Standing Outside With My Mouth Open
Wide,
/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/
Beginning
Reading
Marguerite DeWitt
Rationale:
Children should recognize the phonemes that are represented by letters
in
spoken words. One part of this process is recognizing individual
phonemes. In
this lesson, Children will be learn to identify the phoneme /a/, by
engaging in
using chanting a tongue twister, determining if /a/ is in a spoken
word,
representing /a/ on paper, and playing a fun detective game to practice
finding
/a/.
-Tongue Twister on chart paper- "Al's asked for apples as an afternoon
snack".
-Primary Paper
-Pencils
-Picture of standing outside with their mouth open wide with lemon
drops and
gum drops raining down.
-A copy of "Pat's Jam" for each student (Cushman, S (1990). Pat's Jam
Carson , CA : Educational Insights)
Procedure:
1. To introduce the lesson, explain to the students that our mouth
helps us
make certain sounds in words. "Today, we will be working with the mouth
move
that helps us make the sound for the letter /a/. We can look for this
sound in
spoken words and when we are reading written words".
2.
Ask the students if they know the song about raindrops being lemon
drops and
gum drops. For those who don't know the song, review the lyrics and
then sing
it as a class. Point out the part of the
song that goes /a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/-/a/. "We
are going to focus on the /a/ /a/
part today. Everyone make this sound /a/ /a/ /a/. What is your mouth
doing? Is
it almost closed? No, it is pretty wide open isn't it? I want all of us
to
remember what we do with our mouths to make this sound. We will be
looking for
this sound in spoken words and written words today".
3. Lets try this tongue
twister on our chart.
- Teacher: "Al asked for apples as an afternoon snack."
- "Let's all say it together: 'Al asked for apples as an afternoon
snack'".
- "Now let's stretch out the /a/ at the beginning of the words:
'Aaaaaal
aaaaasked for aaaaaples aaaaaas aaaaaan aaaaafternoon snaaaaack'".
-"This time break the /a/ away from the rest of the word: '/a/l /a/sked
for
/a/pples /a/s /a/n /a/fternoon snack'".
4. Pass out primary paper
and pencils. "We can also use what we know about
this new letter and its sound to write words.'Let's practice writing
the letter
a. Demonstrate for student: start below the fence, circle down to the
sidewalk,
come back up and touch the fence, and move straight back down to the
sidewalk'".
Show students you're a. "Practice making your 'a' on your paper.
I
will come around and check everyone's work".
5. "Now I am going to show
you how to find /a/ in the word snack. First I
need to stretch it out and say it slowly and listen for the mouth open
wide.
Sssssnnnnaaaaakkkkk. Ssssnnnnaaaaa. I can hear /a/ in the middle of
snack!"
6. Ask students to listen
and see if they hear the mouth open wide in: last or
first? sad or smile? happy or frown? cat
or dog? fast or slow? cast or crutch?
7. "Does anyone like to
eat jam on their toast in the morning or on their
biscuit? Pat does! In the book, Pat's Jam
Pat buys some jam to take home to eat. But, before he can make it home
his car
runs out of gas! What will he do? Do you
think he will make it home to eat his jam? You will have to read the
book to
find out!" Students will buddy read
the story together and I will walk around to monitor their progress.
Assessment:
The students' understanding will be assessed by their recognition
of
psuedowords through interview assessment. This will determine
their
understanding of the phoneme and make sure they are not simply
memorizing
familiar words. The list is composed of the words: gad, dast, mag,
spad, pags,
lav, fasp, zad, and fap.
Reference:
Katie Bugg, Excuse Me I'm About to…/a/ /a/ CHOO! Sneeze
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/buggbr.html