What
a Fat Cat!
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
An important step in learning to read is the
recognition of phonemes. For reading and spelling, children need
to grasp
the understanding that letters stand for phonemes and that spellings
map out
the phonemes in spoken words. Short vowels are often difficult to
recognize, so this lesson has been planned to help children identify
that
a=/a/. The children will learn to recognize /a/ in spoken words
by
learning a meaningful representation and a letter symbol. They
will also
practice finding /a/ in a variety of words. Finally, we will
stretch this
lesson to the actual reading of a book as we read a book that focuses
on the
/a/ sound.
Materials: Chart
with the tongue twister "Adam the fat cat
sat on his hat and made it flat"; primary paper and a pencil; A Cat
Nap
(Phonics Readers Short Vowels, Educational
Insights, 1990.) copies of picture page with the following pictures
on it:
apple, cat, dog, duck, dad, mom, bag and a hat; a hat per child; stamp
with a
cat on it or stickers.
Procedures: 1.
Introduce
the lesson to the children by saying: "Writing is a secret
code.
The way to break the code is to learn what our letters stand for.
They
all make a special sound. Today we are going to learn about the
letter a
and its sound /a/. This is like the sound you make when you see a
bug on
the ground and it scares you. It sounds like this: /a/
(model sound
for children). Can everyone practice that with me, please? (
Have
children practice 2 or 3 times making sure each student is making the
correct
sound). Today I want to see how many of
you can break the code and find /a/ in a lot of
different words!"
2. Identify the mouth
moves
while saying /a/. "Ok, great
job of practicing /a/. What is your
mouth and tongue doing when you say /a/?
Lets try saying /a/ and think really hard about what our mouth
is
doing. My mouth is open and my
tongue
is down at the bottom of my mouth. What
is your mouth doing?" Discuss what
each of the student's mouth and tongue is doing while they say /a/.
3. Practice stretching
out
/a/ in various words: "Now that I know all of you can say
/a/, I
want to practice it in some words. Let's say these words together
and
remember to listen for the /a/ sound. Let's say
cat‰¥Ï.c-aaaaaaa-t‰¥Ï.Did
everyone hear me say /a/? Let's all try it." Continue this
process with other words such as: apple, bag, fat, flat, and
hat.
Emphasize that /a/ is the first sound in "apple" and the middle sound
in "bag" to help the children understand that /a/ can come in
different places in a word.
3. Read the tongue
twister
chart with the children: "Good! Now that we have listened to
the
/a/ sounds in some words, let's read a tongue twister! Everybody
say it
together as I point to the words (read together). Now let's read
it
again, but stretch out the /a/ sounds when you say the words (read
again
emphasizing /a/). Good, now let's do it one more time, but I want
you to
break the /a/ off each word like this '/a/ dam the f /a/ t ‰¥Ï..' (read a
third
time breaking off /a/). Good work boys and girls!"
4. Drawing the letter a:
"Boys and girls, let's take out our primary paper and pencil and
practice
making the letter a. The letter a is what we use to spell
/a/.
Start at the fence and make a little c. Then draw a straight line
from
the fence to the sidewalk to close the c. Now you have the letter
a. I want you to practice drawing the letter a all the way down
the line
on your paper. When you have finished, I will stamp your work
with my cat
stamp. Then keep practicing them on the next line until I have
stamped
everyone's work (or sticker if a stamp is not available)."
5. Listening for /a/ in
spoken words: "Now we are going to listen for /a/ in some
words
as I say them out loud. If you hear the /a/ sound in the word I
say, put
your newspaper hat on your head. If you do not hear the /a/
sound, you
will take your hat off. Everyone ready? Cat (hat on), dog
(hat
off), apple (hat on), plum (hat off), fat (hat on), big (hat off),
snack (hat
on), sat (hat on), dad (hat on), bag (hat on). Good work, now
let's read
a story!
6. Activity:
"Who
here has ever seen a cat? What was the
cat doing? Well this story is about a
really lazy, fat cat called Tab. He
likes to eat a lot and sleep a lot. Tab
likes to sleep in some really silly places.
One day he falls asleep in his owner's baseball bag. His owner Sam is running late to his baseball
game, and he grabs his bag and he runs out of the door and doesn't
realize Tab
is in his bag! What do you think is
going to happen to sleeping Tab? Read A
Cat Nap and discuss the story and where the children heard the /a/
sound, go
back through the test and point out words (if possible) that have a=/a/
in
them. After story, the students will draw a picture and write a
message
with invented spelling of a funny place they think a cat could hide and
take a
nap.
7. Assessment: For
assessment, I will provide the children with a picture page and ask
them to
circle the pictures whose names have /a/ in them. ‰¥¬ The pictures
on the
page will be an apple, cat, dog, duck, dad, mom, bag and a hat
Reference:
Allred,
Katie.
The Fat Cat!
www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/inroads/allredel.html