Beginning Reading
Anna Beth Sanders

Rationale: In order to learn to read and spell words, children must become aware of correspondences so they can match letters to their phonemes.  In this lesson, children will recognize the short vowel a=/a/ in both spoken and written words by practicing reading and spelling words containing a=/a/.  The children will participate individually in a letterbox lesson and practice with recognizing words that have the /a/ sound in them.

Materials: Elkonin Letterboxes; letters: a, b, c, k, l, m, p, s and t; flashcards with the letterbox words on them: at, cat, map, pal, sad, sack, black (one set of cards for every two students); tongue twister: Andrew and Alice asked if Annie's active animals were angry; Class set: Cat Nap (Educational Insights), Reading journal for each student.

Procedures:
1.) Introduce the lesson by writing the letter a on the board.  "OFTEN TIMES, WHEN YOU SEE THIS LETTER, IT MAKES THE /a/ SOUND. THE LETTER A SOUNDS LIKE /a/ IN MANY OF THE WORDS YOU WILL COME ACROSS.  TODAY, WE ARE GOING TO WORK ON READING AND SPELLING WORDS WITH a=/a/ IN THEM."

2.) "A GOOD WAY TO REMEMBER THIS IS TO THINK OF THE SOUND YOU HEAR WHEN A SAD BABY IS CRYING."  (Model a baby's cry.)

3.) On the board, write: Andrew and Alice asked if Annie's active animals were angry. "LET'S SAY THIS TONGUE TWISTER TOGETHER.  (READ IT A SECOND TIME.)  HOW MANY WORDS DID YOU HEAR THE /a/ SOUND IN?  GOOD JOB!  WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE WORDS?"  (write the words on the board.)  LET'S REPEAT THIS ONE MORE TIME AND REALLY EMPHASIZE THE a=/a/.  Erase the words and sentence when finished.

4.) Students will take out the letterboxes and letters.  "NOW WE ARE GOING TO WORK ON SPELLING OUT SOME WORDS WITH THE /a/ SOUND IN THEM.  WE ARE GOING TO PLACE ONLY ONE SOUND IN EACH OF OUR BOXES WHEN WE SPELL THE WORDS.  I AM GOING TO SHOW YOU AN EXAMPLE ON THE BOARD. I AM GOING TO SPELL THE WORD CAT.  FIRST, I LAY OUT THREE BOXES (draw boxes on the board) AND THEN I PUT ONE SOUND IN EACH BOX, LIKE THIS. I HEAR C=/C/ SO I PUT A "C" IN THE FIRST BOX, THEN I HEAR A=/a/ SO I PUT "A" IN THE NEXT BOX, AND THEN I HEAR T=/T/, SO I PUT A "T" IN THE LAST BOX. (Write one phoneme in each box). ARE THERE ANY QUESTIONS? NOW, LET'S ALL SPELL SOME WORDS TOGETHER."

2 phonemes: at

3 phonemes: cat, map, sad, pal, sack

4 phonemes: black

5.) Group the students into pairs, and have them use the flashcards to practice reading aloud the words from the letterbox lesson.

6.)  The students will practice reading with the a=/a/ by reading the book Cat Nap.  The students will read the book independently.

Have the students write in their journal to asses the reading.  Have them write about their favorite part of the story.  If they write about something that was in actually in the story, you know they successfully read the book.  If they fabricate an event, you know they did not successfully read the book.

7.)  Assess the children individually to see if they are hearing sounds in different words and are able to pick out the /a/.  Ask them: DO YOU HEAR THE /a/ IN ________ OR ________?  The word choices will be: cat or dog; shoe or hat; bag or cup; box or bat; flap or flop; sock or sap; dad or pup.

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