Aaaaaaaa!!! I Want Ice Cream!
A
Beginning Reading Lesson
Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence
a=/a/. As a beginning reader, it is
important for students to learn the correspondences between letters and sounds.
In this lesson children will learn to distinguish, spell, and read words
containing the letter a. The students
will also learn a meaningful illustration (baby crying saying Aaaa!); they will
use this memorable connection to the correspondence in written and spoken
language. The students will also use this correspondence in a Letterbox lesson,
and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a= /a/.
Materials:
·
Graphic image of baby crying
·
Individual letterboxes (Elkonin Boxes) for the students
·
Individual picture pages: (cat, bag, jam, man, hat, crab, hand) with the correct
number of letterboxes underneath the picture
·
Individual letter tiles for the students (a, m, c, t, s, d, h, g, r, b, l, n, k,
p, s, r)
·
Teacher letterboxes and letter tiles
·
Individual copies of A Cat Nap for
the students and teacher
·
Primary paper and pencil for student
Procedure:
1.
Introduce the lesson by explaining that letters represent different sounds in
written words. In order to become excellent readers, we must learn how to match
the letter to their sounds. When I say
/a/ I think of a baby crying for ice cream this will be the perfect time to
show the graphic image of the baby crying. Explain to the students that once
they begin to understand the /a/
sound, they will be able to read and spell all kinds of words with short
/a/.
2. Ask the students: Have you ever heard a babying crying aloud? What does the baby crying and screaming sound like when you hear it? When babies cry they scream and say Aaaaaa! The sound of a baby crying makes the short /a/ sound. It says Aaaaaa and we are going to remember this by making a crying noise whenever we see the letter /a/. [Have children act like they’re crying like a baby to make the /a/ sound.
3.
Have students find letter a in some words in this silly tongue twister.”Alice
asked Adam for an apple”. Everybody say it aloud together. Now say it again, and
this time, stretch the a at the
beginning of each word that starts with
a and think about the sound you make
when you open your mouth wide and say”Aaa”.
4.
Now give each student a set of letterboxes as well as the appropriate letter
tiles. Tell the students that they are going to be working with letterboxes and
letter tiles to spell out some words with short
a. “Now we are going to practice using
our knowledge of the /a/ sound to
spell words. What if I wanted to spell the word
cat? I am going to start with the
first sound that I hear in cat. Ccccat, I hear the
/k/ sound. I will place the letter
c in the first letterbox. The next sound I hear is Caaaat,
/a/ there is the crying baby /a/
sound. Now I will place the phoneme a in my second letterbox. Now the last sound I hear is Cattt,
/t/. I hear the
/t/ sound, which means I will place the letter t in the last
letterbox. Now I have made the word cat
using letter tiles.
5.
Now I want you to try to spell some words using your letterboxes and letter
tiles and use the same method that I just modeled. The teacher should also have
a word list ready for the students to spell that have the phonemes /a/ in it.
As, the teacher call out a word, the students will put the letters in their
boxes that they have in front of them. This way they will know how many boxes to
have ready. Start out easy with two boxes for “at”. “Look at that cat.” What
should go in the first box? (Respond to the children’s answers). What goes in
the second box? Check the student’s progress while walking around the room.
(Observe progress) You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for
the beginning sounds to spell in the first box. Now listen for the /a/ sound in
bat. “Look at the bat in the sky.” (Allow students to spell remaining words:
cat, jam, van, mat, pan, flat, and clap.)
6.
Say: Now I am going to let you read the
words you’ve spelled. Have the students read words in harmony. Afterwards call
on individuals to read one word on the list until everybody has had a turn.
7.
Say: Now we are going to read a book
called A Cat Nap. (Hand out a copy of
“A Cat Nap” to each student). Give a short book talk. This story is about a cat
named Tab. Tab is a fat cat who likes to nap in a bag. Sam is the man who owns
Tab. Sam plays baseball. Sam has a bat in his bag. To find out where Tab is
while Sam plays baseball, you need to read. Let’s pair up and take turns reading
A Cap Nap to find out where Tab is.
Students pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks
around the room monitoring progress.
8.
Say: Before we finish up with our lesson about the short /a/ sound, I want to
complete a worksheet with some missing words so you solve a reading problem.
Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide what word fits the
pictures. First try reading all of the words in the box, then choose the word
that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense.
(Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.)
References:
Sullivan, Sarah “The Scary Letter….aaaaaaaaa!
ahttp://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/sullivanbr.html
Cushman, Sheila A Cat Nap. Educational Insights, 1990.
Murray, G. (2004) Jakes joke. Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html
2009 Lanternfish ESL
http://bogglesworldesl.com/CVCwords.htm