A is for Ape
A
Beginning Reading Lesson
Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence a_e= /A/. In
order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that
map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell,
and read words containing the spelling a_e. They will learn a meaningful
representation (A is for Ape), they will spell and read words containing this
spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the
correspondence a_e= /A/.
Materials:
Graphic image of an ape; cover-up critter; Elkonin letterboxes for each student;
letter manipulatives for each child:
l, a, m, e, t, p, s, h, v, b, r, c, k, o, f, z;
list of spelling words on index cards to
read: - lame, tap, shave, brace, stake, slave, blob, flame, blaze, scrape,
frost, strafe; decodable text: Jane
and Babe, and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1. Say:
In order to become expert readers we need to learn the code that tells us how to
pronounce words. We have already learned to read short vowel sounds with a, but
let's review a little bit. A used as
a short vowel says ahhhhhhh, like you are at the doctor and he asks you to 'open
up and say ah'. Let's say it together, ahhhhhh. Do you hear /a/ in map or globe?
In beat or tap? In rat or mouse? Today we are going to learn about long A and
the silent e signal that is used to make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I
think of a funny little monkey called an ape [show graphic image].
2. Say:
Before we learn about the spelling of /A/, we need to listen for it in some
words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear a say it's name /A/ and my lips
spread out wide to make a smile. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I'll show you
first: flame. I heard a say its name
and I felt my lips make a smile [point to smile]. There is a long A in flame.
Now I'm going to see if it's in fire. Hmm, I didn't hear a say its name and my
lips didn't make a smile. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, "A is for Ape!". If
you don't hear /A/ say, "That's not it." Is it in plane, coal, peel, joke, rain,
pants? [Have student point to their smile when they hear /A/ say its name.]
3. Say:
Now let's look at the spelling of /A/ that we'll learn to today. One way to
spell /A/ is with the letter a and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me
to say A's name. [Write a_e on the board or paper.] This blank line here means
there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little
silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word take? "If I take the puppy
from the mother dog, she may get upset." Take means to get the puppy and bring
it with you in this sentence. To spell take in letterboxes, first I need to know
how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /t//a/k/. I
need 3 boxes. I hear that /A/ just before the /k/ so I'm going to put the a in
the 2nd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word
starts with /t/, that's easy; I need a t. Now I have one empty box. [Point to
letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /t//a//k/.] The missing one is
/k/=k.
4. Say:
Now I'm going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You'll start out easy
with three boxes for lame. Lame is
uncool, like that movie was lame. What should we put in the first box? [Respond
to student answer.] what goes in the second box? The third box? What about
silent e, did you remember to put it outside of the boxes? Check the spelling.
[Observe progress.] You'll need four letterboxes for the next word. Listen for
the beginning sound that does in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and don't
forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here's the
word: stare, I like to stare at the
television when I watch it; stare.
{Allow student to spell word.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in
my letterboxes on the board (or on the paper): s-t-a-r-e and see if you've
spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes:
chase; The dog likes to chase the
squirrels. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox for you, check work. Repeat
this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /A/ in
it before you spell it: tack; I used a tack to hang the picture on the wall. Did
you need a silent e? why not? Right, because we don't hear a say its name. We
spell it with our short vowel a. [volunteer spells it on the paper or board.]
Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Now let's try four phonemes:
blaze; The fire was a blaze in the
woodpile. One more then we're done with spelling, and this time you need five
boxes: scrape; If I fall down I might
scrape my knee. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
5. Say:
Now I am going to let you read the words you've spelled, but first I'll show you
how I would read a tough word. [Display index card with
scrape and model the reading word.]
First I see that there's a silent e on the end; that's my signal that the vowel
will say its name. there's the vowel a. it must say /A/. I'm going to use a
cover-up to get the first part. [uncover and belnd sequentially before the
vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /s//c//r/=/scr/. Now I'm going to blend with
the /A/ = /scrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /scrAp/.
Scrape; that's it. Now its your turn,
let's do it together. [Have students read word in unison. Afterwards, let
individuals read one word on the list.]
6. Say:
You've done a great job with reading words with our new spelling for /A/= a_e.
Now we are going to read a book called
Jane and Babe. Babe is a lion that lives in a
cage at the zoo. His trainer comes in to wake him but can't seem to get him to
wake up. Do you think they will ever get him awake so that the trainer can play
with him and take care of him? You'll have to keep reading to find out. Let the
student read the book aloud to you, or partners if there are multiple students.
Discuss after each page, or have students discuss with one another after each
page.
7. Say:
That was a fun story. What was Babe's problem? Right, he didn't want to wake up
and start the day. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell
/A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet,
we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and
decide which a_e word fits best to make sense of this very short story. First
try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the
space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheet to
evaluate individual progress.]
Resources:
Patterson, Whitney. Easy E Street. Lessons for teaching decoding with long
vowels and other vowels.
Reading Genie.
Murray,
B.A., & Lesniak, T. (1999). The Letterbox Lesson: A Hands-on Approach for
Teaching Decoding. The Reading Teacher, 52, p. 644-650
Assessment:
http://stickyball.net/phonics.html?id=347
Long A
Assessment
Fill in
the blank with the word that makes the best sense.
Fay and Jane like to play at the ____(lake, take, pace). One day, they made a
maze in the hay. On the same day, they had rain and hail, so Fay and ____
(plane, Jane, tame) ran back to play a ____ (hare, tape, game).
"I will win, and you will fail," said Jane.
"You are vain," said Fay. "I may not play."
"Wait, wait!" said Jane. I will bake a cake. Will you stay?
"I will stay if you bake a ____ (game, tape, cake), but if you are vain, I don't
want to play," said Fay.
"Yay! Yay!" said Jane.
____ ( bare, late, Jane) and Fay will play and ____ (race, bake, game) a cake.
It rained, but today is a good day.
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