Uhhhh… I Don’t Know
Rationale:
This lesson is designed to teach children the vowel correspondence
u = /u/. In this lesson, children
will learn to recognize, read, and spell words containing the /u/ phoneme. They
will learn a meaningful representation of a confused person saying “Uhhhhh” and
begin to associate it with the short u sound. They will then learn to both spell
and read words with this phoneme with a letterbox lesson and then practice
reading a decodable book that focuses on the phoneme as well.
Materials:
·
Image of a confused person
saying “Uhhhh”
·
Large white board or
SMARTBoard version of Elkonin boxes
·
Class set of individual
Elknonin boxes
·
Large magnetic or SMARTBoard
letters for teacher (b, c, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, u, z, z)
·
Individual letter
manipulatives for each student (b, c, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, u, z, z)
·
List of words on a poster or
SMARTBoard (tug, tune, fun, boat, cake, bug)
·
Decodable text:
Bud the Sub
·
Worksheets for
practice/assessment
Procedures:
1.
Say: “Learning to read is
like learning to understand a secret code. To do this, we have to learn which
letters make which sounds. Today we’re going to learn about /u/, the short u
sound. When I say “uhhhh” I think of a confused person when they don’t know the
answer to something (show image). The way to spell the /u/ sound is with the
letter u (write u on the board).”
2.
Say: “First, we need to
learn how to listen for the /u/ sound in words. When I listen for the /u/ sound
in words, I realize that why I say it, my lips are relaxed and my tongue is down
and behind my bottom teeth. (Model saying /u/ a few more times so the students
can practice saying it and notice how their mouths move.) Uhhhh, there is a
short u in tug. Now I’m going to see if I can hear or feel the short u sound in
tune… No, my lips were pursed together, not relaxed. Now you practice: when I
point to a word, quietly say it out loud. If you heard the /u/ sound, give a
thumbs-up signal; if you didn’t, cross your arms.” (Practice with each word on
the poster or SMARTBoard.)
3.
Say: “How do I figure out
how to write the word sub, as in ‘The
sub went underneath the water.’? Sub
is short for submarine. To spell sub
in letterboxes, I have to know how many different phonemes or sounds I hear in
the word so I have to stretch it out and count /s/ /u/ /b/. So I need three
boxes, one for each sound. We know that we use the letter u for the /u/ sound
and that sound came in the middle of the word so we put the u in the second box.
SSSub, the first sound in the word is the /s/ sound and for that, we use the
letter s and we put that in the first letterbox. Subbb, that last sound is /b/
so we put the letter b in the last letterbox. Sub.” (Think aloud and point while
modeling the letterbox lesson to the class.)
4.
Say: “Now, I’ll show you how
I figure out how to read a tough word.” (Show the word
strum on the poster or SMARTBoard and
model read it.) “First, start with the vowel sound; we know that the letter u
says uhhhh. Now I put the beginning sounds together with it - /s/ /t/ /r/ /u/.
The last thing we do is add on the last sound /m/. So now we have
ssstttrrruuummm. Oh, that word is strum,
like I learned to strum the guitar
strings.”
5.
Say: “Now, you will practice
spelling words in your own letterboxes. First, we’ll start off with just two
letterboxes for the word up. ‘The
elevator is going up.’ (Walk around the room to observe the students’ work.)
Next we need three boxes so add another box. Now try
bug. Remember: if you have trouble,
start with the vowel sound, then the first sound(s) and then the last sound(s).”
(Repeat this process and allow students the time needed to spell out the
remaining words, giving sentences for each one and letting them know when to add
another letterbox. Remaining words: 3 phonemes- buzz, sun, luck; 4 phonemes-
jump; 5 phonemes- crust. Continue to walk around the room and observe the
students’ progress.)
6.
When all the words have been
spelled, use your magnetic or SMARTBoard letters to list the words and have the
students chorally or individually read all the words they just spelled.
7.
Say: “Now that we’ve learned
how to read and spell words with the /u/ sound, we can read the book
Bud the Sub. This story is about a
submarine named Bud who is not the biggest or fanciest sub, but he is the best.
Let’s read to find out why he’s the best.” (Have children read either
individually or in pairs, whichever works better for your class, while you walk
around to observe. After reading, the class will reread the story chorally,
while the teacher stops between pages to ask questions and discuss the story.)
8.
For assessment, each student
will be given the following worksheet.
References:
Cushman, Sheila. Bud the Sub. Educational Insights, Carson, CA, 1990,
9pp.
Meredith, Lauren. Under my Umbrella. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/meredithlbr.htm