Rationale: As students gain phoneme
awareness it is important for them to learn digraphs that create
phonemes. This lesson focuses on the digraph
th=/th/. During the lesson students will work with
words containing the /th/ digraph and will learn to pronounce and
recognize /th/ in spoken and written words.
Materials:
Tongue twister written on chart paper (The
three thoughtful girls threw a party on Thursday)
Letter boxes for each student and teacher
Letters: t, h, e, i, s, n, b, a, m, c, k, r, d
Cards with the words: the,
this, then, bath, than, math, thin, thick, think, third
Popsicle stick with th at the top for
every student
The poem TH is for Thumbs
Copy of the book This and That: The Sound
of TH written by Peg Ballard and published by Child's World in
October 1999 – for each student
Procedures:
1. "The sounds that you
hear in words are sometimes made by combining more than one letter.
Today we are going to talk about the sound that the two letters t
and h make when they are put together. When
t and h are next to each other they sound like opening
a can of coke."
2. "Watch me as I say th.
Now everyone find a partner. Look at your
partner and watch their mouth as they say th. Now
switch. How did your partner's mouth look when they
said th? When you say th your
tongue touches your top teeth and you breathe out."
3. Next, introduce the
tongue twister: The three thoughtful girls threw
a party on Thursday. Have the students say the
tongue twister with you. Model how to find the th
sound in the words by stretching out the sound each time you hear it,
then have them do it with you.
4. "Now we are going to
use our letter boxes to spell some words using th. Because
the t and h pair up to create one
sound they only need one box." Have the students
take out their letters and boxes. "Watch as I spell
the word than. I will need three boxes
because there are three sounds in the word than. What
do you hear at the beginning of the word tttthhh-a-n?
/Th/, very good. Next is the a=/a/
sound, and then you hear n=/n/. Now we have spelled
th-a-n. Next I want you to try a few on your own."
5. Have students spell
the words: (2) the; (3) this, then, bath, than,
math, thin, thick; (4) think, third
6. After students have
spelled the words hold up a card with each word written on it and have
students volunteer to read the word from the card.
7. To practice finding
the th=/th/ sound in spoken words give each child a popsicle stick with
the letters th written at the top. Instruct
the children to hold up the popsicle stick each time they hear the th
sound as you read.
8. Read the following
poem:
TH is for Thumbs
My thumbs help me do so much.
There's so much they can do.
Throw a ball. Pull a thread.
How about you?
Sewing's easy if I wear
a thimble on my thumb.
My thumbs are nimble
thanks to thimbles.
How about you?
Even though I like my toes
I can't throw a ball with those.
Thumbs help my fingers
throw humdingers.
How about you?
9. "Now that we have
listened for th we are going to practice looking for it."
Give each students a copy of the book This and That: The
Sound of TH by Peg Ballard. Pair the students
and let them read the book to one another. As they
read circulate the room and listen to make sure all students are
understanding the concept of th.
Assessment: To assess the students'
learning of the th=/th/ correspondence give each student a copy of the TH
is for Thumbs passage that you read aloud earlier. Have
students circle the th correspondence each time it occurs in
the passage.
Resources:
Harris, Michelle. Shhhhh!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/insights/harrisbr.html
Lombardi,
Annette. TH – That's the Truth! http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/insp/lombardibr.html
http://www.proteacher.net/discussions/showthread.php?t=62656
Ballard, Peg (1999). This and That: The Sound of TH. Child's World.