Rationale:  In order to read and spell words, children need to be able to recognize letters and immediately think of the phonemes that go along with those letters.  Most letters have their own individual sound but sometimes a couple or more letters can be joined to make one sound.  For instance c and h join and form the sound /ch/.  This is the sound and letter correspondence we will learn how to recognize in words and read, as well as be able to spell the /ch/ sound within words.

Materials:
· Elkinon letterboxes and letters(one set for each student including letters: c, h, u, g, a, t, m, p, e, s, b, r, n, l, i, p).
· Primary paper and pencil for each child.
· Worksheets with letter boxes printed on it
· Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Martin Bill, Jr.  Illustrated by Lois Ehlert.  Simon and Schuster, 1989.
· Posterboard with "Charlie ate chocolate chips on the choo choo train" written on it.
· Large Laminated Elkinon letterboxes for teacher demonstration
· Paper and pencil for teacher to make running record
 

Procedures:
1. Since we have already gone over the h =/h/ and c =/k/ correspondences, we will review those.  For our review I will first write the letter c on the board and ask them what sound that letter makes.  As students give examples, I will write them on the board so the students can see representation of the /c/ sound.  Then I will ask for some words that have the /h/ sound in them and we will do the same thing with the letter h as we did for c.

2 Next I will tell the class: "So far we have only studied how letters by themselves make one sound.  Well today we are going to learn that you can put two letters together to make one sound. ( I will write on the board "ch")  These letters together make one sound, /ch/.  Everyone say /ch/ with me.  How many times does your mouth move when you make that sound?  Right! Only once, because it's only one sound.  Who can tell me a word that they hear the /ch/ in?"  I will write these words on the board.

3. "What does this /ch/ sound make you think of?  We've already talked about a couple of words that have this sound in it.  Is there anything that immediately pops into your head when you think of the sound /ch/?  Well this sound makes me think of a choo choo train.  Has anyone ever heard how the train goes 'chuga chuga chuga chuga, chuga chuga chuga chuga, choo choo!' when it's coming down the track?  We can call the /ch/ sound the choo choo sound because it sounds like a train."

3. Everyone say this sentence after me:  "Charlie ate chocolate chips on the Choo Choo Train."  Let's say it again. Now we will say it very slowly and anytime you say a word that has our choo choo sound in it /ch/, you are going to pull your arm down like a train conductor does when he blows the train whistle.  Everyone watch me: So if I say the word chair, I am going to hear that /ch/ sound and pull down my arm twice like this."  Now let's try it with our sentence very slowly.

4. Next the students will take out their letterboxes and letters.  We will review that each letterbox stands for one sound so I will ask students: "Will we put the c and the h in different boxes or the same box?  Right:  The same box because it makes one sound."  I will demonstrate how to spell words in the letterbox using the word chin.  "If I was going to spell the word chin, first I would think 'Oh I hear my choo choo sound' so I would know that c and h go together in the first box to make the /ch/ sound.  Then I would go to the next sound.... ch...i.i.i.i.....  Then I'll remember that's my icky sticky sound, so I'll put my i in the second box.  Then there is one box left.  I'll stretch out all the sounds again: ch..i.i.i.i..n.n.n.n.  Hmm.. /n/ ... oh yeah that's the sound n makes.  So I'll put n in the last box and I have spelled the word chin."  Then I will tell the students to use the same method when I give them words:
· 3 phonemes:  chug, chat, chip, much
· 4 phonemes:  chump, chest, lunch
· 5 phonemes:  brunch

6. Next students will practice writing ch in words.  "Everyone take out your primary paper and a pencil.  We are going to first review how to write c and h and then we will put them together in words.  As I show you on the board, write these letters on your own paper.  Remember how to make a c, first we start at the fence and curve around to the left and touch the floor and come up a little bit.  For the h, we start at the ceiling and make a straight line down to the floor.  Then we pick up our pencil and touch it to the place where the line we just made meets the fence.  Then we draw a hump down to the floor.  Now let's write some words using c and h together.  Let's write chip, chomp, chat, lunch."

7. "Now we are going to take turns reading parts of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  This is a really fun story so we need to listen to everyone read and follow along so we are ready when it is our turn."

Assessment: As students take turns reading story, I will create a running record noting miscues, self-corrections, deletions, and so on.  Then I will go back to figure out the strategies the students used while reading, the difficulty of the book for them, and correspondences they are missing.  Also I will give students a photocopied piece of paper with letterboxes on them.  I will call out words: chat, chip, chomp, lunch, chest, brunch and they will fill in the letters for each word.

References:
Miller, Julie.  "Chug-a Chug-a Choo Choo."
Thompson, Ashley.  "Chimps Chew Too"

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