by Susie R. Rogers
Ouch, Bug, Ouch!!
A Beginning
Reading Lesson
Fall 2011
Rationale: This lesson teaches
children about the long vowel correspondence ou= /ow/. In order to be able to
read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map our word
pronunciations and phonemes. In this lesson, children will learn to identify,
spell, and read words containing the spelling ou. They will learn a meaningful
representation (a child saying Ow! about a bug bite), they will spell and read
words containing the ou correspondence in a Letterbox lesson, and read a
decodable book that features the correspondence ou= /ow/.
Materials: Graphic image of a
child holding their arm and saying "Ow!"; cover-up critter named Leonard, a row
of six phoneme boxes called the Letterboxes, letter tiles for the Letterbox
lesson {b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u }; list of spelling
words on a document camera to display to the class {house, mouth, pout, found,
bling, round, cloud, crouch; scrounge}; decodable text:Slim's
Outing; andassessment
worksheet
Procedures:
1. Say: In order to become
expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words.
We have already learned to read short vowels with o, like mop, and today we are
going to learn about ou combining to say the sound /ow/. When I say /ow/, I
think of a mosquito biting my arm, and swatting at the itch saying "Ouch, bug,
ouch!!" [Show above graphic image on document camera].
2. Say: Before we learn about
the spelling of /ow/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for
/ow/ in words, I hear my mouth opening into a big O, and then closing into a
smaller o that makes the /oo/ sound. I'll show you first:sound.
I heard /ow/! Now I'm going to see if it's in broom.
Broom. Hmm, I didn't hear the /ow/ sound I was looking for, and my mouth
didn't start wide and end small. Now you try. If you hear the /ow/ sound in
these words, lightly tap the imaginary mosquito bite on your arm and say "OUCH!"
If you don't hear it, say "All better!" Is the sound /ow/ in crouch, mouth,
food, loud, book, moose, cut, mouse, fur, house? [Have children either say
"OUCH!" when they hear the ou correspondence say /ow/.
3. Say: Now let's look at the spelling of /ow/ that we are learning about today. One way to spell /ow/ is with the letters ou. [Write ou on the board]. Now let's try a tongue-twister. "Mouse had a blouse that flew over the house." Everyone say it 3 times together. Now this time, let's stretch out the /ow/ sound we hear in the words. "Mouuuuuse had a blouuuuuse that flew over the houuuuuuse."
4. Say: Now I'm going to have
you spell some words with letterboxes. But first, watch me spell. [Show Elkonin
Boxes on the document camera, and spell
bounce]. There are 4 sounds in this word, so I need 4 sound boxes. The first
sound is /b/. So, b goes in the first box. The second sound is /ow/. Since We
are learning about ou today, I know to put ou in the second box. The third sound
is /n/. I know this is the letter n. The last sound is /s/. I know that c
sometimes says /s/, so I'll put c in the last box with e on the outside. Now I
read my word aloud: bounce. You try.
[Place appropriate number of
Elkonin boxes on the document camera, and if student have their own, make sure
they also have the appropriate number laid out. Make sure you and the students
have the following letters: b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t,
u][Let students use the Letter Boxes to spell the following words:3=house,
mouth, pout; 4=found, bling, round, cloud, crouch; 5= scrounge ]
5. Say: Now I am going to let
you read the words you've spelled, but I want to first show you how I would read
a tough word. [Display the word louse.
Use a cover-up critter and a finger to cover up everything except the ou.] We
have our /ow/ sound. [Uncover the onset /l/.] We have our first sound, /l/. /l/
and /ow/ says "low." [Uncover the s and e.] "Low" and /s/ says "louse!" You try.
[Have children read each word in
unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until
everyone has had a turn].
6. Say: You've done a great job
reading words with ou that say /ow/. Now we are going to read a book called
Slim's Outing. In this book, we meet
a pig named Slim, whose parents went out of town. Slim got out of his pen.
Meanwhile, two children find Slim and want him to be their pet. The children ask
their parents if they can keep Slim, but Slim plows through the family's garden,
and even makes the whole house into a mess. Will the family keep Slim, or look
for a better house pet?
[Children partner read together,
taking turns reading alternate pages while teacher walks around the room to
monitor on-task behavior, as well as correct pronunciations of ou saying /ow/.
After individual partner reading, the class rereads the book together, and stops
between pages to discuss plot and make predictions.]
7. Say: That was a fun story.
What did the family decide to do in the end? Right, they decided that they
learned a valuable lesson from letting stray animals into the house, and they
decided to keep looking for a smaller pet. Before we finish up with our lesson
about one way to spell /ow/, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem.
On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of
work choices, and decide which ou word fits best to make sense in the short
story. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that
fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Hand out
one assessment worksheet per student. After 10-15 minutes, collect worksheets to
evaluate individual child progress with the correspondence ou= /ow/.]
Resources:
Assessment worksheet:http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/html/phonics_worksheet_v2-24.html
Murray, Geri. "Oh, I didn't
know!" A Beginning Reading Plan.
Murray, Geri. (2004) Slim's Outing.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html
Sanford, Jamie. "Ou That Hurt!"http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/innov/sanfordbr.html