BEGINNING READING DESIGN

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. In order to be able to read, children 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. They will learn a meaningful representation (a greeting, ayy), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a_e =/A/.

Materials:

Graphic image of a person waving
cover-up critter
whiteboard or SmartBoard
Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student
letter manipulatives for each child
magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher
list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read
decodable text Jane and Babe, and assessment worksheet (link at the bottom).
Letters needed: r, a, k, e, d, c, v, f, t(x2), s, b, p
List of words to read: rake, dare, cave, fade, date, cake, state, stare, brave, space, trade

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 that a = /a/, but when an a is followed by a consonant like t or d and then an e, the a says /A/. Today we are going to learn about long A and the silent e signal that is used to make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of my friend Ace saying hey to me, Ayy!” (show graphic image)

2. Say: "Before we learn about the spelling of /A/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear a say its name /A/ and my mouth and jaw opens, like Ace saying hello to us. I’ll show you how to listen for /A/ first: plane. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth open to say /A/ like Ace when he says hello. There is a long a in “plane.” Now I’m going to see if it’s in car. Hmm, I didn’t hear our friend Ace say ayy. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Ayyyy!” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “Bye!” Is it in snake, plan, fang, cage, star, trap, thank?" [Have children wave when they feel /A/ say its name.]

3. Say: "Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and the signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say a’s name. [Write a_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word stake? He needed one more stake to pitch the tent. In this sentence, stake means a wooden or metal post with a point at one end which you put in the ground to hold something down. To spell stake in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /s//t//A//k/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /k/, so I’m going to put an a in the third box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s/, /t/, /A/, /k/. I think I heard /t/ so I’ll put a t right after the s. I have one empty box now. The last sound is a /k/, so I’ll put a k in the last box."

4. Say: "Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ace, like the name of our friend who says Ayy! What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside of 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 the boxes. Here’s the word: rake, Mom said I need to rake the leaves. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: r – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: dare; Johnny and I played a game of truth or dare. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /A/ in it before you spell it: park; My sister loves to go play in the park. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: space; the rocket blasted off into space. One more then we’re done with spelling: stare; You cannot stare at the sun. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word."

5. Say: "Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would 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/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /trA/. Now all I need is the end, /d/ = /trAd/. Trade; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together." [Have children read words in unison. The words are listed under materials. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

6. Say: "You’ve done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This is a story of a lady named Jane who takes care of a lion named Babe. Is Babe a friendly or a mean lion? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Jane and Babe to see what Jane will do with Babe." [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: "That was a fun story. What did Jane do with Babe? Right, they played and raced. What was Babe doing before they played? You’re right, he was napping. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, there are some words and letters missing. Your job is to look at the pictures, then sound out and spell the a_e word that labels that picture. On the bottom part, complete the a_e word, then read it to yourself." [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

Assessment worksheet: http://www.galacticphonics.com/longvowels/a-e/resources/aesplitpictures.pdf

ACE SAYS AYYYY!

CLASS INDEX: READING GENIE