"Aaaaa-choo says the short A!"
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale: Children
need to understand phonemes in order to be successful with
phonics, spelling, word recognition and of course reading. Children
need the alphabetic insight that letters stand for phonemes and
spellings map out the phonemes in spoken words. Short
vowels are probably the toughest phonemes to identify. This
lesson will help students identify /a/ (short a). Students
will learn to recognize /a/ is letter symbol, and then will
practice finding /a/ in spoken words through a meaningful
representation. This
lesson will also allow the students to practice writing the
letter a. This will
enhance their ability to use the /a/ correspondences in words.
Materials:
Primary paper and
pencil
board with "Alice
asked if Allison’s active animals liked apples."
drawing paper and
crayons
the book Pat’s Jam
(Educational Insights)
apple cut-outs with
the words bag, cat, hat, bug, top, mat
a small basket to
put the apple cut-outs in
picture page with
illustrations of a bug, bag, cup, hat, cat, and tub
Procedures:
1. Introduce
the lesson by explaining reading and writing are necessary
actions in our everyday lives. Explain
that our written language is like a secret code because it is
tricky to try to learn what the letters stand for--the mouth
moves we make as we say words. Today we
are going to work on spotting the mouth move /a/ (short a). At first
/a/ may seem hidden in words, but as you get to know it, you’ll
be able to spot /a/ in all words.
2. Ask
students if they have ever sneezed really loud? Can you tell me
what the noise you make? That’s
right they say, "aaa-aaa-aaa-choo." I know
that all of us have sneezed before. It sounds
like Aaaaachoo. Now
let me hear you. Stretch
it out and see if you say, /a/ like a person sneezing. That sound
is in many words! I’ll try hat, h-a-a-a-a-a-a-t. There I
said the sneezing sound. And every
time we do the /a/ sound we are also going to hold our hands
close to our nose like we are about to sneeze.
3. "Let’s try
a tongue twister. Alice asked if Allison’s active animals liked
apples." Everybody
say it together. Now
say it again, and this time, stretch the /a/ at the beginning of
the words and make the sneezing movement as u stretch out the
sound. "Aaaaalice
aaaaasked if Aaaaalison’s aaaaactive aaaaanimals like
aaaaaples." Try it again, and this time break
it off the word: "/a/ lice /a/ sked if /a/ llison’s /a/ ctive
/a/ nimals likes /a/ pples.
4. [Have
students take out primary paper and pencil]. We can use
letter a to spell /a/. Let’s
write it down. For lowercase a, don’t start at the fence. Start
under the fence. Go
up and touch the fence, then around and touch the sidewalk,
around and straight down. I want to
see everybody’s a. After I
put a star on your paper, I want you to make a row of a’s just
like you have done. When you
see letter a all by itself in a
word, that’s the signal to say "/a/."
5. Call on
students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you
hear /a/ in bag or purse? Back or arm? Crab or fish? Say: Let’s
see if you can spot the mouth move /a/ in some words. I will
have the apple cut-outs and a basket. If you
hear the /a/ sound in each of the words I give you, drop the
apple into the basket. The word
is bag do you hear the /a/ sound here, if so place the apple
into the basket. Repeat the same process for the words cat, hat,
bug, top, mat.
6. Read the
book Pat’s Jam through a book talk. "Pat and
Pam are both friends that go grocery shopping together. Pat has
ham while Pam has jam and when they get back into the van to
leave the car is out of gas." You’ll have to read to find out
what happens to Pat and Pam. Have each
child listen carefully to the story and perform the sneezing
movement when they hear /a/ in a word. List their
words on the board. Then I
will have each student to draw a picture of a group of friends
and write a message about those friends or what they are doing
using invented spelling.
Assessment:
7. I will
distribute a picture page and help the students name each
picture. Then
I will have the students circle the pictures that contain the
/a/ sound.
References:
Alison Stokes,
"Aaa-aaa-aaa-choo!!" at: http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insp/stokesbr.html
Beason, Margaret,
"Aaa-Choo!" http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/guides/beasonel.html
Caroline Cox,
"Crying Baby" at http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/discov/coxel.html
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