“ ‘Aaaarrr!’ said the Pirate”
Annette
Lombardi
A Design in Emergent Literacy
Rationale: Since
phoneme awareness is a predictor and one of the keys to later reading
success, it is important to focus on it in the classroom. In
this lesson the
students will learn the phoneme /ar/. This
correspondence is a little different when /a/ and /r/ are by
themselves, so it is important for the student to be
able to recognize the letters
when combined together. The students will master this phoneme in
written and oral language through meaningful activities.
Materials: chart paper with the tongue
twister written on it, paper, pencil, cut out gold coins with "ar" on
one side, a sheet with illustrations on it, and "Arlene
Sardine" written by Christopher Raschka
and published by Orchard Books in 1998.
Procedure:
1) Introduce the lesson by stating
that our language can be quite confusing, but it helps when you know
what letters make what mouth moves, or sounds, and when
they make them. Today we
are going to talk about the letters a and r and the special sound they
make when they are beside each other becoming friends.
2) Ask your students, "Has any one ever
dressed up as a pirate for Halloween before? What
do you say when you were a pirate? Have you ever
seen one? What would he or
she say when they met you?". Wait to hear some
answers and then reply back with an "Aaaaarrrr!" You
can include an arm movement in front of
you-complete with your hand closed except for your
pointer finger serving as your hook! Encourage the
students to do this with you. "Let's pretend we are
pirates!"
3) Then move to the chart paper with the tongue twister
"Clark the movie star parked his car" on it and read it to the students
a few times, and encourage them to
recite it with you. When
the students have the tongue twister down, say that you are going to
say the tongue twister a little different this time, when you hear
the /ar/ sound come from your mouth, stretch
it out longer than the other sounds you say. Even
encourage them to do the hand movements. "Cl/ar/k
the movie st/ar/ p/ar/ked his c/ar/".
4) Then ask your students to take out their paper and
pencil. We are going to practice writing and
recognizing the letters "ar" together. Watch me
write them first and then you try.
First, I am going to start at the fence and loop around and make
an o. Then I am going to give the o a tail to make
it an a. Then right beside it
we are going to write it's friend r. Let’s
start at the fence again and write a line straight down to the ground.
Then let's start at the line we just made and give it a
hump like a camel. Now everyone
let's try to write the friends "ar" together. Have
them write it several times over. When "ar" are
friends, that is how we know that
we make the special /ar/ sound with our mouths.
5) Next pass out the cut out gold pirate coins with "ar" on one
side. Explain that you are going to read out a few
sets of words, and when they hear the /ar/ sound in
one of them to hold up their gold coin.
A few examples of are: circle/star, bark/meow, van/car, and
drive/park.
6) Next read "Arlene Sardine" out loud, and ask the
students to listen very carefully. Then read the
book again and ask your students to raise their golden coins each
time they hear the ar correspondence.
7) To asses the students, pass out the worksheet with various
illustrations on it. Some of the illustrations will
contain the /ar/ phoneme in their pronunciation and
some will not. Ask
your students to circle the ones with the /ar/ sound.
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