Aaaaaaaaa choo-choo! I sneezed!
Rationale:
As
a beginner, reader it is very important for students to understand
letters and
sounds. Short vowels are very hard to learn so therefore; it is
important for
the students to have explicit instruction and lots of practice working
with
short vowels. In this lesson, it will help students become familiar and
have
practice with a = /a/. The students will learn the correspondences a =
/a/ by
making the sound in written and spoken words.
Materials:
1.
Chart
with tongue
twister- "Alan always works after Alice"
2.
Individual
letterboxes for student
3.
Individual
letters (a, t, n, d, c, h, g, l, d,
r, s, )
4.
Primary
writing
paper and pencil
5.
The
Book "A
Cat Nap" for each student
6.
Chart
to model
writing the letter a= /a/
7.
Cards
with
letterbox words
8.
Handout
with
pictures of /a/ words:
Such as: A handout will be given to students
with
pictures that start with the letter /a/ for example: apple, and there
will be
pictures that do not start with the letter /a/. Each student will
circle with
the picture that starts with the letter /a/.
Procedures:
1.
Introduce
the
lesson, by explaining to students that there are many letters in the
alphabet.
Today we will be learning the= /a/.
2. Ask
the students: Have you ever sneezed and it went everywhere? When you
sneezed
what does it sound like? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa choo-choo. Well that is how
the
letter /a/ sounds. We are going to remember how to say the letter /a/
by
pretending we are sneezing when we see the letter /a/.
3. I
have a tongue twister that we are going to say as a group. Every time
you see
the bers to pretend like you are sneezing. "Alan always works after
Alice"
Do you hear the letter /a/? Now let's practice saying it together.
"Alan
always works after Alice" Good job! Next let's say the twister and
stretching the letter /a/ out. "Aaaaalan aaaalways works aaaaafter
Aaaalice" Great Job!
4. Now
we are going to spell some words with the letter /a/ using our
letterboxes and
letter tiles. Remember that each box represents a sound. I want
everyone to
watch me as I show you what we are going to do. (Teacher will use the
letters
and spell the word "black") Now what word did I spell? Teacher goes
back and explains and sounds out the word for students to understand.
Next pass
out the letterboxes and letters tiles for each student. Now I want
everyone to
spell the words I am going to say by using your boxes and letters.
*Make sure
you give enough time for each student to spell the words. If student
has
trouble, pronounce how the spelled it and have them try to fix it. Do the same thing for each word.
Our word list: at, and, cat, hat, glad,
trash.
5. After
spelling the words, have students read the words to you. Hold up the
cards with
the words on them and have each student read the words.
6.
Now that we know what sound the letter /a/ makes we are going to
practice by
writing the letter /a/. First I am going to show you have to write the
letter
/a/. You begin at the fence of your paper and draw a circle, and then
you make
a straight line on the right side. Have students practice writing all
the way
across their paper as you begin assessment
7. Tell
the class we are going to read a book that has lots of /a/ words. Tell
the
students that every time we hear the letter /a/ we will pretend we are
sneezing.(Hand out copy of book "The
Cat Nap") Give a short book
talk. Today we are going to read a book about Tab. Tab is a cat. Tab
loves to
take long naps. To find out how long we take naps you will have to read
the
book.
Have
student begin to read the book. Walk around the room and observed while
reading.
Assessment: Have a handout with pictures that start with
the
letter /a/. Have each student circle all the pictures that contain the
letter
/a/. Teacher will access the students by their ability to identify
words with
/a/. If a student is having trouble with the assessment, the teacher
will model
again by working with the letter /a/. The teacher also will have each
child
read The Cat Nap for a minute.
References:
The Cat Nap. Educational Insights. 1990.
Murray, B.A., &
Lesniak,
T. (1999). The Letterbox Lesson: A hands-on approach for teaching
decoding. The
Reading Teacher, 52, 644-650 52, 644-650
Emily Young.
"Aaaaaaa
You Scared Me"
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/youngbr.html