Materials: chart with “Chugga chugga chugga chugga Choo Choo!” on it, marker, primary writing paper, pencil, copy of Chip Gets a Dog by Toni Albert (Steck-Vaughn Phonics Readers) for each student

Procedures:
1. Introduce the digraph by showing and reading the chart. Ask the children if they notice anything that is the same about all of these words ­ “Chugga chugga chugga chugga Choo Choo!” Call on a child to answer and help them to see that they all have the same first two letters, the c and the h. And together, they make the sound /ch/. Today they will learn how to find /ch/ in words, and they will write and read words that have the /ch/ sound.
2. Ask students: Have you ever been near a railroad when a train was passing by and went “chugga chugga chugga chugga”? Well that /ch/ sound is what we are going to look for in words today. Can you say /ch/?
3. Read church and house to the children and tell them how church has the /ch/ sound and house does not. Then call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /ch/ in dinner or lunch? Cherry or apple? Kick or touch? Chicken or turkey?
4. Now present them with the sentence: “Chip had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch.” First have them say it with you three times. Then have them pretend to pull on the bell and say “choo choo” when they hear the /ch/ sound in a word. [Give words one by one.] Chip, had, a, grilled, cheese, sandwich, for, lunch.
5. Teach them how to write the letters c and h to make the /ch/ sound: (have them take out primary paper and a pencil) Begin just below the fence and start to draw a circle up to the fence on the left side and down to the sidewalk, and then stop right above the sidewalk on the right side. Next for the h, draw a straight up-and-down line from the rooftop to the sidewalk, and then bounce back up to the fence and make a hump going back down to the sidewalk. As soon as you give each student the okay, have them write five more /ch/ sounds just like it. Remind them that whenever they see the letters c and h together like that, it’s a signal to say /ch/.
6. Have children read Chip Gets a Dog on their own. And when they are done, tell them to write down all the words that they found in the book with the /ch/ sound. List all of these words on the chart (Chip, chair, chores, catch, chain, choke, chum, teach, fetch, beach, itch).
7. For assessment, collect all of the practice paper and give them a new piece of primary writing paper. Have them write down five words that they can think of with the /ch/ sound. They can use words that have been discussed or new ones using invented spelling.

References:
www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insights/floydbr.html (“Thomas the Choo Choo Train”)
www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insights/montgomerybr.html (“Cheese Please”)

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