Eating
our way through an apple with /a/,/a/,/a/,/a/
Beginning
Reader Design
Rationale:
It
is necessary for beginning readers to be able to recognize that
phonemes and letters correspond with each other in order to become a
proficient reader. Through the knowledge gained in this activity,
students will learn to recognize, spell, and read words that contain
the correspondence a= /a/.
Materials:
Single card with an a printed on it, Word cards with the
following words printed on it: bat and bug, rack
and ring, sat and sit, rug and mat,
Sentence Strip with Tongue Twister printed on it: Alyssas
apples are awesome!, Elkonin Letterboxes per student, Letter
manipulative (s, u, n, c, b, h, g, m, a, t, d, r, j, p,
f, k, l, i), Chalk or White-board erase marker, Pats Jam,
by: Sheila Cushman, Educational Insights. (one per pair of
students), Primary paper and pencil, Picture page with the following
pictures: bag, track,
fan, hat, cat, frog, and flag,
Letterbox Matching Word/Picture Worksheet
Procedure:
1. Introduce the a = /a/ correspondence and how to spot it in written
text. Today we are going to work with the letter a in written
text (hold the letter a card for the students to see). The
letter a makes the /a/ sound. How does our mouth move when we
say /a/? Our mouth is open and our tongue stays still. This is like the
sound that you could make right before biting into an apple.
Everyone practice making the /a/ sound and open your mouth like your
fixing to bite into an apple.
2.
To practice recognizing the letter a in written text, I will
hold up two cards at a time (cards with words bat and bug,
rack and
ring, sat and sit, and rug and mat).
Ask students which word contains the letter a. Hold up one
card and as a group say it together, then do the same with the second
card. Ask the following questions: Which word has the /a/ sound in
it? Can someone point the letter
a in this word? Students should raise hand, call on
one student.
3.
Now I want us to practice saying our funny sentence together. Alyssas
apples are awesome. Say together several times. Now I want us to
say our tongue twister, but lets stretch out the /a/: Aaalyssas aaapples
aaare aaawesome. Remember to open your mouth like you were
biting into an apple when you hear the /a/ sound.
4.
Draw Elkonin letterbox on the board for teacher use during this portion
of the lesson. Make sure that each student has an Elkonin letterbox
with his or her own letter tiles. Ask the students to make sure that
each students tiles on lower-case side up. We are going to practice
spelling words with the /a/ sound. Look at the board and notice that I
have two boxes drawn this is for two mouth movies. Right now, I am
going to spell the word at. The first box is for the first
sound in at, the /a/, which is like our biting the apple. The
second box is for the /t/. Now you are going to practice with the
following words: {3} can, ant, air, pal, fat; {4} snack, fast, hand;
{5} stamp. Make sure that each time the number of phonemes changes that
the students are prompted to open their letterbox up by one more box. (A
review word should be included.)
5.
Write each word from the letterbox lesson on the board one at a time.
Model for students how to read a word written on the board. We are
going to read the word Jack. Let us start with the /a/, then
add /J/ to /a/= /Ja/, next lets add the /ck/ to /Ja/. Say it
together. Now we have Jack. Our word is
Jack. Everyone say it. Call on one student to read the word, then
have the class repeat the word as a group.
6.
The students will be placed in pairs to read Jack the Cat. Book
talk: Jack is a cat. Jack is in search for a friend. No one seems to
want to play with Jack. This makes him sad. Will Jack ever find a
friend that will play with him? Read Jack the Cat to find out! The
students will take turns reading the book to each other. I will walk
around, listen, and observe each pair of students.
7.
Write a message about what you would do if you saw someone without a
friend. Remember that when we make the letter a that we start
at the belt line and go around in a circle motion to the shoe up to the
belt then without lift your pencil draw a straight line back down to
the belt. (Children should use invented spelling.)
8.
Assessment: - I will use words from the letterbox lesson and have them
match the word to the picture that best fits it. While students work on
the picture page, I will call students up one at a time to assess their
reading of Jack the Cat and their understanding of the
correspondence a = /a/. I will be using a running record.
References:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/phon.html
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/garnettbr.html