Don't Grab the Ants, /a/!
A Beginning Reading Lesson
Rationale:
Students will become familiar with the short vowel correspondence a=/a/.
Children must be able to map out work spellings to successfully read This lesson
engages children in hands on instruction with a letterbox lesson, a decodable
text, and various activities to provide practice with the short correspondence
=/a/. Upon completion of this lesson students will be able to read and spell
words containing short a.
Materials:
pencils, graphic image of a crying baby, cover up critters for each student,
whiteboard or smart board, magnetic letters if using whiteboard, paper letter
tiles for each student with letters: a,
b, c, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, p, r, s, t, chart paper with the words:
rag, mat, flag, had, pack, bass, mask,
clap, fact, grab, strap written on it, assessment worksheet
http://www.funfonix.com/book1/ffonix_book1_3.gif
, copy of Ants In A Can for each
student.
Procedure:
1.
Teacher says: "Before we can become good readers we need to learn the alphabetic
code that tells us how to pronounce the words. Today, we are going to learn how
to spell and read words that have a short
a in them."
2.
Teacher says: "We have already learned the sound a short a makes. Can anybody
tell me what "short a" sounds like? Remember to raise you hand before answering.
That's right, a=/a/! Lets pull out our crying baby picture that helps us
remember a=/a/". [Show graphic image].
3.
Teacher says: "To get us warmed up lets practice listening for the /a/ sound in
some words. That smells bad! When I
said the word bad I noticed that I
opened my mouth wide like a crying baby. B-aaa-d, bad. Yes, there is a short
a in
bad. No I want you to try some. If
you hear the /a/ sound I want you to open your mouth wide like you are a crying
baby. Don't make any sound just move your mouth. Is it is
boy, at, pet, map, trap, fab, vest?"
[Observe the class while they are opening their mouth to monitor who hears this
phoneme].
4.
Teacher says: "Now, what if I want to spell the word
rag. She wiped up the spill with a
rag. A rag in this sentence is used as a towel to clean up a mess. Hmm, first I
think I will stretch the word out to listen to the sounds I hear. Rrrr-aaaa-gggg,
rag. Now I am going to count the sounds I hear, /r/ /a/ /g/, 3 sounds. I am
going to pull out three letterboxes to spell this word. [Either draw letterboxes
on the whiteboard, or pull them up on the smart board]. I know I heard my mouth
open wide like a baby, so I know the /a/ sound is in there. I heard the /a/
right before the /g/, so I am going to write a short a in the 2nd
box. It is easiest to start when you hear the vowel sound. Rag starts with /r/,
so I am going to put an r in the
first box. Now there is one box left, so I am going to say my word again, rag.
The letter I have missing is g, the
/g/ sound, so I am going to place my g
in the 3rd box.
|
r |
a |
g |
5.
Teacher says: "Lets try another word. I need three volunteers to help me spell
the word mat. The mat was on the
floor. Remember to count the sounds, /m/ /a/ /t/. How many letterboxes do we
need? [Wait for response]. 3, good! Who can come to the board and write the
letter that goes in the first box? Who can come write the letter that goes in
the second box? The third? Great job!"
6.
Teacher says: Now, I want you to spell some words in your letterboxes. I am
going to call out a word, and I want you to spell it. I will walk around the
room to check spellings. Lets try a 4-phoneme word,
flag. For each sound you hear put the
letter in the box. Listen hard for the beginning sound.
Flag, There was a flag waving
outside. Flag. Who wants to come put their spelling in the boxes on the
whiteboard? Good job!" Repeat this process for each new word. Remind students to
stretch the words out, and listen for the baby crying a=/a/ sound. [3-phoneme:
had, pack, bass], [4-phoneme: mask, clap, fact, grab], [5-phoneme: strap]
7.
Teacher says: "Now I am going to show
you how I would read this word. [Pull out chart paper with words listed on
them]. First I see the a in the
middle so it must say /a/ like our crying baby. I'm going to use my cover up
critter to read the rest of the word. [Cover up and blend before the vowel, and
then with the vowel]. /r/ /a/ = /ra/. Now I am going to blend /ra/ with the "g"
on the end. /ra/ /g/, /rag/. Oh, that's easy! Rag, like, I need a rag to clean
up this mess. Now I want everybody to look at our chart paper, and let's read
the words together. [rag, mat, flag, had,
pack, bass, mask, clap, fact, grab, strap] Great job everyone!
8.
Pull out the flashcards. Mix the words up, and ask children to raise their hand
to read the word. Ask them to only read one word, so that everybody can have a
turn. Have students read the flashcards until every child has had at least one
turn.
9.
Teacher says: Now, we are going to read the book
Ants in a Can. This book is about a
little girl named Jan who tries to touch an ant. Her dad tells her to put the
ant in the can, so she tries to get the ant by giving it a snack. The ants hurry
to the snack, and Jan hits them! What do you think will happen to Jan? Will the
ants hurt her? We will have to read to find out! I want everybody to read to the
person sitting beside you. You can move around the room so you can hear each
other if you want to. I want you to read a page, and then let your partner read
a page. If you get stuck on a word use your cover up critter, or look at our
phoneme picture of the crying baby! I will be walking around the room if you
need help!"
10.
Teacher says: Great job reading! What snack did the ants have? [Wait for
response]. What did the ants do to Jan? [Wait for response]. What did Jan's Dad
give her at the end of the story? [Wait for response].
11.
Give each student the assessment worksheet.
http://www.funfonix.com/book1/ffonix_book1_3.gif
Say: In this worksheet you will need to look at the pictures and read the words
in the word bank. Pick the word that matches the picture and print it in the
spaces under the pictures. You can use your cover up critter to read the words
if you need help. [Pick up the worksheets for individual assessment.]
Resources:
Storey, Jamie, Cry Baby /a/ "Aaaaa":
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/storeyjbr.htm
Murray, G. (2006) Ants in a Can.
Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/Geniebooks/AntsCan.ppt
Assessment worksheet:
http://www.funfonix.com/book1/ffonix_book1_3.gif
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