Beginning Reading Design: A and I are Team Players
Rationale:
This lesson will help students to learn how the letters A and I
work together as a team to make the /A/
sound. It is important for children to
recognize phonemes in spoken word contexts.
They will learn to recognize the ai= /A/ by learning a
meaningful
representation and they will practice spelling words with letterboxes
and
reading words from a book.
Materials:
Letterboxes, letters, picture page, James and the Good Day
(published by
Educational Insights) One copy per 2 students.
Procedures:
1.
Today we are going to talk about how the ai work
together as a
team to say /A/.
2.
Ask students: Remember A
says its name when there is an E at the end of a word. Have you ever had a hard time hearing a
question? Well some people put their
hand behind their ear and say A to get the question repeated. This is how A and I sound when
they work as a team. Everyone try this
gesture a few times.
3.
Now
we are going to try a tongue twister.
“Amy and April ate at the Aviation School.”
Everyone say this sentence with me. Now
I want everyone to say the sentence again and count how many
times you hear the /A/ sound. Everyone
say the sentence one more time and stretch out the A in each
word. Aaaamy Aaaand Aaaaapril aaaate aaat
the
Aaaaviation School. Pick the words that
make the /A/ sound only.
4. Model new concept: Introduce letterbox lesson. Everyone take out your letterboxes and letters because we are going to spell some words. Remember that each box represents a separate mouth move and that when A and I work as a team they make one mouth move, so they go in the same box. I will give an example to demonstrate how to use the letterboxes correctly. First I will say the word gain out loud and I will break apart the sounds. (G-ai-n) I hear /A/ so I know that when A and I work together as a team that they say /A/. The /ai/ is the vowel and I will put it in the middle letterbox. Then I will say the word again (g-ai-n). I hear the /g/ sound and I know that g says /g/ so I will put it in the first box. I will blend /g/ with /ai/. I will say the word again (g-ai-n). I hear the /n/ sound and I know that n makes the /n/ sound so I will put n in the last box. I now have the word gain spelled in my letterboxes.
5. Practice letterboxes: While the students are using their letterboxes, I will be walking around the room and observing students’ progress. Everyone keep only 3 boxes out. I want you to spell some words. Everyone spell (jail, maid, & pain). I will then model how to spell each word on the board to make sure that all the students understand how to spell the words correctly. Now everyone open up 4 boxes. I want you to spell (frail, waist, and claim). I will then model how to spell these words on the board. Now everyone open up 5 boxes, and I want you to spell ( sprain). I will then model how to spell these words on the board.
6. Read James and the Good Day: Every student will read the book with a partner. One student will read the whole book and then their partner will read the whole book. This story is about a boy named James. James is a boy and he loves to play with his tugboat. He decides to play with his boat in the tub. He fills up the tub and the water overflows. I will ask the students to predict what James will do?.
7. Assessment: Each student will get a copy of a picture page. They will circle the pictures that say /A/. I will use rain, pail, tail, train, cake, and paint. Put in other pictures of words that do not say /A/.
References:
Book: Eldredge, J Lloyd, Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, 1995, p 52-53.
Internet Site: Barnes, Emily, A? I Cant Hear You, www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/discov/barnesbr.html
Murray,
B. A.
& Lesniak, T. (1999). “The
Letterbox Lesson: A hands-on approach for teaching decoding.” The Reading Teacher, March 1999.
P644-650.
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