"Aaaa, you scared me!"
Beginning Reading Design
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Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence a = /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. They will remember a meaningful picture to remember “aaa” when they are scared. They will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a= /a/.
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Materials:
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Image of scared person saying “aaa,” cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard, Letterbox boxes for modeling and individual Letterbox boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, c, d, f, m, n, p, t; list of spelling words to read: cat, fat, map, dad, fad, nad decodable text: “A cat nap,” and an assessment worksheet.
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Procedures:
1. Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. Every letter in the alphabet has its own sound and mouth move, but today we are going to focus on the short vowel a. The short vowel a sounds like /a/. It sounds like when you are scared. When you are scared what do you say? “Aaa!”
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 opens wide while my tongue stays in place. [Make vocal gesture for /a/.] I’ll show you first: Cat. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth open really wide while my tongue stayed in place. What about make? Hmm, I didn’t hear a say /a/. Now you try. Cat. If you hear /a/ say, “Aaa I hear it!” If you don’t hear /a/ say, “Aaa, not there!” Is it in mat, lit, set, cap? [Have children make the a motion with their mouth when they say words involving /a/.]
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /a/ that we’ll learn today. What if I want to spell the word cast? “I cast the line into the water .” (show hand motion of casting a fishing line into the water) To spell cast in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /c//a//s//t/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /a/ just before the /s/ so I’m going to put an a in the 3rd box. The word starts with /c/, that’s easy; I need a c. Now it gets a little hard so I’m going to say it slowly, /c//a//s//t/. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /c//a//s//t/. The missing one is /t/ = t.
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes (Write the letter a on the board). Let’s start out easy with two boxes for at. At in this sentence means a location. For example, “I am at school.” What should go in the first box? What goes in the second box? 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/. Here’s the word: map, I looked at the map. Map. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: m – a– p and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: tag; I have a tag on my dress. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] (have children also spell tap, mat, cap, lap, sad)
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 mash on the top and model reading the word.] First I see the /m/ at the beginning that makes the mmmm sound like you just ate something yummy. Then I hear the “aaa” sound we have been talking about, can everyone say “aaa?” Lastly I hear the sh sound like I am telling someone to “shh be quiet.” /M/ /a/ /s/ /h/. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have children read words in unison. 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 and reading words with our new spelling for /a/= a. Now we are going to read a book called Pat’s Jam. This is a story about two rats named Pat and Pam. They both have ham and jam to eat. Although, their van will not start… so what will happen with their ham and jam? We will have to read to find out! Let’s pair up and take turns reading Pat’s Jam to find out what happens with the van. [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 Pat’s Jam aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. That was a fun story. What ever happened to the van? Say: Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /a/ = a, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, you write the first letter to each word. [Call students one by one to desk as they finish worksheet and have them individually read the words to you]
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Resources:
Morgan Anderson, “Aaaa, an Alligator”
https://morgananderson0011.wixsite.com/mysite-1/beginning-reading
Geri Murray, “Oh, I didn’t know”
https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1097859/files?preview=122798712
Book: Cushman, S. Pat’s Jam. Educational insights, Carson, CA (USA). 1990
Worksheet: CVCWorksheetsCVCWordsWorksheetsFreebieShortVowelWorksheets.pdf
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