UP, UP, UP AND AWAY WITH THE
LETTER U!
BEGINNING
RATIONALE: For
children to read successfully, they need
to understand what phonemes are and develop phoneme awareness. They should also know that letters map out
phonemes. Research has proven that the
best way to attain this goal with students is through explicit phonics
instruction. Vowel sounds are very
important in beginning this instruction because we can find at least
one vowel
in any word in our language. It is also
better to teach children the short vowels first, as their
correspondences are
much more easily spelled, and therefore, more easily learned. This lesson will help the students identify
the letter u and learn its sound
/u/. During this lesson, students will
learn u = /u/ and practice its vocal
gesture through various exercises. They
will then further their understanding of this phoneme through a
letterbox
lesson.
MATERIALS:
PROCEDURE:
1.) Introduce
the lesson to the class: Begin by
explaining to students about how
letters map out sounds (phonemes). “Written
words make up a secret code for spoken words.
Today we are going to learn how to use the secret code for the
letter u.
Once we know the code, we’ll be able to read and write words
that have
the letter u. Have you
ever had someone ask you a question
that you didn’t know the answer to? You
normally say “uh…” don’t you? Well that’s
the sound the short u makes. So
to remember this, let’s try pretending
someone has just asked us a question we don’t know the answer to. We’re going to say /u/ and raise our hands
upwards to show we don’t know.
Ready? Great job!
2.) Introduce
the tongue twister: Hold the sentence
strip up for the children
to see. “This is a sentence that uses
our short u sound a lot. I
am going to say the sentence once, and then
I want you to repeat it. Ready? Uncle
was upset because he was unable to put his umbrella up (emphasize
the u in each word). Okay,
now you say it. Good!
Now let’s see if we can say it three times in a row and really
stretch
the u sound out. Great!”
3.) Introduce
letterbox lesson to students: Have large
letterbox set mounted on wall or
board and have large letters handy. “Let’s
see if you call can name a few words that have our /u/ sound in them
(write
given words on the board). Good
job. Now we’re going to practice with
the letter u more by doing our
letterboxes, just like we’ve done before.
Does everyone remember that we only put one sound in each box
(model
sample word for children on large letterbox set)? Let’s
all try it together now (hand out
letterboxes and letter manipulatives to students).
Let’s see if we can spell the word bug /b/ /u/
/g/. Great job!”
Continue doing this with the students with more words that begin
with u.
Start with 3 phoneme words (rub, sun, gum) and then progress to
4
phoneme words (stub, bust, bunny). Make
sure to walk around the room and scaffold students who need the help.
4.) Have
students read the words back to
you: “Now that you’ve all spelled these
words, I am going to spell them one at a time on my letterboxes and I
want you
to read the word back to me. Ready?” Spell the words one at a time, preferably in
a different order so they aren’t relying on memorization to spell. Provide enough time between each word for
students to answer and scaffold the group if they answer incorrectly.
5.) Introduce
the story: “Fuzz is a curious little bear
that loves
getting into things! One day, he happens
upon a bee hive and Buzz is suddenly surrounded by bugs!
How will he get away?! You’ll have
to read to find out!” Have students get
into small groups and read
the story Fuzz and the Buzz by Sheila Cushman.
This will help reiterate the short u
correspondence. Listen closely for miscues. In a follow-up lesson you could take a
running record.
6.) Assess
the students: Hand out worksheets
containing pictures that
have the u correspondence. “I
want you to look at each picture and
decide if the word contains our /u/ sound in it. When
you find a picture with that sound,
color it.” You might even encourage
students to spell the word by writing it under the picture. Walk around and check students as they do the
worksheet. Use the worksheet to see if
students have a good understanding of the u
correspondence. If not, do another
lesson on u the next time.
REFERENCES:
1.
Eldridge, J. Lloyd. Teach
Decoding: Why and How.
2. Kristin Herren:
“E-e-e-e-e?
Can’t Hear You Sonny!”
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/guides/herrenbr.html
3.
Bruce Murray:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/twisters.html
4. Murray,
Bruce and Lesniak, T. “The Letterbox
Lesson: A Hands-On Approach to Teaching Decoding.” The