Emergent Literacy Design:
Angry Ants and Their
Adventure Across Arizona
Rationale: When children are first learning to read,
they must first be able to identify both the phoneme and grapheme for
all 26 letters of the alphabet. This lesson is designed to help
students recognize the phoneme /a/ and its grapheme
A or
a. To recognize the /a/ sound, students will use their
hands to make an eye rubbing motion (like a baby crying) whenever they
hear /a/ read in the book A Book. To recognize A and
a, students will practice writing each letter on
primary paper with the help of a memorable saying.
Materials:
A Book,
Stan and Jan Berenstain
(Berenstain Enterprises, Inc. 1997)
Primary paper
Pencils
Crayons
White drawing paper
Chart with "Alice and Andrew were mad at the angry ants."
Letter Aa worksheet (URL below)
What Begins with A? worksheet (URL below)
Word cards: A, a, BAT, AT, STUCK, HAD, LUCK
Procedure:
1. "Before we can
learn to read, we all have to learn sounds and the symbols that
represent those sounds. In our language, we have to learn the alphabet.
Watch me talk to you. Do you see my mouth move?" (wait for answer)
"My mouth does move! It has to move to make different sounds for
different letters. I am going to teach you the sound /a/ today. It has
two written symbols." (A and a: show both symbols to the student)
2. "To say /a/, we can cry like a baby, /a/a/a/." (hold hands under eyes and twist them back and forth) "What does my mouth look like? I have my mouth open like a circle, and my tongue is behind my bottom teeth. Try it with me, /a/a/a/a/."
3. "Now, I am going to say a word. I will show you how to tell if it says /a/. Watch my mouth to see if it makes a circle. Bat. B-at. Bb-a-t. Bb-aa-t. My mouth made a circle. I heard /a/ in the middle of bat. The baby was crying, wasn't it?"
4. "I have a sentence written for us to read. It is a little tricky because most of the words start with the same letter. Sentences like these are called "Tongue Twisters" (on chart). Alice and Andrew were mad at the angry ants. You say it. Let's say it like this now, Aaalice aaand Aaandrew were maaad aaat the aaangry aaants. Your turn. We are going to say it one more time but like this, /A/lice /a/nd /A/ndrew were m/a/d /a/t the /a/ngry /a/nts."
5. (For this step, the student will need primary paper and a pencil.) "Here is some special paper for learning to write letters. Remember I showed you the two symbols for /a/. One of the symbols (show the capital A to the student) is called capital A and the other (show the lowercase a to the student) is lowercase. Let's write both letters. To make a capital A, start at the bottom and draw a slanted line to the right all the way to the rooftop. Start from that point and draw a slanted line to the right all the way to the bottom. Last draw a line in the middle of the two lines you just made. To write a lowercase a, make a circle between the middle line and the bottom line. Then draw a straight line behind/on the right side of the circle from the middle line to the bottom line (it has to touch the circle). Now make nine more of each."
6.
"I am going to say two words at a time. I
want you to listen to see which word you hear /a/ in. Remember to watch
for my mouth to see if it makes a circle, and listen for the baby
crying.
Cap or
set?
Bite or
mat? Bowl or pan?
Ram or
hit? Now I am going to say some random words. See if
you can hear /a/. If you hear /a/, do your hand motion.
Band, of, tap, bat, tip, sap, kid, cup, class.
7. "I have a book
to read. It is called A Book. This book has a lot of
words that say /a/ like the baby crying. While I am reading, I want you
to do your hand motion just once when you hear /a/. I will read slowly
so you can hear the baby crying, and remember to watch my mouth for the
circle." Read
A Book. "Now let's think of something else the
angry ants might have advanced across. Write the name of what you chose
and draw a picture. Make a spelling if you are not sure how to spell
the name of what you chose for the ants to advance across." Display
students' work.
8. Show BAT, and
model how to tell if it is bat or bit:
The a tells me to cry, /a/a/a/. This word is b-aaa-t,
bat. Now, you try some: AT: at or it? STUCK: stack or
stuck? HAD: had or hid? LUCK: lack or luck?
9. Distribute both
worksheets. Students should color pictures and trace picture names.
Also there is practice for writing A and
a. On the second worksheet, students identify the
pictures and draw a line to the
a. Have students read phonetic cue words from Step #8.
Reference:
Byrne,
B., & Fielding-Barnsley, R. (1990). Acquiring the alphabetic
principle: A case for teaching recognition of phoneme identity. Journal
of Educational Psychology,
82, 805-812.
Bruce Murray.
Emergent Literacy Lesson. "Brush Your Teeth with F".
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/murrayel.html
Assessments:
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/vowels/a-begins1.htm