Rationale:
     To learn to read, children must understand digraphs (letter combinations that make one sound).    This lesson is to help children recognize the phoneme /sh/ in written and spoken language and they will be able to read and spell words that contains the phoneme /sh/.  I will teach this correspondence by using a letterbox lesson and by allowing the students to read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss.

Materials:

• Elkonin boxes for each student
• Letter manipulatives for each student: a c d e f h i l o p r s t u w
• Primary paper
• Pencil
• Larger Poster with  "She shops with shiny, fresh fish on a ship that has pretty shells.
• *A copy of Tish the Fish for each student.
• A worksheet for each student where the student has to match picture in the right column with the names of the picture in the left column
• Markers or crayons
• Chalkboard & chalk

*If there are not enough copies, you can group the kids according to how many books are available.

Procedures:
1.  I will introduce the lesson by saying, "sometimes two letters get together and make a special sound and today we are going to learn the sound that the letter S and the letter H makes when they get together.  When these two letters get together, they make the phoneme or sound /sh/.  This is the sound I usually make when I want you all to get quiet.  I put my finger to my mouth and say /sh/.  This sound is made when we put our teeth together and blow air from our mouth."

2.  Now have the students to try making the sound a few times.

3.  "Now we are going to read a silly sentence.  I will read it once first and then we will read it together."  "She shops with shiny, fresh fish on a ship that has pretty shells."   After the teacher has read it once and has allowed the students to read it once, she will read it again and stress the /sh/ and have the students to read it again and stress the /sh/. SSHHe SSHHops with SSHHiny, freSSHH  fiSSHH on a SSHHip that has pretty SSHHells.  "Who can raise their hands and tell me how many words do you hear /sh/ in our silly sentence?"  There are 7 words:  she, shops, shiny, fresh, fish, ship, shells.

4.  Pass out letterbox lesson materials.  Each child needs Elkonian boxes and letter manipulative: a c d e f h i l o p r s t u w. Tell the students to turn all their letters so they can read them and where the lower case letters are on top.   Show the class how the letterbox lesson works by drawing a letterbox containing four boxes on the board so all the students can see it.  Tell the students that "digraphs go in the same letterbox so SH will be in the same letterbox" Show this by writing SH in the first letterbox you have drawn on the board.  Erase the SH and tell the students "now I am going to show you how to spell she using two letterboxes.  First I decode or sound it out with my mouth, /sh/ /E/, then I put sh in the first letterbox and then I put e for /E/ in the second box. You will need one letterbox for each sound you hear.

5.  "Now you are going to spell some words in your letterbox.  I am going to read some words and I want you to spell them.  I will read the words slowly and if you need me to repeat them, please raise your hand.  First, we are going to start out with 2 letterboxes.  Use your letters to spell the word aasshh.  Remember that S and H belongs in the same box."  I will walk around and check everybody's word before moving on to the next. "Now we are going to try some words that needs 3 letterboxes:  fish, rush, ship, dish, shop, shell.  Everyone is doing such a wonderful job, so lets try some big boys and girls words that is going to need 4 letterboxes:  crash, flesh, fresh, flash.  That was great.  Does anyone know a word that makes /sh/ that you would like share with the class.  Amber:  shot.  Very good.  How many letterboxes would we need?   Mike:  3.  Very good.  Amber and Mike shot 2 points in the basketball game."

6.  "I want everyone to take out their paper and pencil and we are going to write down our silly sentence.  Then I want you to write a silly sentence about a shiny fish, a pretty shell, and a ship.  When you finish, I want you to draw me a picture about each one. When everyone is done, we will read our silly sentences to the class and show everyone our picture."

7.  "When everyone has finished and shared their pictures and silly sentences.  We will read Tish the Fish.  "Does everyone remember how we can make the sound /sh/?  That's right, we put our finger to our mouth and then we blow air out of our mouth.  We are going to take turns reading this book *(only if there is enough copies for everyone).  When we are reading we are going to listen for /sh/.  Each student will read a few sentences at a time.  When someone is reading their page, the rest of the class will hold their finger up to their mouth and make the sound /sh/ by blowing air out of their mouth when they hear someone read a word that makes /sh/ sound.  Remember to read and listen to make sure that the sentence you read makes sense.  If it doesn't, go back and try to fix it and if you can't you can ask a buddy *(or someone in your group) to help you.  Okay, let's begin."

8.  Assessment:  I will give them each a work sheet with pictures of a ship, car, boat, shell, shoe, and bat down the left side of the paper and the names of each picture down the right side (not in the same order) and have the students to draw a line from the picture to the name and then color the pictures that they hear /sh/ in.  I can also assess their spelling during the letterbox lesson and when they stand to read their silly sentences.

References:

• Murray, B. A.  & Lesnaik, T.  (1999).  The Letterbox Lesson:  A hands-on approach to teaching decoding.  The Reading Teacher, 43, 282-295.
• Cushman, Shelia.  Tish the Fish.  Educational Insights.  1990.
• www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insights/ddavisbr.html      Shhhhh·She Is Sleeping