Rational:
In order, for students to become successful readers
they must learn to identify letters and then be able to associate these
letters with the specific sounds that they make. Beginning reading can
be a very difficult and frustrating time for children, so in this
lesson I have strived to make it fun and informal. I want the students
to engage in exploring and playing with the language rather than being
concerned about being assessed. The children will learn the
correspondence o = /o/ through a letterbox lesson, tongue twister,
applied language activities in reading and writing, and most
importantly continuous modeling and corrective feedback.
Materials:
Overhead projector
Letterboxes for each student
A baggie for each student with the letters: t, o, p, m, c, k, s, h, n, d, b, k, f, r
e, i, a.
Picture illustrating the doctor /o/ sound (picture of someone opening
their mouth and saying /o/.
Whiteboard with markers
Chart paper with the tongue twister “Dr. Ollie the octopus operated on
Oscar the ox with help of Oliver the fox.”
Decodable book: Cushman, Sheila. In the Big Top. (1990). Educational
Insights. Carson, California. (one for every student)
Assessment worksheet (pictures: pizza, frog, sock, cat, dog, bike, mop,
puzzle.)A letterbox and the letters (s,
t, o, c, k) to use in the model for the letterbox lesson.
Pseudo words: hod, frod
Teaching Procedure:
1. “Today, we are going to play doctor and while doing that we are
going to learn the /o/ sound that is by made letter o, like in the word
hot.”
2. The teacher will call on a student to volunteer to come to the
front. “I am Dr. Ollie and this is my patient Oscar” (the student
volunteer). “If I want to take a look down Oscar’s throat what should I
have him do?” The teacher will show a picture of someone opening their
mouth and saying /o/ to the doctor. “That’s right just like the picture
I would have him open his mouth real wide and say /o/.” “This is the
mouth move we use to say the /o/ sound.” The teacher would model the
/o/ sound and the way the mouth opens wide to the make the sound. “Okay
Oscar lets take a look, open your mouth and say /o/.” “Well Oscar you
look healthy to me you can go have a seat.” The teacher will group the
student into pairs. “Now you and your partner are going to take turns
being the doctor and the patient. If you would like you can even try to
come up with names for each other that have the /o/ sound. If you are
the doctor tell your partner to open wide and say /o/.
3. “Let’s practice the open wide /o/ sound in this silly tongue
twister. The teacher will model how to read the tongue twister while
pointing to the words on the chart as each word is said: “Dr. Ollie the
octopus operated on Oscar the ox with the help of Oliver the fox. “ The
teacher will now reread the tongue twister emphasizing the /o/ sound.
“Dr. /o/llie the /o/ctopus /o/perated /o/n /o/scar the /o/x with the
help of /o/liver the f/o/x.” Now the students will read the tongue
twister once regular and then two times emphasizing the /o/ sound.
4. “We are now going to spell some word that the /o/ sound in
them.” The teacher will model how to spell words in a letterbox
lesson using the overhead projector. The teacher should wait until
after the modeling is complete to distribute the student’s letterboxes
and letters, so that they aren’t distracted. “I am going to show you
all how to spell the first word and then you will each receive your own
letterboxes and letters, so that you can try spelling the other words.
The word I am going to spell is stock. In this word we hear three
sounds /s/ /t/ /o/ /ck/. I will need four letterboxes, because these
boxes represent how many sounds are in the word. The first sound is /s/
so I will place the letter s
in the first box. The second sound I hear is /t/ so I will place the
letter t in the second box
.The next sound I hear is /o/ so I will place the letter o in the third box. The final sound
I hear is /k/ so I will place the letters c and k is the third box. My word /s/
/t/ /o/ /ck/-stock! Now I am going to let you spell some word in your
letterboxes.”
5. The teacher will now hand out individual letterboxes along with
baggies containing the letters needed for the activity to each student.
The teacher should inform the students of the number of boxes needed
for each word. “Your first word is top.
‘My books are on the top self.’” The teacher should walk around and
indiscreetly monitor the students while providing corrective feedback
when needed. The teacher should avoid asking questions in a letterbox
lesson, but instead tell the student what their word says and retell
them the word that they are trying to spell. This lesson should
continue in the same way until all the words have been spelled. Word
list: 3-top, red, mop, pit, lock, shop, back, 4- pond, block, 5-frost.
6. “You all did a wonderful job spelling the words, so now let’s see
how you do reading them. I am going to write all the words you just
spelled including two pseudo or made up words on the board and I want
you all to read them to me.” (top, log, hod, mop, lock, shop, frod,
pond, block, frost). “Great job! I can’t trick y’all with any words”
7. “We are now going to read the book In
the Big Top. What do you think this book will be about from
looking at the cover? Does anyone know what in the big top means? In
the big top is talking about a circus inside a big tent. In this book a
family is trying to go to the circus. There are four of them not
including the dog that all have to fit in a little bitty car with all
of their stuff. Will they all fit and be able to make it the
circus? We will have to read to find out if they make it.” The
teacher will now pass out the books. The students should read the book
silently while the teacher walks around the room to help anyone who
might need help.
8. To access the individual students understanding of the /o/ sound
each student will get a page with different pictures on it. The
pictures will have some words containing the /o/ sound while others
will not. The students should color in each picture that contains the
/o/ sound. The pictures will be pizza, frog, sock, cat, dog, bike, mop,
puzzle.
References:
Cushman, Sheila. In the Big Top.
(1990). Educational Insights. Carson, California.
Freeman, Kari Beth. The Doctor is In!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/constr/freemanbr.html
Shumock, Emily. Icky Piggy. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/shumockbr.html
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