Bo Knows /O/
(
phonics lesson )
by Mark Mathews
Rationale:
This is a phonics lesson based on the alphabetic principle of corresponding phonemes to their graphemes. The students are practicing first to distinguish vocal gestures in their minds, and then map those sounds in letterboxes. Today’s selection of words focuses on the phoneme o_e = /O/, but there are review words with the short vowel /o/.
The step-by-step procedure listed here is a bit remedial for a long vowel lesson. If they are on /O/ they would have done letterboxes already in my classroom. Lets just assume I had to pick up teaching in the Spring and the children already know some long vowels.
Materials:
- oversized
letterbox and letters (Velcro or felt)
- letterbox
and letters for each student
- print-out
with boxes for students to record answers
- tongue twister labeled above oversized letterbox, “Oreos or Dominoes Nobody Knows”
Procedure:
1) Bring
students to reading rug or sit them on the floor
in front of you.
2) Setup
oversized letterbox behind you, with oversized
letters close at hand
3) [Review] Begin to access
prior knowledge by talking
about sounds in words and playfully get them to respond with questions
like
“which words have the same sound: dog, bat, log”
4) [Review] Then talk about how
the sounds we make in
words are mapped out when we write those words down.
Quickly quiz them orally on the alphabetic
principle … “Who can tell me what letters I’m sounding out … /a/ … /b/
… /f/ …
/u/ … /k/ … “
5) [Explain Why] “This stuff is
SOOO important. You will use it today,
tomorrow, and everyday
of your life.
6) [Explain How]
[Model] Using age
appropriate language, introduce
them to the letterbox activity by modeling for them with the oversized
tool you
have already set up. “This is my set of
letterboxes. When I practice finding
sounds in words, this is what I use. Lets
say I’m practicing the word “pool” … The first sound I hear is /p/, so
that
goes in the first box, and the second sound I hear is /oo/, so that
goes in the
second box. Notice everyone that you can
put a few letters in one box because those letters all made one sound,
ok? The last sound I hear in “pool” is /l/. So that’s what I put in the last box.” [note:
when noting these sounds for the students hold them longer than normal,
try to
pretend you are really practicing]
7) Ask
the students to quietly go back to their seats and
not touch their letters or letterboxes until they get more instructions.
8) “You
will all notice each of you have your own
letterbox set to work with. Lets all do
some practice before I give you some words to find on your own.”
9) [Simple Practice
(9-14)] “If I wanted us to
map out the word “pen”
what would we do first?” [call on one student to try and explain, if
he/she
does not just explain it yourself and move on]
10) “That’s
right, the first sound we all hear is /p/ like in “parrot” or
“popsicle”, so we
put a “p” in the first box.” [note: you are modeling this with the
oversized
letterbox while explaining]
11) “What
is the second sound we hear in “pen”?
[note: same process, call on one and move on] That’s
right, we hear that short /e/ sound …
can you all make that sound with me? /e……/”
12) “Very
good, you’re all ready to go except for one super special rule I’m
going to
give you now. Who thinks they can sound
out and spell “store” in my big letterbox? [note: offer them a star or
whatever
tokens you might have to someone who can get it correctly in the
letterboxes. This will get someone to
try, but no one will feel cheated since they probably won’t do it
correctly.
13) “That
was a good try, and I can tell you know how to SPELL the word “store”,
but for
our letterboxes we put that silent “e” outside the last box. Ok? Lets see everybody make the word
“store” in their letterboxes.”
14) “Ok
lets separate the thinkers from the … non-thinker people … I’m going to
give
you some words, and I want you to put the correct letters for the
correct
sounds in the correct boxes.”
15) [Assessment] At some time
during your practice, depending
on how well the students are doing, you can tell them to write their
letterboxes on the sheet provided.
Collect this after the lesson to try and spot problems.
16) Word
lists:
a. [review
/o/] dog, rob, block, frog, stomp
b. [
o_e = /O/] doe, core, rope,
pole, smoke, close,
drove, stroke
17) After
the students have worked out their letterboxes and sheets, go back to
the
oversized letterbox and practice orally on a few words in the
letterboxes. Then practice reading words
outside the
oversized letterbox.
18) [Whole Text] After collecting
the worksheets and asking
the students to put their letterboxes away, pass out Bo
and Rose to each student.
Since the book is so short, either have them read aloud in
unison or
read silently to themselves. If you
choose the silent road, walk around and ask students to read quietly to
you
aloud. You can either pick randomly who
will read to you or try and target students that were struggling in the
letterbox lesson.
References:
1) Cushman, Sheila. (1990) Bo and Rose.. Educational Insights.
2) The
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