Aaaaah! Rollercoasters Are Fun!
Beginning Reading
Rationale:
This lesson teaches
children about the short vowel correspondence _a_=/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_. They will learn a meaningful
representation (sound when on a rollercoaster "Aaah"), they
will spell and read words containing this spelling in a
Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on
the correspondence _a_=/a/.
Materials:
Graphic image of rollercoaster; cover-up critter; whiteboard or
smartboard; Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual; Elkonin
boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and
magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, t, d, b, p, f, l
b, c, k, r, s; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to
read: at, bad, pat, black, trap, scab; decodable text:
Pat Ran, 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 some sight words, like of, and today we are
going to learn about short a. When I say /a/ I think of a person
on a rollercoaster that yells "Aaaaaah!" [show graphic image].
Now let's look at the spelling of /a/ that we'll learn today.
The /a/ sound is spelled with the letter
a. [Write _a_ on the
board.] These blank lines mean there is a consonant before and
after the letter
a.
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 the
rollercoaster yelling sound /a/ and I open my mouth, but not all
the way. [Make vocal gesture for /a/.] I will show you first: at. I hear
a make the short /a/
sound like in "Aaaah!" and my mouth was open. There is a short a
in at. Now I'm
going to see if it's in bake.
Hmm, I didn't hear
a make the /a/ sound
and my mouth was not open very wide. Now you try. If you hear
/a/ say, "Aaaah! Rollercoasters are fun!" If you don't hear /a/
say, "No way!" Is it in cat, paint, boat, rabbit, pack, truck?
[Have the students imitate a person on a rollercoaster when they
hear the /a/ sound.]
3. What if I want to spell the word slap? "When I see a
mosquito, I will slap it with my hand."
Slap means hit in
this sentence. To spell slap
in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in
the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//l//a//p/. I need 4
boxes. I hear that /a/ just before the /p/ so I'm going to put
an a in the 3rd
box. The word starts with /s/, that's easy; I need an s. Now it
gets a little tricky so I'm going to say it slowly /s//l//a//p/.
I think I heard /l/ so I'll put a l right after the s. One more,
hmm.. /s//l//a//p/, I think I heard popping /p/. I have one
empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out
the word: /s//l//a//p/.] The missing one is /p/. Now I will show
you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with
slap on the top and model reading the word.] I am going to
start with the _a_; that part says /a/. Now I am going to put
the beginning letters with it s-l-_a_, /sla/. Now I will put
that chunk together with the last sound, /sla-p/ Oh, slap, like "It is not
nice to slap your brother or sister."
4. Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words in
letterboxes. You'll start out easy with two boxes for at. "I like to learn
at school." What should go in the first box? [Respond to
students' answers]. What goes in the second box? I'll check your
spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress].
You'll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the
beginning sound to spell the first box. Then listen for /a/.
Here is the word: bad.
"My apple was rotten and tasted bad." [Allow students to
spelling remaining words: pat, flat, black, trap, and scab.]
5. Say:
Now I am going to let you read the words you have spelled. [Have
students read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals
to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]
6. Say: You have done a great job reading words with
our new spelling for /a/:_a_. Now we are going to read a book
called
Pat Ran. We are going
to pair up and take turns reading Pat Ran to find the
reason that Pat is running. [Children pair up and take turns
reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room
monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class
rereads
Pat Ran aloud
together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.
7. Say: Before we finish up with our lesson, I want to hear you
read a book with lots of /a/ sounds. I will call each of you up to me to read a
few pages of Pat Ran
aloud to me. [Teacher will note errors and provide an accuracy
score.]
Resources:
Aaaaah Choo! By Rachel Thompson: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/thompsonrbr.htm
Pat Ran by Sheila Cushman and Rona Kornblum