Abracadabra
/a/ /a/ /a/
Emergent Literacy Design
By, Rebecca Creecy
Rationale: Children
need to understand that letters
represent phonemes in order for them to learn to read and spell words. The first step in their understanding is
recognizing phonemes. The short vowels
are a great place to start. This lesson
will help the children to understand short a = /a/, as well as identify it in
spoken
and written words.
Materials: Primary
paper and pencils; chart with "Abracadabra
Abby
Procedures:
1.
Introduce
the lesson by explaining that writing is a
secret code. "Each letter has its
own sound. We are going to use magic to
figure out the sounds that the letters represent. Today
we will focus on the letter a,
which
makes the /a/ sound. We will learn to
listen and look for it in spoken and written words."
2.
"Do
any of you know what a magician is? Well,
before they do their trick they wave
their wand and say a magic word. Can you
guess the word? (students)
Abracadabra. That's right.
When they say abracadabra they are making the
/a/ sound. Now let's pretend to have our
own wand by using our pointer finger and arm.
When I count to three, we are all going to wave our wands and
say abracadabra. Ready,
3.
"Okay,
now we are going to try a tongue
twister. (on chart) Abracadabra, Abby
Adams pulled a rabbit out of her hat.
Let's all say it three times together.
Great job! Now, get your wands
ready. We are going to say it again and
stretch the /a/ sound. Every time you
hear the /a/ sound, wave your wand in the air.
Ready
4.
"Now
that you all know the short a
sound, we
are going to practice writing it.
Everyone needs a piece of paper and a pencil.
Let's write it together. We will
start under the fence. Go up and touch the
fence, then around and
touch the sidewalk, around and straight down.
Now, I want to see everyone's a.
When I come to you and say abracadabra, I want you to make nine
more a's
the same way. So, every time you see the
letter a, you know to make
the /a/ sound."
5.
"You
are all doing such a great job! I want you
to pull out your wands again. I am going
to ask you some questions and if
you know the answer raise your "wand" and tell me how you knew the
answer. Do you hear /a/ in cat or
mouse? Apple or orange?
Rabbit or frog? You
are all
experts!"
6.
I
will provide a book talk and then read A Cat
Nap. Then I will read it again and
have the students wave their wands when they hear the /a/ sound in a
word. I will list the words on the board. Then I will have the students write a brief
message about their favorite animal, using invented spelling.
7.
Assessment: I
will pass out the picture page to all of
the children. Then we will identify the
pictures together to make sure that we all agree on the pictures. Then the children will circle the pictures
whose names have the /a/ sound. After
that, I will have the students pick a word from the page with the /a/
sound and
spell it on the cookie sheet using the magnetic letters.
We will talk about the word and see what
would happen if we changed the first or last letter.
(ex. cat, pat, sat, can, etc.) We
would go through the words to see if they
all still had the /a/ sound.
References:
A
Cat Nap.
Eldredge,
J.L. Teaching Decoding in Holistic
Classrooms.
Inc.
1995. pgs. 50 - 70.
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/inroads/lewisel.html (Abra-kadabra-kazam /a/ /a/ /a/, POOF!
– Lauren Lewis)
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