Uhhh--I don't know with U
Beginning Reading
Rationale: In this lesson, it
will help students identify /u/, the phoneme represented by
U. Students will be learning to recognize /u/ in
spoken language by learning a representation of the letter (thinking
look with a finger on your chin) and the symbol
U. The lesson will focus on the mouth moves the
sound makes when speaking, spelling and reading words with the phoneme
/u/ through a letterbox lesson, and lastly reading a new book. Students
will need to work on decoding, crosschecking, and phoneme recognition.
Materials:
Chart paper with tongue tickler on it: Uncle Umbrella went under the
rug to the bathtub. Letterboxes and letters for word list (u, p (2), h,
g, b, a, t, w, e, r, i, o, l, c, k) for each student. Word list: 2
[up], 3 [hug, bat, wet] 4 [trip, bolt, pump, truck]. Copies of "Bud the
Sub" for every student in the class (Phonics Reader, Educational
Insight). Document camera or projector. Pencils and primary paper for
each student. Picture with "Uhhh I don't know" for reference /u/
(accessed from Reading Genie website). Assessment worksheet for each
student (see attachment for example).
Procedures:
1. Today we
will be learning about the letter /u/ and the sound it makes. The
letter u makes the sound "uhhh" (placing your finger on your chin like
you are thinking of an idea). Ask: Can you do it with me? Make the
sound too: Uhhhh. What is your mouth doing when you are saying "uhhh"?
2. Show the
"Uhh..I don't know" picture to the class through a document camera or
projector. Remember this picture when we see /u/ in our words or hear
that sound. Let's try Uhhh with our new picture.
Uhhhh--great! Now I'm going to show you a funny
sentence (on chart paper) which will help you remember the sound /u/
makes. I am going to say the sentence first: Uncle Umbrella went under
the rug to the bathtub. I will slow it down this time and make sure you
listen for the uhhhh sound in the sentence: Uuuunncleee Uuuummmbreellla
went uuuunnddeerr the rrruuugg to the baaatthhtttuuuubb. Did you hear
the uhh sound in the sentence? Now, as a class, we are going to read
the sentence together. When we are reading, and we hear the uhhhh, slow
down the word and put your finger on your chin like you are thinking
very hard. Uuuuncle Uuuumbrella went uuuunder the ruuug to the
bathtuuub.
3. Now, I need you all to listen closely. I am going to say two
words and I want you to tell me which word has the /u/ in it. MOP or
CUT? PAR or BUT? TRUST or VEST? JOLT or TUCK? PLUM or CAST? We had very
good listening ears for that uhhhh in those words!
Now we are going to use our pencils and paper to practice writing U.
Pass out paper and pencils. I want to make sure everyone knows how to
write the letter u, and I am going to show you how to write it first.
After modeling the writing of u, encourage the class to write it with
you. We are going to start at the top of the fence post, and I want to
see everyone's pencil there. Now we are going to curve around back to
the fence post making sure we touch the sidewalk, almost like we are
writing an 'o'. But instead of making a circle, we are going to come
back down to the sidewalk to make a line. After we get back to the
sidewalk, we will curve out a little to make the curl at the very end
of the u. Now I want to see everyone's 'u's'. Evaluate student writing
of the letter, and model through the steps again if necessary. Now that
they know how to write the letter u, they can make a connection to the
sound u makes.
4. Letterbox
lesson: Now that we know what the sound /u/ makes, I will give each one
of you a letterbox and letter tiles. I do not want you to start working
with them until I ask you to do so. I will first show you how to use
the tiles and letterboxes. I am going to model how to spell a hard
word, but before I do, I want to remind you: when we spell a word in
the boxes, we don't always put one letter in each box. Sometimes we
have letters that make the same sound and have to stay together, for
example ch or ck. We have to know the sounds of many letters to
understand how to use the letterboxes, so it can be hard, but I know
you can do it! Each phoneme goes in an individual box, through
projecting your own letterbox on the projector and showing the
students. I am going to show you how to use your letters and letterbox
to spell lunch. Lllluuunnnnchhh. I hear llllll in the word, so I am
going to pick that letter up and put it into a box. Uuuu I hear that
vowel, so I'm going to place that with l. Nnnnn, that is another letter
I hear in the word. The last letters I hear are cccchhhh, c and h. Now
that I have all the letters I need, I am going to use my letterboxes to
place the letters in the right box. There will only be four boxes,
demonstrate to students how ch go together, but the rest of the letters
are in their own box. Now that I
have shown you how to use the letterboxes and letter tiles, I am going
to ask you to spell some words. I will tell you how many letterboxes
you need for each word. Also, some words will be words with another
vowel than /u/. (Word list: up, hug, bat, wet, trip, bolt, pump, truck)
Observe students working through each word that is given.
5. After spelling all of the words on the word list, I will write each
of these words on the board and I will ask the students to read them
out loud, writing one word at a time so the students read and say the
word at the same time.
6. We are going to continue working with
/u/ by reading a book called "Bud the Sub." Each of you will get your
own copy of the book to read, but before you get your books, I am going
to tell you a little bit about the book.
Bud and Gus love the water. Bud is a submarine, a long tube that
moves under the water's surface. Bud loves to swim in the water all day
long, but before he can Gus has to get Bud set up. One day Bud and Gus
find a tugboat that hit a huge chunk of ice, but what will happen to
Bud and Gus? What will happen with the tugboat that crashed? Will the
tugboat be rescued? You will have to read the book to find out what
happens! Now I will pass out the books and you may begin reading. I
will go throughout the room to have students softly read a few
sentences to me, and I will informally assess their recognition of
words.
7.
Assessment: I am going to assess
the children's learning of /u/ through observing their spelling during
the letterbox use and the completion of the worksheet. The main form of
assessment that students will complete is reading. Students will read
through 'Bud the Sub' individually, while I individually have students
softly read through a few sentences so that I can informally evaluate
their sight word recognition. Through this lesson, I will have an
understanding of the students' comprehension of /u/.
References:
Lesson ideas:
Ballard, Brittany;
Uhh--I Need an Umbrella!!:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/journeys/ballardbr.htm
Dansak, Sarah;
Uhh, Ulsa's Umbrella is Ugly! :
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/journeys/dansakbr.htm
Reading in this lesson can be accessed through Phonics Readers,
Educational Insight).