C is
exccccellent so let’s Ccccelebrate: learning the soft c
Rationale: The goal for
this lesson is for students to
understand that c has two sounds. C can sound like k, as in car, or c
can sound
like s, as in pencil. It is important for students to be able to know
this
because it helps them to develop sight words with c’s easier. This
lesson will
help the student develop awareness of the hard and soft c sounds, and
grow
practice with developing sight words by wordmapping and reading words
with both
hard and soft c.
Materials: The teacher will
need either a whiteboard or a
projector, and a copy of the word wall that I have attached. The
teacher will
also need the book, “In the City: Learning the Soft C Sound” by
Christine
Figurito. The students will need paper, a pencil, and each student will
need a
copy of the attached soft c assessment sheet.
Procedures: Step 1: Today
we are going to talk about the
letter c and the sounds it makes. What are some words with c in it?
Great! The
letter c actually has several sounds. We are going to talk about two of
them
today. We already know that c makes what sound? It makes the /k/ sound
like in
car. What other sound can it make? It makes the /s/ sound like in
circle.
Great!
Step 2: Let’s look at some
words! I am going to show you how to do
word
mapping! Ok, I am going to say the word cent. Ccceenntt.
My mouth barely moves when I say that word.
Cent. Now I am going to see how many syllables are in the words cent.
There is
just one so I don’t need any slashes to separate my syllables in the
word cent.
I am now going to see how many sounds are in the word cent. C-e-n-t.
There are
4! I will draw 4 blanks. I am now going to spell the word cent in the
blanks.
Cent. There is one blank for each sound in cent. Now I am going to say
it again
and write it in cursive. What is different about the word cent? It is
spelled
with a c instead of an s! I need to remember the c sounds like s rule
for the
word cent!
Step 3: Everyone say the
word city. Now let’s say it slow.
Cccciiitttyy. Good! What does your mouth do when you say the word city?
It goes
from narrow to wide. How many syllables do you think are in the word
city? Cit-y.
Good! At this time the teacher will write a slash on the board or
projector.
This represents the two syllables in city. I want everyone to write
this on
their paper. The students will now also write a slash on their paper.
Ok, how
many phonemes are in the first syllable? C-i-t/y. 3! Great! So how many
blanks
are we going to need? Where should I put them? Good! I will put 3 on
the left
side for the first syllable. How many are we going to need for the
second syllable?
One! Great! So we will put one on the right to represent the sound in
the first
syllable. The students will also do this on their paper.
Now we are going to spell it! I want you to
spell it in the blanks on your paper how you think the word city is
spelled.
Who would like to come up and fill in the blanks? Does
everyone agree? S-i-t/y If word is
spelled with an s, I will say this: Ok, remember the different sounds
of c that
we talked about? One sounds like k, and one sounds like s. In this
word, the c
sounds like s. So it is spelled with a c, instead of an s. c-i-t/y.
Let’s all
say the word together. City. Now I want you to write it again in your
best
cursive writing down below. Great job!
Step 4: Let’s try another
word. Everyone say center. Cccceennntteerr.
Your mouth pokes out at the end! How many slashes do we need on our
paper? 2!
Great! What about blanks? 5! Good! Now I want you to spell it in the
blanks on
your paper. Someone come up and show us how you spelled center. C-e-n/t-er. Good! Now read it and write it
again in cursive below. We will continue to do this with the list of
words on
the attached word wall.
Step 5: Now that we have
practiced some soft c words, let’s
read a book. Today we are going to read about the city. Let’s all read
it together!
We will now read “In the City: Learning the Soft C Sound” by Christine
Figurito
as a class. The teacher will put the book onto the projector so that
each
student is able to see the words. If it is possible, I will have each
student
read it individually with me.
Step 6: For the
assessment, we will play the “Soft C Slap”
game. This activity is fun, and allows students to actually read words
with
soft c. They can play in groups or teams. I would sit and watch or play
with
them to see how the students do as they read the words. When the game
is
downloaded (below), the game also involves soft g words as well. I
would just
leave these out until we learned them. Then we could use both.
References:
Soft
C Words for
Wordmapping (website below)
http://www.abcteach.com/free/members/17463.pdf
I
found the book on www.amazon.com.
(Search the title and author
listed in the lesson plan)
Assessment
Activity—The Soft C Slap Game (downloadable
on the website below)
http://www.adrianbruce.com/reading/room4/softcg/index.htm
I
got ideas for my lesson from http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/spelling.html