Rationale:  A child must learn to decode many different correspondences.  In this lesson, children will learn the correspondence o=/o/.  Students will learn to associate "o" by itself with the short o sound, after seeing it in written text and listening for the sound /o/ that it makes.  Teaching all the correspondences to children will help them in becoming more fluent.

Materials:  Elkonin Boxes for each student, Elkonin boxes for the overhead projector, Overhead Projector, Letters for the Overhead, A set of letters for each child (a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, o, p, r, s, t), chart paper with tongue twister on it (Oliver had an operation in October, and Oscar gave him an octopus.), In The Big Top (Educational Insights), hop scotch worksheet (see below), word list to go with hop scotch board (seven o=/o/ words such as "lot", "top", "mom", etc.; and other short vowel words such as "dad", "red", "cut", "sit", etc.), primary writing paper and pencils for each student

Procedure:
1. Write the letter "o" on the board.  TODAY WE ARE GOING TO WORK ON ONE OF THE SOUNDS THIS LETTER CAN MAKE.  WHEN IT ISN'T NEAR ANY OTHER VOWELS IT SAYS /o/.  CAN EVERYONE MAKE THAT SOUND?  IT'S KIND OF LIKE WHEN THE DOCTOR TELLS YOU TO OPEN WIDE "Ahhh".
2. LET'S LOOK AT THIS TONGUE TWISTER; IT'S FULL OF THE "AHH" SOUND. Read tongue twister for students while pointing to the words on the chart paper.  NOW LISTEN TO ME STRETCH OUT THAT "AHH" SOUND.  O-LIVER HAD AN O-PERATION IN O-CTOBER, AND O-SCAR GAVE HIM AN O-CTOPUS.  LET'S ALL SAY IT TOGETHER!
3. Now use the Elkonin Box worksheets to do a class letterbox lesson.  Explain that you are going to do a letterbox lesson that reviews some of the other vowels we have learned and uses the new correspondence o=/o/.
a. Hand out letterbox sheets and letters to each student.  They will need the following letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, k, l, o, p, r, s, t
    b. Have students turn all of the letters to the lower case sides.
    c. Put two letterboxes on the overhead.  BEFORE YOU TRY SOME, WATCH ME IN CASE YOU FORGOT.  REMEMBER EACH BOX GETS A SOUND.  I'M GOING TO TRY "SHOT".  I SHOT THE BASKETBALL INTO THE HOOP.  THE FIRST SOUND I HERE IS /sh/ SO THAT GOES IN THE FIRST BOX.  WHAT TWO LETTERS MAKE THAT SOUND TOGETHER?  THAT'S RIGHT!  "s" and "h" MAKE THE /sh/ SOUND TOGETHER SO THAT WILL GO IN THE FIRST BOX.  NEXT I HEAR THAT DOCTOR'S SOUND /o/.  I'LL PUT THIS HERE FOR THE "AHH" SOUND (place an "o" in the middle box).  JUST ONE MORE BOX.  SH-O-T. THIS MAKES THE /t/ SOUND SO IT GOES IN THE LAST BOX.  SHOT!  NOW LET'S LET YOU TRY SOME.
    d.  Call out words to the students starting with three letter boxes and moving up to four boxes.  Be sure to tell students when you are moving up to more boxes.  Give a sentence with each word.  Give them time to think and to put their letters in the appropriate boxes then have a volunteer come up to spell the word on the overhead.  If the student misspells a word read it exactly as it sounds and ask them to see if they can fix it.  If they still do not get the word right fix it for them.
  3 ö Bob, red, hot, fog, lid
  4 ö clock, spot, black, slob

4.  Introduce decodable book:   THIS BOOK IS CALLED IN THE BIG TOP.  IT IS ABOUT A FAMILY WHO IS IN THE CIRCUS.  THERE ARE LOTS OF PEOPLE AND THEY HAVE LOTS OF STUFF.  THEY'RE ALL TRYING TO FIT IN A LITTLE HOT ROD.  HOW WILL THEY ALL FIT?  Have students buddy read In the Big Top.  Remind students that we have strategies we can use if we get stuck on a word (cross-checking and cover-ups)
5.  WRITE A MESSAGE ABOUT THE CIRCUS!  Allow and encourage students to use invented spellings.
6.  HAS ANYONE EVER PLAYED HOP SCOTCH?  I'M GOING TO GIVE EACH OF YOU A HOP SCOTCH BOARD AND A LIST OF WORDS.  I WANT YOU TO CUT OUT ALL OF THE WORDS AND THEN DECIDE IF THEY HAVE THE /o/ SOUND IN THEM.  ONCE YOU HAVE DECIDED YOU NEED TO PUT ALL OF THE WORDS THAT HAVE THE /o/ SOUND IN A BOX ON YOUR HOP SCOTCH BOARD.  HERE'S A HINT:  THERE ARE ONLY SEVEN WORDS WITHT THE /o/ SOUND IN THEM AND ONLY SEVEN BOXES.
7.  The students will be assessed by reviewing their hop scotch worksheets.
 
 

References:

In the Big Top.  Phonics Readers Short Vowels.  Educational Insights.

http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/williamsbr.html (Alyssa Williams, Beat the Heat)