Yawning is Contagious!
A Beginning Reading Lesson
Rationale:
This lesson teaches beginning readers about the short vowel correspondence
o = /o/. In order to become skilled
readers, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word
pronunciations. It is also important they understand how to write the letters
that symbolize these sounds. In this lesson, students will learn how to say,
hear, and spell words with short /o/.
Materials:
Graphic image of angel yawning; cover-up critter; Elkonin for each child;
white board Elkonin boxes for modeling; letter tiles for each student and the
teacher: p, o, t, c, h, p, s, d, n, b, f,
r; list of spelling words on a poster:
pot, chop, sod, snob, frost;
decodable text:
Bob is Lost;
and assessment worksheet (provided below).
Procedures:
1.
Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us
how to pronounce all the words we will be reading. We know some short vowel
sounds? Which ones do we know? [Students should respond with /a/, /e/, and /i/.
We will build on prior knowledge by adding o=/o/.
When I say /o/, think of an angel yawning, like this one [show image of
angel].
2.
Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /o/, we need to listen for it in some
words. When I listen for /o/ in words, I hear /o/ to make this sound, my mouth
is open with my jaw dropped. Let’s use this as our mouth symbol [make vocal
gesture]. I’ll show you first: clock.
I feel my jaw drop open as I say clock.
There is a short O in clock. Now I’m
going to see if it is in back. Hmm, I
didn’t hear o make that sound my jaw
didn’t drop open. Now you try. If you feel your mouth open and your jaw drop,
pretend like you are yawning like this [tap mouth with hand and make yawning
gesture]. If you don’t hear /o/, then say “That’s not it.” Is it in brick? Stop?
Clot? Truck? [Have children make the yawning gesture and pat their mouths when
they feel /o/.]
3.
Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /o/ that we will learn today. We spell
/o/ with the letter o. [Write o on
the board.] An o by itself means we
will open our mouths and drop our jaws, like when we yawn. What if I want to
spell the word blot? “Blot at the
stain to get it to come out.” Blot
means dab or pat in this sentence. To spell
blot in letterboxes, I need to know
how many phonemes are in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /b//l//o//t/.
I need four boxes. I heard /o/ right before the
t at the end, so I am going to put
the o in the third box. The word
starts with /b/, so I will but a b in
the first box. Next, I hear /l/, so I will put an
l in the second box. Then, we have
the o, and the last phoneme is /t/.
I’ll put at t in the last (fourth)
box. This says blot.
|
b |
l |
o |
t |
4.
Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. Let’s start out
easy with three boxes for pot. We use
a pot to grow plants in or cook something on the stove. What should go in the
first box? [Respond to the children’s answers].
What goes in the second box? The third? I’ll check everyone’s spelling as
I walk around. You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. The next word is
chop. I need to
chop this onion before I can cook it.
[Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Now watch how I spell
it in my letter boxes: ch-o-p and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try
another word with three boxes: sod. I
laid sod in my yard. [Have a volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front
board for children to check their work. Next word: let’s see if this has the /o/
sound before we spell it: bet. I bet
you I’ll beat you in a race! Did you hear short
o? Why not? Right. It is spelled with
a short vowel e. [Volunteer spells it
on the front board]. Now let’s try four phonemes:
snob; that girl was such a
snob. One more then we are going to
be done with spelling. Let’s try five phonemes. You need five boxes:
frost. I need help to
frost my cake. Remember to stretch
out this word and have each phoneme represented.
5.
Say: Now I am going to have you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll
show you how I would read a tough word. [Display
frost and model reading the word.]
First I see that it is an o by
itself, so we make our yawning sound. I am going to use a cover up to get the
first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend the
vowel.] /f//r/ =/fr/+/o/=/fro/+/st/=/frost/.
Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have children read the words in
unison. After, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone
has had a turn.]
6.
Say: You’ve all done a great job with reading words and our new spelling for
/o/. Now we are going to read a book called
Bob is Lost. This a story in which a
boy named Ned has a dog named Bob. One day, Bob ran off and Ned is very, very
sad. Bob is lost! Ned has to find Bob. Do you think he will find him? Where do
you think Bob will be? We must read to find out! Let’s pair up and take turns
reading Bob is Lost to find out where
Bob goes. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages while teacher
walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the
class rereads Bob is Lost aloud
together, stopping before each page turn to “talk before you turn.”]
7.
Say: That was a happy ending. Where was Bob? Right, he was at the pet shop. How
did Ned feel when he couldn’t find Bob? Right, he was very sad. Before we finish
our lesson, I want you to show what you know on a worksheet. I want you to
circle the pictures of the words that have the /o/ in them. Try your best to
spell the words in the space below the picture. [Collect worksheets to evaluate
individual progress.]
Resources:
Cummings, Amanda: Bob is Lost
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/teacherbooks.html
Griffin, Evelyn: Ollie Loves Olives
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/griffinbr.htm
Murray, G: Oh, I didn’t know!
http://www.auburn.edu/~murrag1/BRMurrayG.htm
Directions: Write the word each picture describes in the space provided below. Circle the pictures of the words that have the /o/ sound.
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