"Alice
Always Asks for Apples"
Courtney Norgren
Beginning Reading
Rationale: Vowels are said to be one of the
hardest concepts to learn. In this lesson students will practice the
first vowel, a=/a/. By the end of the lesson the students should be
able to identify a=/a/ in written and in spoken words, by using
letterboxes, reading books with a=/a/, and writing words with a=/a/.
This is great for beginning readers who are just starting to learn
vowels.
Materials:
Dry Erase board and marker
Picture of an apple
Primary paper and pencils for each student
Poster board with tongue twister (Alice asks Abby
for apples.)
Worksheet with /a/ sound words that contrast
with other sound words. /a/
sound words- (cat, sat, map, trap) not /a/ sounds- (dog, sit, pot, pet)
A Fat Cat Sat on the Mat (one copy per
student)
Crayons
Letter boxes for each student,
Large letter boxes for teacher
Small letter tiles for each student
(a,b,c,f,g,l,m,p,r,s,t) {sat, map,
bat, crab, flag}
Large letter tiles for teacher (same as above)
Procedures:
1. Introduce the lesson by explaining that
sometimes letters can make two different sounds.
Teacher says to class: The vowel A can make the /A/ sound and the /a/ sound. Today, we are going
to learn about short a. To make the /a / sound; open your mouth
wide and keep your tongue down. It sounds like a crying baby.
Everyone listen to the sound I make very closely and then we will try
it together (Teacher models /a/ sound). Now let's all try
it together.
2. Show a picture of an apple and explain how it
starts with a=/a/. Teacher says to class: Now we are going
to learn a tongue twister (Teacher will show the tongue twister "Alice
asks Abby for apples." written on the poster board). Now after I
say the tongue twister you repeat it after me (Ask students to repeat
the twister multiple times). This time we say our tongue twister let's
stretch out the /a/ sound that we hear in each word "aaaalice
aaaasks for aaaabby for aaaapples" (Ask students to do this twice
through). Now that we are so good at making the /a/ sound, let's
try something new! This time when we make the /a/ sound we
are going to pretend we are crying babies (make a crying face).
Are you ready? Let's try it together (Teacher models gesture for
students and says the twister with the students twice
through). Great job boys and girls!
3. Teacher says to class: I'm so proud
of you making the /a/ sound so well! Let's take out our
primary paper and pencils to practice writing the letter A. (Teacher models writing
upper case A and lower case a on the board). Get your pencils
ready! First let's make an upper case A. For capital A, on your paper start at the
rooftop, go down to the sidewalk, then down the slide the other way,
and cross the fence. Now let's make lower case a. For lowercase a don't start at the fence, start
under the fence. Go up and touch the fence, then around and touch the
sidewalk, around and straight down. Great job! Now let's write
upper and lower case A on our
paper five times each.
4. Teacher says to class: Now we are
going to play a game! I am going to give you two words. I
want you to tell me if you hear the /a/ sound in the first word
or the second word. Do you hear the /a / sound in tip or
Tap? Cat or kit? bent or ball?
hot or hat? Great job everyone!
5. Teacher says to class: Please take
out your letter boxes and plastic letter tiles
(a,b,c,f,g,l,m,p,r,s,t). Spread out your letter boxes so that you
see 4 colored squares *Remember, each box represents a phoneme (teacher
models with large copy) and lay out your letter tiles across the top of
the colored squares so you can read them all (teacher models with large
letter tiles). Now we will spell words that have the /a/ sound in them. I will show
you how it works with a practice word. The word is ; now let's
say it together "stack".
The first sound in the word sat is /s/ so an "S" goes in the first box and in
second box we hear the "T"
sound. Can you tell me what the next sound is? (Make crying baby
gesture) Right! The next sound in /a/ so an "A" goes in the third box. The
last sound is /c/, so I will
put a "CK" in the fourth box
(the /c/ and /k/ make the same sound, so they
will go in the same box. Now let's read our word we just spelled stack-
great! Now the teacher and students will go through these same
steps with the following words: map,
bag, crab, and flag.
6. The teacher will now spell the words on the
dry erase board and ask the students to read the words together for
confirmation of understanding and assessment,
Teacher will hand out a copy of "A Fat Cat Sat on the Mat" to each
student
7. Teacher says to class: We are going
to read this book to ourselves and whenever we get to a word with a=/a/ you are going to make the
crying baby face that we have been doing.
8. For assessment, the teacher will pass out a
worksheet with sets of different "a" words and a picture. The
students will match the /a/ word to the picture it represents.
After each student turns in their worksheet, the teacher will give them
a color page titled "Apple" and they will color it and keep it in their
desk.
References:
Karlin, N. The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat.
An I Can Read Book Series. Harper Collins.
Ashley Ramsey- "Icky Sticky" Reading Genie
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/ramseybr.html
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/phonwords.html
Reading Genie- examples of words with 4, 5, and 6 phonemes