Beginning Reading
By Amanda Merkel
Hug a Bug
Beginning Reading
By Amanda Merkel
Rationale:
A crucial
part of learning how to read and write is having
an understanding of the alphabetic code and small units of sound which
are also
called phonemes. Graphemes (letters) represent these phonemes. This
lesson will
help children identify the short u
phoneme, /u/. Students will learn how to locate /u/ sounds in spoken
and
written words, and will be able to connect this phoneme to a meaningful
representation and a letter symbol.
Materials:
- Picture
of a crying baby, creaky door knob, icky sticky,
and a person yawing (found on reading genie website)
- Picture
of a person hugging a bug (might have to make your own)
- Letter
boxes - one for each student
- Magnetic
letters for teacher- (a, i, e, o, u,
s, h, t, t, h, g, b, d, p, r, m, f, c, j, k,).
-Metal
cookie tray
- 19
straight line magnets (to make letter boxes on the
cookie tray, if you could find six, small, square, magnetic picture
frames that
would work as well)
-Letter
tiles for each student - (a, i, e, o, u,
s, h, t, t, h, g, b, d, p, r, m, f, c, j, k,).
- Primary paper
- Pencils -
one for each student
- Chart
Paper with the tongue twister - "Uncle Chuck
hugged the plump bug.''
- Bud the
Sub - one for each student
-
Assessment worksheet that will have a picture and words
where they have to circle the correct answer
Procedure:
1. To start the lesson the teacher needs
to review the short
vowel sounds a, e, i, and o before moving on to the short u
sound. It’s
important that you review with the students the short vowel phonemes
that they
know. It gives them confidence to realize that they have already
mastered
something. To review the teacher needs to hold up each picture of the
phonemes
separately and go over the phonemes. The teacher then needs to write
the
letters on the board and review with the students what the grapheme
looks like.
After reviewing, the teacher should display the picture of a person
hugging a
bug that includes the letter u grapheme.
The class should then discuss what
sound this phoneme should make. Tell the class that u sounds like /u/.
Like
what you do when you hug someone tight. After modeling the /u/ sound
and the
gesture of hugging someone real tight, everyone should practice hugging
their
bug real tight and making the /u/ sound.
2. Next, the tongue twister will be
introduced. The chart
paper with the tongue twister on it will be displayed on the board and
then it
will be read slowly so that all of the children can hear it clearly.
''Uncle
Chuck hugged the plump bug.” After it is said aloud, the students and
the
teacher should say it aloud together. Then the teacher should say it
again
modeling how to stretch out the /u/ sound and using the hugging gesture
whenever it is said: ''Uuuuncle Chuuuuuck huuuugged the pluuuump
buuuuug.'' The teacher and the students should say the tongue
twister
again together, adding the stretched /u/ sound and the hugging gesture.
3. After the tongue twister the students
should be instructed
on how to find the /u/ sound in several different spoken
words. The
students will listen as the teacher say two words: ''under'' and
''over''.
After they hear the words, they will have to tell the teacher which of
the two
words contains the /u/ sound by holding up their thumbs. The students
must
listen to see if they can hear it on their own. The teacher will see
how many
students raise their thumbs when they hear the word under and when they
hear
the word over. Then the teacher will explain to the students that she
hears the
/u/ sound and under and she will stretch out the /u/ uuuunder. The teacher should then ask a series of words
to see if the students can correctly pick out the words with the /u/
sound in
them. A few examples of words are: Up or down? Stick or stump? Raincoat or
umbrella? Jump or hop? Goose or duck? Sing or sung?
4. The
teacher should then tell the students that this
sound is spelled with the letter u.
She should ask if the students know what
the letter u looks like. If
some students say yes the teacher should ask them
to draw an imaginary lower case u in the air. The teacher should then
write a
lower case u on the board going over the language. (Start at fence,
curve down,
touch the sidewalk, curve back up, touch the fence and then go straight
down to
the sidewalk to for a tail.) The teacher should pass out primary paper
and let
the students try writing us.
She should make sure they use the language. The
teacher should walk around to help when necessary. Tell the students to
write
the lowercase u ten more times using the language.
5. Before giving out the
letter boxes and letters, the teacher
should model how to hear and correctly spell the sounds in different
words. The
teacher should have her cookie tray out, magnetic letters, and the
magnets to
make letter boxes on the cookie sheet. The teacher should have
three
letterboxes displayed and then should tell her students that she needs
to spell
the word cup. The teacher should say something along the lines of: “How would I spell the word cup? Let’s see.
Cccccuuuupppp. Well the first sound I hear is the /k/ sound. I know
that sound
can be spelled by the letter k or c. I think I’ll choose c to put in my
first
letter box because it sounds like a word that would start with c.
Cuuuupppp.
Next we have the /u/ sound. Oh! That’s the sound we make when we hug
our bug!
That’s a u. I’m going to put a u in the second box. Cuppppp. Now we
have the
/p/ sound. I know that’s the letter that beings pop and pen. That’s the
letter
p. I’ll put that one in my last box.” The teacher should then read the
word and
ask the students if they believe she spelled it right. If not, tell
them to
explain why.
6.
The
students should then be given their letter boxes. The teacher should
give the
students one word at a time. Encourage them to sound it aloud, and walk
around
to see if anyone needs help. After each word, ask one of the students
how they
spelled the word. The teacher should spell it on her cookie tray in the
boxes
like the child tells her. Then ask if they other students agree. The
words are:
shut, hug, bed, pat, drum, fast, crop, jump, stick, trust.
7. After completing the letterbox
practice, the teacher should
check for the students' understanding by making them read the words
they just
spelled out in their letterboxes. The teacher should write each
word on
the board in a random order and encourage the students to sound out
each
phoneme as they read the word. The teacher should be careful not
to call
on the same child each time.
8. Next, the teacher should give
each student the book, Bud
the Sub. She should tell them about the book and get them
interested
in it by giving a book talk. Students will each have a book, and a
partner to
read to. They will take turns reading their books to one
another. The
teacher should tell them to pay close attention to the /u/ sound.
Assessment:
Each
student will be given an assessment worksheet with words and picture.
They will
have to read the words and circle the one that matches the picture
References:
- Educational Insights. Bud the Sub.
1990.
- Ed Helper.com http://www.edhelper.com/phonics/Vowels10_1.htm
-Rachel Sparkman http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/sparkmanbr.html
-Holland Stevens http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/stevensbr.html