Shhhhhhhh! Don’t Wake Mama
Beginning Reader Lesson using sh
= /sh/
By: Brandi Gainor
Rationale: In order for
children to learn to read and spell words, they must understand letters
and the phonemes that represent letters. It is important for
children to understand that more than one letter represents some
phonemes. This type of letter combination is often called a
digraph. A digraph is a two-letter combination that only makes
one sound. When each letter of a digraph is isolated, it may
represent a different phoneme, but when these letters are combined,
they represent one phoneme. This lesson will teach children to
identify the digraph /sh/ in written and spoken words. The
correspondence /sh/ is very important for children to learn. They
will learn to spell and read words with the phoneme /sh/.
The children will also participate in activities that will enhance
their knowledge of the phoneme /sh/.
Materials:
Chart with "Shirley
Shaffer shouldn’t shake the sugar should she?"
Elkonin letter boxes
Class set of letters
for the letter boxes containing the letters(s, h, u, t, e, d, o, p, w,
i(2), b, a, r, m, l) with s and h taped together
Don't
Wake Mama by: Eileen
Christelow (class set)
Chalk and chalkboard
Primary paper
Pencils and crayons
Worksheet with pictures
(shell, apple, nose, bat, ship, dish, star, fish)
Procedure: 1.
Introduce the lesson by explaining that more than one letter can
represent a phoneme. Today we are going to talk about one of
those special phonemes. We already know what sounds s and ha make
when they are by themselves, but today we are going to find out the
sound that they make when they are together. Whenever s and h are together, they make the sound
/sh/, like in shout and shoe. When s is alone, what does it say?
That is right it says /s/. See how the sounds are different when
they are together and when they are alone? When two letters are
put together to make one sound, it is called a digraph. Today we
are going to learn about the digraph sh and the sound that it makes. 2. Have you
ever been so loud that sometimes your mommy or daddy had to come and
tell you to be quiet? Did they say shhhhhh you are being too
loud? Well /sh/ is what you hear when you combine s and h, like in ship, or fish. Can everyone hear the /sh/
in ship
and in fish? Now I want everyone to say
fish
and ship and when you hear the /sh/, I want
you to put your finger over your mouth like your are telling someone to
be quiet. (Demonstrate saying the word and doing the finger
movement.) 3. Now
let's all try a tongue twister. "Shirley Shaffer shouldn't shake
the sugar should she?" Now I want us to all read it
together. This next times when we read it, I want you to do the
/sh/ motion with your finger each time that you hear /sh/. Now
let's do it again but this time I want you to stretch out the
/sh/. Demonstrate Shhhhhirley Shhhhhaffer etc. Shhhhhirley
Shhhhhaffer shhhhhouldn't shhhhhake the sugar shhhhhould shhhhhe?
Now we are going to read it one more time but this time I want you to
bread the /sh/ off of the word. Demonstrate /Sh/ irley /Sh/ affer
etc… /Sh/ irley /Sh/ affer /sh/ ouldn't /sh/ ake the sugar /sh/
ould /sh/ he? Great job recognizing the /sh/ in out tongue
twister. 4. Now that
we know how to identify /sh/ in spoken words, we are going to spell
some words that have /sh/. Everyone take out you letter boxes and
fold them until you have only three boxing showing like this (hold up
three boxes). You will also need to take out your bags that
contain the letters (s, h, u, t, e, d, o, p, w, i(2), b, a, r, m,l) and
make sure that your s and h are taped together. I am
going to say a few words and I want you to spell them in your
letterboxes. For example, if I say ship, you would put sh in the first box. You would
do this because the s and the h make the /sh/ sound and that is
one sound so it goes in one box. Next, you would put the i in the middle box. The i
would make the /i/ sound and how many sounds is that? Great
job! So the i would go in the next
box. Lastly, we would put the p in the last box because the /p/
is only one sound. Demonstrate on the board by drawing three boxes and
placing the correct phonemes in each box. Now remember that our
/sh/ makes one sound so this is why the two letters are taped
together. Because it makes one sound, it goes in one box.
Now let's begin. I am going to say a word and I want you to spell
it using the letters in front of you. Remember only one sound for
each box. (Teacher says each word and walks around monitoring
progress. 3 phoneme- shut, shed, shop, wish, bash 4
phoneme- shred, trash, 5 phoneme-splash, finish) Great job.
Now I am going to spell the words on the board and I want you to read
them aloud. For example, if I put sh-i-p on the board, you would
sound that out and say ship. Continue until we have gone over
each word. 5. Pass out
copies of the book Don't
Wake Mama. I am
going to divide you into pairs and I want you to take turn reading to
one another. After you have read, I want you to go through the
book and write all of the words that have sh and make the /sh/ sound. 6. I will
pass out a worksheet with eight pictures on it (shell, nose, apple,
bat, ship, dish, star, fish). The students will write the name of
each item in a blank provided under the item. The students will
then color each item that has the /sh/. For assessment, while the
children are doing the activity, I will bring students to the kidney
shaped table one at a time, to read a passage from the book Don't
Wake Mama.
References: Murray, Bruce A. and Theresa
Lesniak. "The Letterbox Lesson: A Hands-On Approach for Teaching Decoding."
The Reading Teacher. Vol. 52, No. 6 March, 1999. 664-650.
