/nimals /a/nd /a/pples.ä Good Job!
4. (Students
need primary paper and pencil) Everyone get out your paper and pencil.
We are going to practice making the letter a to spell /a/. Start
at the ground and move your pencil to the roof in a slanted position like
this. (model) Then go from the roof back down to the ground in an
opposite slant. Next, go to the fence and make a line connecting
the two slanted lines. While everybody is trying to make the letter,
I will come around and look. (walk around, check and allow those who did
it correctly to make a full line of aâs)
5. Now we are
going to pick out the /a/ sound out of words. Do you hear /a/ in
cap or cut? Mad or Mom? Glass or cup? (Pass out u/? cards
to students) Letâs see if you can spot the mouth move /a/ in
some words. Show me a if you hear /a/ and question mark if you donât.
(give words one at a time) Apple, bus, bat, sock, cap, fan, bag,
and bib.
6. Read Cat Chat
and talk about the story. Read it again and have the students hold
up their a cards when they hear words with /a/. List their words
on the board.
7. For assessment,
distribute the picture page and help students name each picture.
Ask each student to circle the pictures whose names have /a/.
Reference:
Eldredge, J.L. Teaching Decoding in Holistic
Classrooms. New Jersey, Prentice Hall, Inc. (1995)
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