Beginning
Jack
the Fat Cat
Beginning
Rationale:
In order to read and spell words, children must have
the
knowledge of the alphabetic principle, the idea that letters represent
phonemes
and spellings map out phonemes in spoken words. Knowledge of
letter-sound
correspondences must be present in order for children to successfully
decode
words and have future reading success. Furthermore, being able to
decode
words with appropriate speed and ease is essential for fluent
reading.
Short vowels are among the first letter-sound correspondences taught in
beginning reading instruction. This lesson is aimed at helping
children
identify the correspondence a =
/a/. Children will learn the sound that makes by learning a
meaningful representation,
and they will learn to identify /a/ in spoken words. In addition,
children will learn to spell and read words with the a = /a/ correspondence through the use
of a letterbox lesson and by reading a new book.
Materials:
1. Primary paper and pencils for each child
2. Letterboxes and letters (a, b, c, d, f, g, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t)
3. Chart with the tongue twister—"Jack the fat cat sat on a
rat"—written
on it.
4. Large Elkonin letterboxes and letters for teacher
5. Copies of A Cat Nap for each
student (Educational Insights)
6. List of words used in letterbox lesson (2-{at}, 3-{fat, nab, pad,
peg}, 4-{snack,
crab, flag, best}, 5-{stamp, plant})
7. Chalk
8. Handout with pictures of a cat, a hat, a flag, a map, and a rat
(also
include pictures of words without the a = /a/ correspondence)
Procedures:
1. Introduce the lesson by explaining to
the students that they are going
to learn about the letter a and its corresponding sound. Write
the
letter a on the board. "We are going to learn
about
the letter a today and the sound it
makes; a says /a/. The letter a is
a vowel that we see in many words. I am sure that you remember
the other
vowel that we learned last week, e . Do you know why the
letter a
is so important? We find a in so many words like cat, hat, snack, and fast. Today,
we are going to learn how to spell and read
words that have an a who makes
the sound /a/."
2. Show children a gesture for remembering
a = /a/.
"Have you ever seen an ant crawling on the ground? Well, to
remember
the /a/ sound, I want you to think about an ant crawling around and
make this
motion with your fingers. (Model wiggling your pointer and middle
fingers
to look like a crawling ant.) Great! We are about to do a
tongue-twister, and every time you hear /a/ in a word, I want you make
an ant
crawl on your desk."
3. Practice finding /a/ in
spoken words. "Before we do our tongue twister,
I
want you to practice finding /a/ in spoken words. Listen carefully to
the words
I say. Do you hear /a/ in bat or
run? Cast or bone?
Flash or flip? Very good!"
4. Have children direct their attention to
the tongue-twister chart. Model
by reading the tongue twister to them and make your hand motion when
you say
/a/. Then have them practice saying it with you a couple of times.
Remember to
stretch the /a/. Remind them to make their ants crawl each time they
hear /a/.
"To practice our /a/ sound, we’re going to say a silly
tongue-twister. I will read it once to you and then you say it
with me.
Remember to make your ants crawl when you hear /a/. Good! Let's
say it
again, but this time, I want you to really stretch out the /a/ in each
word. Jaaaaaaack the faaaaaat
caaaat saaaat on a raaaat. Did everyone hear the /a/ sound?
Great!"
5. Hand out the letters and letterboxes to each
student. Explain
that each box represents a phoneme, or sound. Tell the students that
every time
you say a word, they are to listen to the sounds in that word and place
the
appropriate letters in the boxes to make the word you say. Model by
placing the
letter s while saying /s/ in the
first box, a while saying /a/ in the
next box, and t while
saying /t/ in the last box to make the
word sat. "Today, we are
going to do a letterbox lesson using a = /a/. Everyone
turn your
letters over so that only the lower case sides are showing. Each
of your
boxes represents a phoneme, or sound, in a word. Be sure to
listen so
that you can hear how many boxes you will use for each word. I
will show
you an example of how to spell a word. I will spell sat. For my word, I have three
phonemes.
So, I am going to use three boxes. First I hear /s/, so s goes in the first box. Next, I
hear /a/, so a goes in the
second box. Finally, I hear /t/, so t
goes in the last box.” Proceed with
the
letterbox lesson.
Start with two phoneme words and move up to five phoneme words. Say
the words—at, fat, nab, pad, peg, snack,
crab, flag, best, stamp, and plant—one
at a time, allowing the students to create the words in their
letterboxes.
Remind them again that the boxes are not necessarily for individual
letters,
but for sounds. Be sure to give students enough time to attempt each
spelling
on their own. Walk around the room and observe, assisting any students
who need
help. If a student misspells a word,
pronounce the word as it appears and ask the student to fix the word.
After
checking each student’s work, model the correct spelling for each word
(just
like you did sat) in your large letterboxes
to the entire class. Remember: Do not
have the students read the words while in the letterboxes.
6.
After
spelling all of the words, have students read the words as the teacher
spells
them. Make each word with your large letters (without
letterboxes)
and have the class read it aloud. (You may write the word on the
chalkboard if
it is inconvenient to make it with your letters.) "Now that all of
you
have spelled all of the words, you are going to get to read them.
It’s my
turn to spell them! I am going to use my large letters to spell the
words. You
read them after I spell them." The
teacher should pay close attention to each student to assess whether or
not the
child is able to read each word. If a child cannot read a word,
the
teacher should use body-coda blending to facilitate reading.
7. Hand out copies of A Cat Nap to
each student. Give a brief book talk.
"Now we are going to read a story called A Cat Nap. Tab
is a
fat cat. He loves to take naps. One day Tab decides to take a nap in a
bag.
When Tab wakes up from his nap, he is not in the same spot. You’ll have
to read
the book to find out what happens to Tab when he takes a nap in someone
else’s
bag!”
8. Have students read A Cat Nap. Walk
around the room to observe.
"Everyone is going to read the book. While you
read,
I will be walking around the room to hear your reading."
9. Pass out the handout and help the
students identify the pictures.
"Everyone look at the picture handout. Let's help one another
identify the pictures." The
teacher should walk around the room and make sure each child identifies
the
pictures.
10.
Have
each student write a message while other students are being called to
the
teacher's desk. "I want each of you to think about
what
you would do if you woke up in a very strange place, like Tab did in
our story.
After you’ve thought about it, write a message explaining what you
would do.”
Assessment:
For assessment, each child should individually come
up to
the teacher's desk. Each child should bring the picture handout
and a
pencil. According to the teacher’s instructions, each student should be
assessed on the understanding that a =
/a/. The teacher should say, "I want you to circle all of the
pictures
that show words containing /a/. Then, I want you to look at the
pictures
that you’ve circled and choose one word that you would like to write.
For
example, you would write rat for this
picture (pointing to the picture of the rat)." Be sure to provide
primary paper. The teacher
should grade each child according to their ability to identify the
pictures
representing words with /a/, as well as their ability to recognize and
write a
word that includes the letter a. For
other assessment, the teacher could have
each student individually read A Cat Nap and
take a running record of the student's miscues.
Sources:
1. A
Cat Nap. Educational Insights, 1990.
2. Eldredge, J. Lloyd, Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms.
3. Murray, B.A., & Lesniak, T. (1999). The Letterbox Lessoon: A
hands-on
approach for teaching decoding. The
4. Williams, Andrea. Icky Sticky
Iguana. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/williamsbr.html
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