Beginning Reading
Kate McNamara
Rationale: When children's recognition skills are limited, they need a word identification strategy in order to become more skillful readers (Eldredge p.107). Phonics is a solution and meets that need. After the lesson, partial alphabetic students will be able to recognize and decode or sound out words that include the correspondence u = /u/ using the body/coda division of syllables. This is important because no words exist without a vowel, and partial alphabetic readers may skip the middle letters.
Materials: one set of Elkonin boxes per student,
the letters for the words but, lunch, bug brush, clutch : b,
u, t , l, n, ch, sh, r, g, c, tch,
student copies of Fuzz and the Buzz (Educational Insights),
chalkboard and chalk,
tongue twister "The duck in the tub says rub a dub dub."
picture worksheet featuring words bus, duck, sub, tub, club, plug, shrub,
bulb, cut, cup, and hut and their picture
Procedures:
1.) First, tell the students that reading and writing is a secret code,
and that we're going to learn how to use that code to recognize and read
words with the /u/ sound and the letter u. "What sound do you make
when you don't know the answer to a question someone asks you? Do you say
'uuuhhhhhh' while you're thinking? Well that's the sound that the letter
u
makes" (write the letter u on the board).
2.) Introduce the tongue twister "The duck in the tub says rub a dub dub." Have it written on the board and as you and the class repeat the sentence, underline the u's in the sentence.
3.) "Let's try to recognize some words with the /u/ sound. Raise your hand when you hear me say the "I don't know" sound." Give the students words such as buddy, friend, custard, jelly, cupboard, cabinet, bubble, cut, chat, talk, and upset.
4.) Next, have the students bring out their Elkonin boxes and their letters. "When we have words we want to write, we should stretch it out to find out all the sounds and mouth moves in that word. Let's do an example together. I want to spell the word cup. Stretch it out. "ccccuuuuuppppp." Since there are three sounds, I will need three boxes out. Did you hear the /u/ sound? I did and that's what I'm going to put down first in my boxes. Let's go back to the beginning of the word. The sound I hear is /k/ so I'm going to put down a c before the u. Now let's sound out what we have. 'Cu...'. Now it's time for the last sound of the word. /p/ Let's add the letter p to the end of our word and put all the sounds together. "Cup." We spelled the word cup! It makes it easier when we find the vowel sound first doesn't it?"
5.) Now give the kids the words but, bug, clutch, brush, and lunch to spell at their desks.Call the words out one at a time. After each word is done, let one student come to the chalkboard and put the correct letters in the correct number of boxes (written on the board). As a class, read each word the students have put on the board. If the students keep a word journal, they can write these new words down in their journal for the writing practice.
6.) Give each student a worksheet with a column pictures that include the /u/ sound in their name. The other column should contain the names of the pictures (but in random order). Have them draw lines from the correct picture to its name. Use pictures that feature a duck, bus, sub, tub, club, plug, shrub, bulb, cut, cup, and hut. This is one form of assessment in the lesson.
7.) As the students are working on reading their worksheet, call 2 or 3 students at a time to a reading circle and have them take turns reading Fuzz and the Buzz. This is the teacher's time for assessment in a setting where students are easily guided if they need scaffolding. The teacher can emphasize the vowel-first blending process that was explained when spelling words with the Elkonin boxes.
Sources:
Eldredge, J. Lloyd. (1995). Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 54.
Murray, B.A. and T. Lesniak. (1999). "The letterbox lesson: A hands on approach to teaching decoding." The Reading Teacher, 52, 644-650
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/openings/pattersonbr.html
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