Rationale:
This lesson will focus on the
vowel correspondence a = /a/. Students
will be able to listen for the /a/ sound, how to distinguish the /a/
sound in spoken words, and identify and decode the /a/ sound in written
text. Students will also learn that vowels are important because
they are found in every word that is in the English language.
Materials:
Sound/Spelling card of letter a
with picture of lamb.
Primary paper/ pencil
Dry erase marker
Card stock with list of words: am,
hat, at, met, sat, tip, fat, men, lap, top, eat, pot, put, has pop, fan.
Book A Cat Nap
Large poster with the lamb
story written on it
Book/worksheet (the rat story)
Procedure:
Sound of the
letter a:
1. Introduce the lesson
by telling the students today we are
going to learn about a special letter called a vowel.
Vowels are special because there are no words in the English language
without a vowel. Today we are going to learn that the letter a
makes the /a/ sound.
2. Show the letter a
that is on the sound/spelling card. Explain that vowels are also
important because every vowel has a long and a short sound.
Remind them that sometimes a vowel can say its own name and that name
is called the long sound.
3. Now we will learn the
short sound of the letter a, which is the sound that you here
in the middle of lamb (show picture of the lamb on picture card).
Remind the children that picture of the lamb is a clue to help them
remember the letter sound, and at the bottom of the card shows the
spelling of the sound in words.
4. Next tell the children
to listen for /a/ and to think about
the picture of the lamb will remind them of the sound. Read the
lamb story:
I’m Pam the
Lamb, I am.
This is how
I tell my Mommy where I am: /a/ /a/ /a/
/a/ /a/ /a/.
I’m Pam the
Lamb, I am.
This is how
I tell my Daddy where I am: /a/
/a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/.
I’m Pam the
Lamb, I am.
That young
ram is my brother Sam.
This is how
I tell my brother where I am: /a/
/a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/.
I’m Pam the
Lamb; I’m happy where I am.
Can you help
me tell my family where I am?
(have
children respond:) /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/ /a/
/a/.
Listening
for the /a/ sound in words:
1. Tell the children that
you are going to read a list of
words. For each of the words, they need to repeat and give the
thumbs up whenever they hear the /a/ sound in these words.
am
hat at
met
sat
tip
fat
men
lap
top eat
pot
put
has
pop
fan
Writing the
letter a:
1. On the chalkboard
model writing the letter a. Touch the letter and say
/a/.
2. Tell the children to
take out the paper and pencil and have
them practice writing the letter a
several times saying /a/ each time.
Reading the
letter a:
1. Now we will work on
reading words with the /a/ sound in the
decodable text, A Cat Nap.
Each child will get an individual copy of the book. Tell the children
that they will be able to recognize the /a/ sound because they have
done such a great job today with the vowel a. The book that you are
going to be reading is called A Cat
Nap. Tell them
that cat nap is about a cat who loves to
take naps. He naps in Sam's bag and Sam has to leave to go to baseball
practice. He takes his bag with him with Tab the cat in there. To find
out what happens next you will have to read the book.
2. After you finish
reading, I want you to write down at least
three words that had the /a/ sound in them and we will discuss them
when everybody gets finished.
3. For an assessment I
will have the children read the
book/worksheet about the rat. This contains a short story about a
rat and also contains many words with she short /a/ sound. Also
at the end it shows pictures that allow the children to write in the
missing letters.
References:
Open Court Phonics Kit: Carl
Bereiter 2000 pp. 67-68
http://www.auburn.edu/%7Erdggenie/constr/slocumbr.html
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