Something’s Fishhhy
Rationale:
To successfully decode words in reading, students must
learn the components that make up the alphabetic code – graphemes and
their
corresponding phonemes. This lesson will teach students the
grapheme-phoneme
correspondence sh=/sh/.
When two letters together make one sound, we call it a digraph.
Digraphs are
very common in the English language. This lesson will help children
remember
that when they see s and h
together, they make the /sh/ sound.
Materials:
∙ Primary paper and
pencil
∙ Poster with
tongue twister: “Shawn wished for
a shell to share with
∙ Whiteboard and
markers
∙ Paper fish
cut-outs with one word written on
each fish: sharp, fish,
ball, shell, hand, ship, book, sheep, pig, bed, wish,
shop, car, dress, hat [one
for each child in the
classroom]
∙ Bowl to
put paper fish in
∙ Elkonin
letterboxes [large one for
teacher & smaller, individual ones for students]
∙ Letter
tiles for teacher and students:
a,d,e,f,h,i,m,o,p,r,s,t,u,w
∙ Class set
of “Tish the Fish” (Phonics Readers)
∙ Word page with: shark, sheet, cat, shoe, dog, duck, fish, candle, ball, book,
sheep,
shell, frog, shirt
Procedures:
1.
“Today
we are going to be learning how to put letters together to make new
sounds! Have you ever had a teacher or
parent ask you to be quiet? What sound
do they usually make to ask you to be quiet?
Shhh…that’s right! Shhh is a
sound that we all probably hear a lot throughout the day.
The /sh/ sound is found in many of the words
we use all the time! We have been
talking about letters and the sounds that each one makes, but /sh/ is a
very
special sound because it is made up of two letters!
Whenever two letters together make one sound,
we call it a digraph. The sh
digraph is made up of the letter s followed by the
letter h.”
[Show students the letters s
and h on the board as this is being
explained.]
2. “Now
boys and girls, we are going to practice asking each other to be quiet
by
saying, ‘Shhh’ Do you think you can do
it? Watch me first and then it will be
your turn.” [Teacher puts index finger
to mouth while modeling for students the /sh/ sound.]
“Now it’s your turn! Everyone get
their index fingers ready…
Shhh. Great job! Do
you feel a little bit of air coming out of
your mouth when you make that sound? What are your teeth doing? That’s
right… they
are together! That is the sound that the letters s
and h make
whenever you see them together. Let’s practice that sound one more time. Ready? [Teacher brings her finger to her mouth
to begin the sound] Shhh.
Very good!”
3. “Now,
let’s try a fun tongue twister!” [On poster]
Read through the tongue twister once before explaining the
activity to
the students. “As we read through the
tongue twister this time I want you to listen for the /sh/ sound, every
time
you hear the /sh/ sound I want you to pretend to be asking someone to
be quiet
by putting your finger up to your mouth.
Shawn wished for a shell to share
with
4. “Now
we are going to play a game!” Bring out
the fish
bowl with paper fish inside. Demonstrate
for students what they are going to be doing by reaching in the fish
bowl and
picking a fish. “Each of you is going to
get to catch a fishhh from our fishhh bowl.
There is a word written on each of the fish.
[Show word on fish teacher has selected] Some
of the words have the /sh/ sound in them
and some do not. [Ask students if the
teacher selected fish has the /sh/ sound or not.] When
you get your fishhh read the word on it
silently to yourself to determine if it has the /sh/ sound in it.” Allow each child to “catch a fish” from the
bowl. “Now, if the word on your fishhh
does have the /sh/ sound in it I want you to come to this side of the
room [points
left] and if it does not have the /sh/ sound I want you to come to this
side of
the room [points right].” Have students
read their word aloud and allow the rest of the class to give their
input on
whether the word does in fact contain the /sh/ sound or not.
5. [Pass out boxes and letters. Review how to use
the letterboxes
– one sound per box.] “Now we are going
to spell some words that have the /sh/ sound in them.
I will try one first. I am going to
spell shop. I will stretch it out /sh/ /o/
/p/. I hear the /sh/ sound!
I know that two letters make that /sh/
sound. Will I put that in one box or
two? That’s right, one, since it is only
one sound!” Finish spelling the
word. Give students the remaining words
to spell one at a time: [2: ash 3: shut, mesh, sad 4:
fish, swish, shred] Guide
them through the first few as to how many boxes to use, but then allow
them to
do it on their own. Be sure to encourage students
to read the words after they have spelled them. Teacher
can be
assessing through observation during this.
6. Give
each student a copy of “Tish
the Fish”. “As you are reading, I
will be walking around the room. As I
come to your desk, I would like for you to read out loud for me so that
I can
listen to you.”
7. Assessment: Give each student a word page with some words
that do contain the sh digraph and some that do not. Have students circle the words that have the
/sh/
sound in them and put an ”X” through the ones that do not.
After completing the worksheet, have students
write a one-sentence message including at least two words with the sh
digraph. Also, assessing through
observation of the
letterbox lesson and from the students reading out loud as the teacher
was walking
around the room.
References:
Borders,
Emily. Shake with A. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/bordersbr.html
Murray,
B. A., & Lesniak, T. (1999). The
letterbox
lesson: A hands-on approach for teaching decoding.
The
Tish the Fish. Phonics Readers
(1990).