All Aboard the Choo-Choo Train
Rationale: As a beginning reader, children must learn the letter combinations (digraphs) that stand for specific mouth moves. They must learn that when certain letters are together in a word, they stand for a specific mouth move. In this lesson, I will help children recognize the consonant digraph /ch/ in written and spoken language. Students should be able to identify digraphs (like /ch/) in words they read and spell.
Materials: Elkonin letterboxes
Letter manipulative ch (taped together), i, p, ee (taped
together),
s, e, o, r, a, m
Book: Chip Gets a Dog (published by Steck Vaughn Company)
Tongue twister on chart
Primary paper and pencil
Train worksheet
Cards with "ch" on one side and "?" on other
Procedure:
1. I will introduce this lesson by saying
“Sometimes
two letters get together and make a special sound. Now, we will talk
about
the mouth moves that C and H make when they get together. Together,
they
say /ch/. Say it slowly, and tell me what moves your mouth makes. When
I say /ch/, my lips pucker and my tongue presses against my teeth. Air
also moves between my tongue and teeth. An example of this /ch/ sound
is
the sound the train makes. “ch…ch…choo-choo!”
2. "Let’s try a tongue twister (on chart).
“Chip’s
cheetah loves chicken, cheese, and chocolate chip cookies.” We will all
say it together once, and then we will all say it again, but we will
stretch
out the /ch/ sound. “Ccccchhhhip’s cccchhhheetah.” Nice job boys and
girls."
3. (Use Elkonin boxes). “Remember from last week
how we used the letterboxes for the /sh/ sound. Well this week we will
use them for the /ch/ sound. Now that we know what sound the /ch/
makes,
we can spell some words with the /ch/ sound in them. Everyone will get
one set of letterboxes, and everyone will get ten letters. Turn them
over
on the lowercase side. The C and H are taped together to remind us that
they make the /ch/ sound. The CH will go on one letterbox because they
make one sound. When we spell a word, we will have the same number of
boxes
as sounds.” Everyone will now spell chip, cheese, chop, chat, rich and
champ at their table. I will go around to make sure they understand
what
to do.
4. “Now, everyone take out your primary paper
and pencil. Remember that when you see the C and H next to each other
they
make the /ch/ sound. Copy the tongue twister down off the chart. When
you
are done, please come show me so I can check it, and then I will pass
out
the train sheets.” I will let each child color the train and name it.
They
will name it something with the /ch/ sound (like the cheese, chocolate
or chip train). We will hang these up outside on the wall together so
that
they will make one long choo-choo train.
5. Now, we will play a game. I will call on some
of you to answer these questions. You must tell me why you chose this
answer.
“Do you hear /ch/ in champ or camp? Chip or cookie? Rich or poor? Now,
I will pass out special cards with “ch” one on side and “?” on the
other.
Show me the /ch/ side if you hear the /ch/ sound in words and the “?”
if
you don’t.” One by one, I will say, chip, camp, cheetah, lick, cheese,
chocolate, train, and tooth.
6. Now, I will read the book Chip Gets a Dog,
and talk about it. I will read it again and let the children hold up
their
“ch” cards when they hear words with the /ch/ sound in the book.
7. For assessment, I will pass out a worksheet
with pictures. They will circle the words that have the /ch/ sound. The
pictures will be of a ship, chocolate chip, fish, kite, chair, church,
child, cherry, cook, cheerleader and book.
References:
*Murray, B.A. and Lesniak, T. (1999). "The
Letterbox
Lesson: A hands-on approach to teaching decoding." The Reading Teacher,
43, 282-295.
*Davis, Dara. Shhh…She is sleeping. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insights/ddavisbr.html
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