Rain Rain Go Away
Beginning Reading Lesson Design
1.  Rationale
In order for students to become proficient in reading they must build their sight vocabulary.  For this reason it is imperative that teachers explicitly teach a number of common correspondences to young children.  The goal of this lesson is to help students with the vowel correspondences ai and ay.  Students will receive practice in pronouncing the /A/ phoneme when shown the graphemes ai and ay, reading the graphemes, reading the grapheme and writing words that contain the ai or ay correspondence.  After this lesson students will: 1.  be able to identify and correctly pronounce /A/ when they see ai or ay and 2.  be able to read words that include the ai or ay correspondence.

2.  Materials
Copies of  Jane and Babe and James and the Good Day for each student, wo copies of Elkonin Boxes on worksheets (attached) for each student, magnetic letters for the board, a set of letters for each child (a, d, e, I, l, m, n, p, r, s, t), cart papper with the tongue twister Rain Rain Go Away Come Again Another Day printed on it.

3.  Procedures
1.  Begin Ask the students to whisper read the repeated reading book, Jane and Babe.  Today we are going to reread Jane and Babe, I want everyone to whisper read their copy of the book and I will walk around and listen.  If you come to a word you donât know try finishing the sentence and then try a cover-up.  If neither of these works raise your hand and I will come to you.
2.  After students finish the book take a few short moments to discuss the book.  Did anyone notice anything the second time they read the book that maybe they missed the first time?  Were you able to read faster because you knew that a_e=/A/?
3.  Once the students have finished the book and discussing the book, review the a_e=/A/ correspondence as the children have already learned this and now as not to provide any scaffolding for the repeated reading.
4.  After reviewing, discuss the /A/ phoneme. There are a few different ways to make that long A sound that we worked on last time.  What is the first way you know to make the long A sound?  Good a_e!  Well, today we are going to talk about another way to make that sound.  We can also make that long A sound with ai and ay.  We can keep these straight, though, by remembering that ai comes in the middle of words and ay comes at the end of words.  Does anyone know a word that has that long A sound?  Write the words on the chalkboard.  Hopefully, some of the words will have ai and ay in them, if not be prepared to help them out with a few words (rain, main, wait, train, play, day).  Divide the board in two Divide the board in three.  Write a_e, ai and ay =/A/.  List the words with the long A sound under the correspondence that gives them that sound.  Be prepared to help the students list words with the ai and ay correspondence.
5.  Read the tongue twister to the students and then have them read it back to you as a class.  Have them repeat the tongue twister a couple of times each time adding speed.  This will help them make the long A sound and it will be fun.
6.  Now, use the Elkonin Box worksheets to do a class letterbox lesson (Murray).  Explain that you are going to do a letterbox lesson that reviews a_e and uses ai and ay.  This will help them see the different ways of saying /A/.

 a.  Have the students pick out the letters and turn them all to the lowercase side.
 b.  Ask the students to remember where the e goes in the words with a_e.  Then show them by using the letterboxes and magnetic letters on the board.  (Put the silent e outside of the last box)  Example word: save.  Wearing a seatbelt can save your life.
 c.  Next, tell students that the letters ai and ay work together to make the /A/
sound so they go in the same box.  Example words: stain and play.  I went outside to play and got a stain on my pants.  Ay goes in one box because it makes the A sound.  Remember one sound per box.  Also remind students that ai comes in the middle of words and ay comes at the end of words.  Whenever we hear the long A sound in the middle of a word we are going to think ai and whenever we hear the long A at the end of words we are going to think ay.
7.  Now have the students fill in the correct letters for the words below.  Instruct them to use their letterboxes and letters to spell the words.  Give a sentence with each word.  Have the students spell the words and then have a volunteer come up and spell the word in the Ellkonin Box on the board.  Make sure to inform them each time you add or take away a box.
Aim ate (2 letter boxes)
Rain paid (3 letter boxes)
Slain trade train (4 letter boxes)
Strain (5 letter boxes)
ð If the volunteer misspells the word the teacher reads the word as it is, asks the student to correct it, and finally spells the word for the student.
8.  When all of the words have been spelled by the student the teacher will spell the boards on the board, outside of the boxes, and ask the students to read the words back out loud.

4.  Assessment
Have the students fill in the letterbox worksheet as you call out the following words.  Give a sentence with each word.  Remind them that there is only one box per sound and the silent e goes outside of the last box.  Use grain as an example.

1.  Aid 2. Ape (2 letter boxes)
3. Main 4. Wait 5. Cake  6. Laid (3 letter boxes)
7. Drain 8.State 9.braid 10. Paint (4 letter boxes)
Now have students pair up and buddy read James and the Good Day.  You may want to pair the poor readers with advanced readers, so that the advanced readers can help with decoding.  Remind students that we donât tell the words immediately if we mess up, we wait, read the sentences, try cover-ups and then tell! Each student should read the book one time completely.  As they read, circulate about the room to make certain that they are on task and not having difficulty with any vocabulary.  When everyone has had a chance to read they will write, using invented spelling, about what they would do on their best day.

References:

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain.  http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/elucid/hillbr.html

Jane and Babe.  (Phonics Readers-Long Vowels. Educational Insights. 1990).

James and the Good Day.  (Phonics Readers-Long Vowels. Educational Insights. 1990).
 

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For further information, send e-mail to keithnc@auburn.edu