Swish the Fish
    Beginning Reading Lesson Plan
By: Meg Crow

Rationale: Letters represent different sounds (phonemes). Sometimes two letters go together to make a common sound called a digraph. Children must be able to recognize letters and relate them to their sounds in order to be able to read fluently. The purpose of this lesson is to teach children to identify the digraph /sh/, its sound in familiar words, and its spelling.

Materials: Letterboxes and letters: (f, l, a, i, s, h, p, r, n, k, o); Big book: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss; cards with pictures of fish on them; picture sheet with pictures of a table, fish, ship, pen, chicken, shell and lines underneath each; primary paper, pencil.

Procedures:
1. “Today class, we are going to learn what sound s and h make when they are put together.  They say /sh/. Can everyone say /sh/? Now, you hear this a lot when I am asking you to be quiet and I say, Sh! But, we hear the /sh/ sound in many other words, too.”
2. “ I am going to say a funny tongue twister and I would like you to repeat it after me: ‘She sells seashells by the seashore’.  Can you say it with me now?” (Children repeat it). “Good!”
3. “I am going to say some words and I would like you to raise your hand to tell me which word had the /sh/ sound in it. Ready? Ship or boat? Hush or quiet? Fish or pond? Push or pull?”
4. “I would like you to get out your letterboxes and letters now.  Find the following letters and put them out on your desk: f,l,a,i,s,h,p,r,n,k,o. Please spell the words that I call out and remember that the s and h go together to make the /sh/ sound. That means that we will put them into the same box. I will walk around the room and make sure you are spelling the words correctly.”  Here are the words: fish, ship, hush (3), flash (4), shrink (5).
5. “Now we are going to read the book, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. It is a Big Book so you will be able to follow along as I read.  When I stop and hold up my fish card, I would like you all to read together as a class. Whenever you hear the /sh/ sound in the story, please hold up your fish card.”
6. Ask the students to take out their paper and pencil.  “Here is your message for the day: If you could be any kind of fish, what would you be? Please write your answer to that question on your paper.”
7. Assessment: I will give the children a picture sheet with pictures of: a ship, fish, pen, chicken, table, and shell. If the picture has the /sh/ sound in it, they will write the name of the picture on the line underneath it. If not, they will leave it blank.

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