"Chug-a"
Goes the Choo-Choo
Rationale:
When learning to read, students must learn that sometimes letters in
succession, or letter clusters, make a single sound.
The goal of this lesson is to teach students to recognize and
associate the two successive letters, c and
h, as the digraph
ch, and associate it with the phoneme /ch/ in spoken
words. This will be achieved by
associating the /ch/ sound with a meaningful representation (revolving
fists to imitate the turning of wheels on a train) and practicing
phonemic awareness skills as students learn to distinguish the phoneme
/ch/ at the beginning and end of words.
Students will also use letterboxes and decodable readers to learn to
spell and read words with this letter-sound correspondence.
Materials:
card
with the letter c on it
card
with the letter h on it
card
with letters ch together with picture of choo-choo
train
chart
with tongue twister "Chuck the chimp chugs cheerily on the choo-choo."
marker
board
dry-erase
marker
Elkonin
boxes
letter
box tiles:
c, h, a, t, i, n, o, p, m, u, r, l, n
Chips for the Chicks
by
Geri Murray, downloaded and printed from Reading Genie website
cards with the words: chop, chin, chap, check, chew
cards
with the words: chat, chin, chop, much,
rich, chant, and lunch
Procedures:
1.
Say, "Have any of you ever ridden on a train or seen one on television?
One of the first things you notice about a train is the sounds
it makes when the wheels turn and when the engineer blows the horn.
Both of these sounds start the same way.
As the wheels turn, the train makes a sound like this
chug-a, chug-a, chug-a.
When the engineer blows the horn, it sounds like this,
choo-choo.
We've already learned the secret code for the letters of the
alphabet and the sounds they make. Today you're going to learn that
sometimes when two letters come together, they work as a team to make
one sound."
2.
(Show students card with the letter c on it.) Say, "What letter is this?
What sound does it make?"
(Hold up the letter h.)
"What letter is this? Do you
remember the sound it makes?" If students do not answer correctly,
review these letters and their phonemes. If students answer correctly,
say, "I see you already know the sounds each of these letters make when
they are by themselves.
Now we'll talk about the sounds these letters make when they're
written together in a word." (Show
students the card with the letters ch and the picture
of the choo-choo train.)
"The sound that these letters make together is /ch/.
When you make the /ch/ sound, your teeth are together, and
you're forcing air out between your teeth as you open your lips.
Watch me. Just put your top and
bottom teeth together and force air through your teeth to make the /ch/
sound. This is just like the sound at the
beginning of the words chug and choo-choo
that describe the sounds a train makes. To
help me remember, I'm going pretend I'm the wheels on the train as I
make the sound."
(Show students the gesture, pumping fists in a revolving motion
like the wheels of a train as you make the /ch/ sound.)
3.
"Let's practice making the /ch/ sound together."
(Hold up the letters ch.) "What sound do these
letters make when you see them together?
Make sure to show me what your mouth is doing when you make the
/ch/ sound. Show me your train wheels!"
4.
"Now let's see if we can find the /ch/ sound in the word chop.
I'm going to stretch the word left out very slowly.
I'll know the /ch/ sound is in the word if I have my teeth
together and blow out while I open my lips.
Listen carefully. Chhh-op.
Chhh-op. Did you hear it?
I just kept my teeth together and blew out while my lips were
open.
I made the /ch/ sound! We do say
/ch/ in chop!"
5.
"Let's look at a tongue twister that has words with the /ch/ sound.
Read the words with me as I point to them."
(Hold up chart and read "Chuck the chimp chugs cheerily on the
choo-choo" several times with students as you point to each word.)
"Now let's stretch out the /ch/ sound in each word as I point to
it, Chchchuck the chchchimp chchchugs chchcheerily on the chchchoo,
chchchoo.
Now, break the /ch/ sound apart from the rest of the word as I
point to it, /Ch/ uck the /ch/ imp /ch/ ugged along on the /ch/ oo /ch/
oo."
6. "Great job! Now, put your eyes on me again. Let's listen for the /ch/ sound some more. Do you hear /ch/ in meal or lunch? In grape or peach? In cheek or face? In ring or chime? In chair or desk? In kid or child?"
7.
(Hold
up the card with chop on it.)
"Look at this card. Do you think it
says hop or
chop?
I see the letters c and
h are together in this word, and I know these two
letters work together to make the /ch/ sound.
This word is chhh-op. (Hold up chin.)
Fin or
chin?
(Hold up chap.)
Map or
chap?
(Hold up check.)
Deck or
check?
(Hold up chew.)
Chew or
flew?"
8.
"Let's use our letterboxes to make words that have
the /ch/ sound.
Remember when we use our letterboxes, you should listen for each
sound and then use the letters to show each sound you hear. I'll show
you how to do one first. (Demonstrate with letter boxes drawn on marker
board so everyone can see.) "I'm going to
spell
chat.
The first sound in the word chat is /ch/.
That is spelled with a c and an h
that work together to make that one sound, so I'm going to put both
letters in the first box.
The next sound, /a/, is the short a sound that you have already
learned. It is spelled with an a, so I am going to put
an a in the next box.
The last sound in the word chat is the /t/ sound made by the
letter
t, so I'll put a
t in the last box.
Now we have the word chat!
Let's blend the word, chhhaaatttt.
Great job! Now, you're ready to
make some /ch/ words. Remember that
the ch letter team makes one sound, so both of those letters always go
in one box." (Make sure that each child
has three letterboxes open on their desk and the letters
c, h, a, t, i, n, o, p, m, u, r, l, and n
ready.)
"Let's start with the word chin.
Very good! Now spell the word chop.
Great. Spell the word
much.
Wow! You remembered to put that
/ch/ sound at the end of the word.
Let's try another one. Spell the
word rich.
Great! You're doing such a good
job, I want you to open another box and we'll spell a word that's just
a little more challenging. Does everyone
have four boxes open now?
Try spelling the word chant.
Wow! Here's another one.
See if you can spell lunch.
Wonderful!"
9.
"Let's put up our letter boxes and practice reading the words we just
made."
(Take up letters and letterboxes so that students' attention is
focused on you. Hold up pre-made flash
cards and have students read the words
chat, chin, chop, much, rich, chant, and
lunch.)
10.
(Pass out copies of
Chips
for the Chicks
by
Geri Murray.) Say,
"Now let's practice reading a story to use the new sound we learned."
Give book talk: "Jess and Ben want to have
a picnic and play with the chicks that have just hatched.
Guess what happens when their dog Lad grabs the bag of chips
from their picnic lunch. Let's read and
find out!"
Assessment:
For evaluation, mix up the two sets of index cards you used
for the lesson. Stack up the cards blank side up at the front of the
room. Place two paper bags beside them.
On one bag write "ch Words with 3 Sounds." On the other bag write "ch
Words with 4 Sounds."
Taking turns, have students come to the front of the room, take
a card, read the word, count the sounds, and place the card in the
proper bag.)
References:
The
Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/
Chirping
Chicks! by Amy Harris, Projects Lessons Designs 2009,
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/harrisbr.html
CH,
CH, Choo Choo! By Katelyn Jernigan, Projects Lessons Designs 2009,
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/jerniganbr.html
Hand Gestures for Phonemes, The Reading Genie, http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/gestures.html
The Letterbox Lesson by Bruce Murray, The Reading Genie, http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html