Aaaah, the Baby
Lambs
Beginning Reading
Rationale:
Children need lots of explicit and systematic phonics instruction in order to be
able to read. Beginning readers
need to know that words are made of sounds.
They also need to know which letters make each sound. Because all words
contain vowels, it is usually best to begin teaching vowels. It is easier to
teach short vowels since they are found in words with only one vowel.
This lesson will focus on a = /a/.
Students will review the short a sound, and then the students will
practice spelling and reading words with the /a/ sound.
Materials:
Class set of Elkonin boxes
Class set of letter manipulatives
Overhead Elkonin boxes and letter manipulatives (a,b,c,d,g,k,l,m,n,p,r,s,t)
Class set of A Cat Nap by Educational Insights
Chart with tongue twister
Assessment Sheets
Procedure:
One) Introduce the lesson: "Today we are going to be
learning about the short vowel A and the sound that it makes. Every time you see
an /a/ in a word, you will make the sound of a baby lamb. I want everyone to act
like a baby lamb, ready, aaahhhh, Great! I will read a few words and you make
the baby lamb sound when you hear our /a/ ok. Ready. Mop, Map(aaaaa), Nap(aaaaa)
, Nip, Sat(aaaa) and Last(aaaa) Great Job.
Two) Introduce the tongue twister to the students. Put up
the chart with the tongue twister: "Ok, now let's say the tongue twister
together: Andrew and Alice asked if Annie's active animals were angry. Now let's
say it again and when we hear the baby lamb sound we will make our aaaaaa sound.
AAAAndrew aaaaand AAAAlice aaaaasked if AAAAAnnie's aaaaactive aaaaanimals were
aaangry. Great Job Guys!!!
Three) Using the overhead and the letter manipulates, ask
the students to name words with the /a/ sound in them and model the way to sound
out the sounds in the words to the class. "Who can give me a word that has the
sound of a baby lamb in it? Very Good. Nap. Now, if I was going to spell that
word, I would listen to the sounds, /n/, /aaaaaa/ (there is our sound), and
/p/." Practice more words using the Elkonin boxes.
Four) "Now I want all of you to get out your boxes and
letters and we are all going to practice a few words." Have the students leave
their letters on their boards and then check the spelling. Start with three
phoneme words, then, move to four and five phonemes. [s] [a] [d]
[l] [a] [p] [b] [a]
[ck]
[g] [l] [a] [d] [l] [a] [m]
[p] [s] [t] [r]
[a] [n] [d]
Five) "Now I am going to spell back a few words to you. If
you know what word I am spelling, raise your hand and you can answer." Without
using the boxes, spell out the words to make sure they can really spell them.
Six) With the book A
Cat Nap, get into small groups or with a partner and have the students read
the book aloud. They can assess each other by grading each other on reading
speed, expression, and knowing more words
Assessment:
For an assessment, have a picture sheet made out with lots of different
pictures using different sounds and have the students circle the pictures with
the /a/ sound in their name. Have pictures of apples, alligators, desks, lamps,
shirts.
References:
Eldredge, J. Lloyd. (1995) Teaching Decoding in Holistic
Classrooms. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall, 54-57.
Alison Bradley: Excellent E!!:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/guidelines.html
Jessica Evans: Aaa-Aaa-Aaa Apples: http://www.auburn.edu/reading_genie.html
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