Under the Umbrella
Decoding with short vowel u=/u/
Rationale:
It
is necessary for beginning readers to be able to recognize that letters
map out phonemes in spoken words. Vowels are often hardest for children
to learn. In this lesson, the children will learn to recognize, spell,
and read words that contain the correspondence u = /u/. This
correspondence will be learned by giving the children a meaningful
representation and by giving them practice with both written and spoken
words that contain u = /u/.
Materials:
-Book: Fuzz and the Buzz
-Word cards with the following words printed
on it: tug and tap, cut and cat, dog and duck, hut and hat, bun
and ban, and mud and mad.
-Sentence Strip with Tongue Twister printed
on it: The umpire uses unique umbrellas.
-Elkonin
Letterboxes per student
-Letter manipulatives (s, u, n, c, b, h, g, m, a, t, d, r, j, p ,i, e)
-Chalk or White-board erase
marker
-Primary paper and pencil
-
-Picture page with the following pictures: bug, truck, rug, brush,
lock, bed, and flag. (attached to end of lesson)
Procedure: Introduce the u = /u/
correspondence and how to spot it in written text. “Today we are going
to work with the letter u in written text (hold the letter u card for the students to see).
The letter u makes the /u/ sound. How does our
mouth move when we say /u/? Our mouth is open and our tongue stays
still. This is like the sound that a umbrella makes when someone opens
it. Everyone practice making the /u/ sound by opening your
umbrella.”
To practice
recognizing the letter u in written text, I will hold up two
cards at a time (cards with words tug and tap, cut and cat, dog
and duck, hut and hat, bun and ban, and mud and mad.). Ask students
which word contains the letter u. Hold up one card and as a
group say it together, then do the same with the second card. Ask the
following questions: “Which word has the /u/ sound in it?” and “Can
someone point the letter u in this word?” Student’s
should raise hand, call on one student.
“Now I want us to practice
saying our funny sentence together. The unicorn uses Uncle's underwear.
Say
together several times. Now I want us to say our tongue twister, but
let’s stretch out the /u/: The uuumpire uuuses uuunique
uuumbrellas.... Open your umbrella when you hear the /u/ sound.”
Draw Elkonin letterbox on
the board for teacher use during this portion of the lesson. Make sure
that each student has an Elkonin letterbox with his or her own letter
tiles. Ask the students to make sure that each student’s tiles on
lower-case side up. We are going to practice spelling words with the
/u/ sound. Look at the board and notice that I have two boxes
drawn—this is for two mouth moves. Right now, I am going to spell the
word pluck. The first box is for the first sound in pluck,
the /p/. The second box is for the /l/. The third box makes the /u/
sound and you need to open your umbrella when making the /u/ sound.
Finally, the /ck/ sound should go in the fourth box. Now you are going
to practice with the following words: {3} sun, cub, hug, rush, mat; {4}
drum, jump; {5} grunt. Make sure that each time the number of phonemes
changes that the students are prompted to open their letterbox up by
one more box. (A review word should be included.)
Write each word from the
letterbox lesson on the board one at a time. Model for students how to
read a word written on the board. We are going to read the word pup.
Let us start with the /u/, next let’s add the /p/--/pu/. Say it
together. Now let’s add the last /p/ - /pup/. Our word is pup.
Call on one student to read the word, and then have the class repeat
the word as a group.
The students will be placed in
pairs to read Fuzz and the Buzz. Fuzz is a cub. He runs away
from his hut and tugs at nuts. The nuts bop Fuzz and he yells. What
will happen to Fuzz from being hit on the head by nuts? We will have to
read and find out. Pass out one book per pair of students. The students
will take turns reading the book to each other. I will walk around,
listen, and observe each pair of students.
Write a message about what you
liked or disliked and Fuzz and the Buzz. Remember that when we make the
letter u that we start at the fence line and draw down to the
sidewalk, curve over, and back up to the fence. Now, without lifting
your pencil, you should draw a line back down to the sidewalk.
(Children should use invented spelling.)
Assessment:
- Students will be provided a
picture page where they should circle the pictures with the /u/ sound.
- While students work on the
picture page, I will call students up one at a time to assess their
reading of Fuzz and the Buzz and their understanding of the
correspondence u = /u/. I will be using a running record.
Reference:
Murray, Bruce. Teaching Letter Recognition. http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/letters.html
http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/constr/moorebr.html
http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/invent/gamblebr.html
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/allitalphabet/index.html#U