Rationale: In order to learn to read and spell words, children need to understand digraphs so they can match letters to their phonemes.  In this lesson, children will recognize the diagraph ou = /ow/ in both spoken and written words by practicing reading and spelling words containing ou = /ow/.  Specifically, the children will participate in a letterbox lesson to gain understanding of this concept.

Materials: Elkonin Letter Boxes; letters:  s h o u t l d m n f a b; flashcards of the letterbox words on them (one per two children); primary paper and pencils; The Napping House by Audrey Wood
 

Procedures: 1.)  Introduce the lesson by writing the letter “ou” on the board.  “When these two letters are together, they make the “ow” sound in many words”.
 Today we are going to work on reading and spelling words with ou = /ow/ in them.

 2.)  A good way to remember this is to think of the sound you would make if someone pinched you.  OW!

 3.)  Write “I found out about the loud shout” on the board.  Let’s say this tongue twister together.  Read twice.  How many words continue the ou = /ow/.  5  Good job!  Let’s repeat this one more time and really emphasize the ou = /ow/.  Erase sentence when finished.

 4.)  Student will take out Letter boxes and letters.  “Now we are going to spell out some words with ou = /ow/ in them.  We are going to spell only one sound in each of our boxes when we spell the words.  When we see o and u together, we know they only make one sound.  So if we are spelling ou = /ow/ we will put the two letters in the same box.  Are there any questions?  Model on example on the board.  Spell with using four letterboxes…./s/ /ou/ /n/ /d/.  Let’s spell some words.
  2 letterboxes  out
  3 letterboxes  loud
     shout
  4 letterboxes  found
     about
     mound

5.)  In pairs, the students will use flashcards to practice reading aloud the words from the letter box lesson.

6.)  Students will read The Napping House to practice reading with ou = /ow/.  Review of old concepts in text by reading it.

7.)  For assessment, the students will write the ou = /ow/ words from the text on primary paper.

Reference: Eldredge, J. Lloyd.  (1995) Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms  New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 54-57.
  Murray, Bruce and Lesniak T.  (1999) The Letterbox Lesson:  A hands-on Approach to teaching decoding.  The Reading      Teacher, 52. 644-650.
  Wood, Audrey.  The Napping House
  www.auburn.edu/~murraba

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