Shhhh...Everyone is Sleeping

Shhhh…Everyone is Sleeping

Emergent Literacy Design

Rationale
In order for children to become successful readers, they must be aware of digraphs in certain words. Digraphs are two successive letters whose phonemic value is a single sound. This lesson will help students recognize the sh =/sh/ diagraph, as well as help them read and write words containing this digraph. I will teach this correspondence in small groups (6-8) using a letterbox lesson.

Materials
Elkonin boxes, word list (ash-2phonemes; ship, shot, wish, shop, fish-3 phonemes; trash-4 phonemes), letters (a,s,h,i,p,o,t,w,f,r), One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss, chalk, chalkboard, digraph worksheet (for assessment) . The worksheet will have 6 pictures on it (a dish, ship, pig, fish, car, and trash) and a line (from primary paper) underneath each picture. Each child needs 1 set of Elkonian boxes, letters, a copy of the book, and a worksheet.

Procedure

1. Introduce this lesson by explaining about diagraphs. SOMETIMES TWO LETTERS GET TOGETHER AND MAKE A SPECIAL SOUND. TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LEARN ABOUT THE LETTERS S AND H AND THE SOUND THEY MAKE WHEN THEY GET TOGETHER IN WORDS. THE S AND H SAY /SH/. CAN EVERYONE MAKE THAT SOUND? GOOD. NOW PUT YOUR HAND IN FRONT OF YOUR MOUTH. DO YOU FEEL ANYTHING? AIR? WATCH ME MAKE THE /SH/ SOUND. HOW DOES MY MOUTH LOOK? MY TEETH ARE TOGETHER, MY LIPS POKE OUT, AND THE AIR LEAKS THROUGH MY TEETH. NOW SAY THE /SH/ SOUND TO YOUR NEIGHBOR TO SEE IF YOUR MOUTHS LOOK LIKE MINE. NOW WE ARE GOING TO LISTEN FOR THE /SH/ SOUND IN WORDS.

2. I will now say a silly sentence: "SHE SIPS SHAKES FROM THE SHOP ON THE SHIP." LET'S SAY THIS SENTENCE TOGETHER TWO TIMES. GREAT. NOW LET'S SAY IT AGAIN AND STRETCH THE /SH/ SOUND IN EACH WORD. SSHHE SIPS SSHHAKES FROM THE SSHHOP ON THE SSHHIP." WHO CAN TELL ME HOW MANY WORDS IN THE SILLY SENTENCE HAVE THE /SH/ SOUND? Four words have the /sh/ sound. GOOD. NOW WHO CAN NAME A WORD FROM THE SENTENCE WITH THE /SH/ SOUND? Allow 4 students to name 1 word each.

3. NOW THAT WE KNOW THAT SH = /SH/ WE ARE GOING TO SPELL SOME WORDS WITH THAT SOUND IN THEM. Pass out 1 set of Elkonin boxes and 1 set of letters to each student. I WANT YOU TO TURN ALL YOUR LETTERS TO THE LOWERCASE SIDE AND RAISE YOUR HAND WHEN YOU ARE DONE. DOES EVERYONE REMEMBER HOW WE DO OUR LETTERBOX LESSON? GOOD. WHO REMEMBERS FROM LAST WEEK WHICH TWO LETTERS WERE TAPED TOGETHER? THAT'S RIGHT, C and H. WHAT SOUND DID THEY MAKE WHEN THEY WERE PUT TOGETHER? VERY GOOD, THE /CH/ SOUND. WHICH TWO LETTERS ARE TAPED TOGETHER THIS WEEK? S AND H, YOU'RE RIGHT. AND WHAT SOUND DO THEY MAKE? VERY GOOD, THE /SH/ SOUND. DID THE C AND THE H GO IN THE SAME BOX OR DIFFERENT BOXES? THE SAME, DOES ANYONE REMEMBER WHY? THAT'S RIGHT, BECAUSE WHEN C AND H ARE TOGETHER THEY MAKE ONE SOUND JUST LIKE S AND H. I AM GOING TO SPELL THE WORD CHAT TO HELP YOU REMEMBER HOW TO USE THE LETTERBOXES. Draw 3 letterboxes on the chalkboard and model spelling the word. NOW WE ARE GOING TO SPELL SOME WORDS AND REMEMBER WHEN WE SPELL A WORD, WE WILL HAVE THE SAME NUMBER OF BOXES AS WE HAVE SOUNDS. LET'S START WITH 2 BOXES. USE YOUR LETTERS TO SPELL THE WORD AASSHH. (Check each child's spelling before asking for the answer.) WHO WANTS TO TELL ME HOW THEY SPELLED ASH? WAY TO GO!! LET'S SPELL SOME MORE WORDS USING 3 BOXES THIS TIME: SHIP, SHOT, WISH, SHOP, and FISH. YOU ARE DOING SUCH A GOOD JOB LET'S TRY A HARD WORD USING 4 BOXES: TRASH. EXCELLENT WORK!!!

4. NOW WE ARE GOING TO READ SOME WORDS WITH THE /SH/ SOUND. I WILL WRITE A WORD ON THE CHALKBOARD AND I WANT YOU TO RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ THE WORD. Write each of the 7 words on the board and choose different students to read them orally.

5. NOW WE ARE GOING TO READ A BOOK CALLED "ONE FISH TWO FISH RED FISH BLUE FISH". SOME OF THE WORDS THAT WE HAVE JUST LEARNED TO READ AND SPELL MIGHT BE FOUND IN THIS BOOK. LISTEN CAREFULLY FOR THE /SH/ SOUND AS WE READ. (Pass out 1 copy of the book to each student). THIS BOOK IS ABOUT MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISH. THERE ARE RED AND BLUE FISH AND OLD AND NEW FISH. TO FIND OUT WHAT THESE SILLY FISH ARE DOING, YOU'LL HAVE TO READ THE BOOK. REMEMBER TO LISTEN FOR THE /SH/ SOUND AS WE READ. After reading, discuss any words with /sh/ sound that were found in the story.

Assessment
This will be done in the form of a worksheet. I will name any pictures that the students may have trouble identifying. The students will write the name of each picture on the corresponding line and color each picture with the /sh/ sound in the word. I will create this worksheet using clip-art and drawing primary lines.

References
Murray, B.A., & Lesniak, T. (1999) The letterbox lesson: A hands-on approach for teaching decoding. The Reading Teacher, 52, 644-650.

Brannon, Hilary. "Shhh!" http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insights/brannonbr.html

Geisel, Theodor Seuss. One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Random House Publishers, 1960.

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