A! A!

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Rationale: This lesson design teaches students about the long vowel correspondence a_e=/A/. In order for children to be able to read, they must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling a_e.. The children will learn a meaningful representation (Waving like they’re in a Canadian parade) when they hear a_e. Children will spell and read words containing this spelling (a_e) in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a_e=/A/.

 

Materials: Graphic image of people waving in a Canadian parade, printed; cover-up critter; decodable book: Jane and Babe; smartboard and smartboard pens; Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and smartboard letters for teacher: a, c, d, e, o, g, k, l, n, s, t, p, r; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: dog, ate, bake, cake, trade, space; assessment worksheet. 

 

Procedures: 

1. Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read the short vowel words with a=/a/ like can and sam. Today, we are going to learn about the long vowel A. When I say /A/ I think of Canada. Did you know that people in Canada say “Ay?” When we hear /A/ we are going to wave like we are in a Canadian Parade.

2. Say: Before we learn a spelling of /A/, we need to listen for /A/ in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear a say its name /A/. My mouth opens wide and my chin comes forward as I blow air out making the sound /A/. [Demonstrate vocal gesture and sound to students.] When I say Late I felt my mouth open and chin come forward. Let’s see if I feel and hear /A/ in globe. No, I didn’t hear /A/ in globe. Now you try. If you hear /A/ wave your hand like you are in the parade. Is /A/ in cake, nose, ate, face, hate, pool? [Have children point to their chin if they feel their chin come forward]. 

3. Say: Let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we are learning today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say A’s name. (The e is bossy and tells the a to say its name). [Write a_e on the board] This blank line means that a consonant after the a, and at the end of the word there is a silent e signal. Remember, a_e says /A/. One way we can remember this is by using a tongue tickler. Abe is an ape that is very hungry. He has a friend whose name is Amy. Amy has an acorn and is willing to share with Abe. (Tickler) Abe the ape ate Amy’s acorn. Now, say it with me, “Abe the ape ate Amy’s acorn.” What if I want to spell the word bake? “If I bake the cookies today, they will be ready for my birthday party.” Bake means to cook (the cookies) in this sentence. I hear /A/ in bake, do you? To spell bake, I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, but I know one is /A/.  I stretch it out and count: /b/ /a/ /k/. I need 3 boxes because I heard three phonemes (or sounds.) I heard the /A/ just before the k, so I am going to put an a in the second box and the silent e signal outside the last box, remember, the e tells the a to say its name, /A/. The word starts with a /b/ and that’s a b; I need a b in the first box. Now I have /bA/. The last sound I hear is a /k/. I need a k in the last box. This is how you spell words in a Letterbox lesson using the vowel sound first, followed by the consonants to make the word, bake.

 

 

 

4.  Say: I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with review words. Let’s spell dog. I need three boxes for each of the phonemes. In dog, I hear  /o/, for the second sound so I will put it in the second box. Then, I hear a /d/ at the beginning, now it says /do/, and I need a /g/ to complete it, g makes a /g/. Now, we have spelled dog. /d//o//g/. Now we will start a_e. Remember, the e is silent. We will need two boxes for ate.“I ate chicken fingers and French fries for lunch. What should go in the first box [respond to the child’s answer] What goes in the second box? What about the silent e? Did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside of the boxes. Here’s the word: make. “I have to make my bed.” [Allow children to spell words] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell make on the board, m-a-k-e. Did you spell it correctly? Now we are going to spell with four letterboxes, which means this word has four phonemes.  The word is trade. “I will trade my apple for your orange.” [volunteer spells it on the board.] Let’s do one more word, space. “I saw you had extra space in your basket.” You need four letterboxes. [Check students work.] 

5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words that you have spelled, but first I’ll show you how I will read a tough word. [Display poster with trade on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. I’m going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /t/ /r/ =/tr/ +/A/=/trA/ +/d/ =/trAd/. That’s trade. Now, it’s your turn, everyone, together. [Have children read in unison from the list. Afterward, call on students individually to read the words until everyone has had a turn.] 

6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This story is about a girl named Jane and a lion named Babe. Jane wants to play, but Babe is sleeping. Jane must wake Babe up, but how will she do it? Will he wake up and play with her? We must read to find out.  [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Jane and Babe aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

7. Say: We had so much fun learning /A/ didn’t we? What did Jane and Babe do together? They cleaned and played after Babe woke up! Before we finish this lesson about one way to spell /A/= a_e, I need to make sure that you can solve a reading problem. You need to look at the picture on the worksheet and decide which word describes the picture. Circle your answer. If you get stuck, raise your hand and I can come to help you. (collect worksheets and evaluate progress).

 

 

Resources:

Cushman, Sheila. Jane and Babe. long a ed., vol. 2.

Murray, G. Oh, I Didn’t Know! : http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/murraybr.htm

Worksheet: Kimbrough, Kylee. Created on funfonix.com (linked below)