Amber DeBlanc
Beginning Reading Lesson Design
Say “Aaaah”
Rationale: To learn to
read and spell words, students must learn that letters are symbols that
stand
for phonemes and that letter-sound relationships should be used to
decode and
recognize words. Decoding various correspondences
in words is crucial in becoming a skillful and fluent reader. It is important to first master the short vowel
sounds
before moving on to more complex ones. In this lesson, the
students will
learn the o = /o/ correspondence, or the short o.
The
students will be able to recognize the short letter o and
associate it
with the phoneme /o/ in written and spoken words. They will learn
to
associate the letter o with the sound that you make when you
go to the
doctor and get your throat checked, when you open wide and say
“Aaaah”.
Materials:
Picture of doctor checking girls
throat.
Elkonin Boxes (letterboxes) and
with set of lowercase letters for each child (m, o, p, c,
a, n, b, l, b, r, i, t, s, f)
Poster of large letterboxes and
the letters l, o, and g to
demonstrate with
Poster of Tongue Twister – Oliver
had an operation in October
Decodable book: Cushman, Sheila. In
the Big Top. (1990). Educational Insights. Carson, California. (one
for
every student)
Flashcards containing pictures of
words with and without the o = /o/ phoneme for every child,
such as a log, pot, mop, man, can, frosty
the snowman, octopus, and crab
Primary writing paper and pencil
for each student, second
Worksheet and pencils for each
student with pictures of words with and without the /o/ phoneme.
Procedures:
Pass out all
materials.
“Today we are going
to learn the new vowel letter o and one of the sounds
it makes. When the letter o
is by itself and no other vowels are around it, it makes a short o sound. Show students the picture of the
doctor checking the girl’s mouth. Look
at this picture. It reminds me of when I
go to the doctor and
he checks my mouth or my throat. He
always tells me to say “aaaah.” This is
the same sound the letter o
makes. It says /o/ (teacher
demonstrates)To make the special /o/ sound, we open our
mouths wide and pretend the doctor is checking our throat.
Say the sound the letter o makes with me.
Now let’s see if we
can hear the /o/ sound in a fun tongue
twister! Listen carefully. (Teacher
points to each word on the Tongue
twister poster as she says it. Model
reading the tongue twister to the students. “Oliver had
an operation in October.”
Now
let’s all say it together. “Oliver had an operation in October.” Very nice.
“Ok,
whenever we say the /o/ sound,
let’s stretch it out like we are at the doctor getting our throat
checked. Let me show you how to stretch
the /o/ sound
out. “Ooooliver had an
ooooperation in Ooooctober.”
Now
let’s all stretch the /o/ sound
out in together. “Ooooliver had an ooooperation in
Ooooctober.” You
guys are so smart!
Do
you hear the /o/ sound in mop or map? Lad or log? Crick
or crock? Rock
or rack? Great Job!
Now that
we know how the letter o sounds,
let’s try writing the letter o. Let
me show you how to write the letter o. Start just below the fence.
First little
c, then close it up! Now let’s
write one together on our paper.
Remember to start just below the fence. First little c,
then
close it up! Great.
Now
let’s get out our letterboxes
and try to find the letter o in some
words. We are going to use some words we
already know using different vowels and we’re going to use some new
words with
our new /o/ sound.
Everybody,
watch me do one
first. (teacher uses the large
poster letter boxes and Velcro letters to
demonstrate). The first word I am
going to spell is log. (teacher
gets out 3 letter boxes/ one for
each sound.) /l/ /o/ /g/. I hear
three sounds in this word. The first
sound it /l/, so I will put the letter l
in the first box. The next sound is
/o/. That’s the doctor sound!
I will put the letter o in the second box. The
last sound I hear is /g/, so I will put a g
in the last box. Oh, a log.
Like the kind of log you build
a fire with!
Now
I will call out some
words. When you hear the word, I want
you to put the letters of the sound you hear in the letter boxes. I will tell you how many sounds are in the
word for a clue wo you know how many letterboxes to use.
The teacher will call out the following words
(mop, can, blob, crab, blimp, stomp, and
frost).
Now
I want you to read the book, In the Big Top, which is
on your
desk. Let’s all read with our quiet
voices and I’ll come around and listen to you read.
This book is about a big family that is going
to the circus and they all have to get there in one tiny little car. I wonder if they will all fit!
Let’s read to find out! You
all did great finding
that /o/ sound in our letterbox words.
Let’s see how many you can spot in the book.
Assessment:
I will
evaluate the students’ progress at the end of the lesson by holding up
a series
of flashcards that have pictures of words with and without the o
= /o/
phoneme, such as a log, pot, mop, man, can,
frosty the snowman, octopus,
and crab. I will
ask the students to raise their hands
if they see a picture with the /o/ sound in it.
I will also hand out a separate worksheet with pictures
that have
things with and without the /o/ phoneme in them. I will have the
children
circle the pictures that have the /o/ phoneme in them. We will
also have students match words to the pictures on the worksheets.
References:
Cushman, Sheila. (1990). Decodable
book: In the Big Top. Educational Insights.
Kerns, Megan. “Open
wide and say aaah.” http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/invent/kernsbr.html
Murray, Bruce. Teaching
Letter Recognition.
http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/letters.html
Murray, Bruce A.
and Theresa Lesniak (1999).
“Teaching