Miranda Snider
Elementary Education
"Ay! It's nice to see you!"
A Beginning Reading Lesson
Rationale: This lesson teaches students about the long vowel a_e = /A/. In order to be able to read, students must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson students will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling a_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (boy saying “Ay!”), and they will spell and read words in a Letterbox lesson, and then read a decodable book that emphasizes the correspondence a_e = /A/.
Materials:
1. The image of boy sliding down the slide
2. Cover-up critter
3. Whiteboard
4. Letter boxes (for each student)
5. Letter manipulatives (for each student)
6. Magnetic letters for teacher to model on board: a, e, d, g, r, t, l, m, c, s, r, o, p,k
7. List of spelling words on poster or white board to read: ate, made, tale, sock, grade (pseudoword to read: zate)
8. Decodable text: James and the good Day (1 book for each pair of students)
9. Assessment worksheet (1 work sheet per student)
Procedures:
1. Say: In order for you all to become expert readers, you all have to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read short vowel words with “a”, like map and hat, so today we are going to learn about long A and the silent e helper that is used to make the letter a say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of a boy saying “Ay! It’s nice to see you!” [show image].
2. Say: Before we learn the spelling of /A/, we are going to listen for /A/ in some words. Let’s all say, “Ay! It’s nice to see you!” so we get an understanding of the sound. [Let class repeat after you, and perform the hand gesture] When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear a say its name /A/ and my mouth opens like I am about to eat an apple, but then my mouth comes back to close. My mouth looks like this. [Pronounce /A/ and show students the mouth position]. Now let’s see if we can hear /A/ in some words. I’ll show you first: plane. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth open like I am about to eat an apple. There is a long A in plane. Now I’m going to see if it’s in SWIM. No, I didn’t hear a say its name and my mouth didn’t look like it was about to eat an apple. Now I want you all to try. I am going to read some words and if you hear /A/ in the words say, “Ay!” and if you don’t hear /A/ say, “Not it.” Is /A/ in fun, cake, school, game?
3. Say: Now we will learn the spelling for /A/. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a with the helper e at the end of the word to tell me to that a is going to say its name. [Write a_e on the board.] This space here means that there will be a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e helper. What if I want to spell the word scrape? Like, “If you fall you will scrape your knee.” To spell scrape in the letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word. So in order to find out how many phonemes, I must stretch out the word and count: /s//c//r//A//p/. There are 5 phonemes, so I need 5 letterboxes. I heard the /A/ just before the /p/ so I know to put an a in the 4th box and the silent e helper outside the last box. The word starts with /s/, so that means an s. Let’s see what goes after s, I am going to stretch it out slowly, /s//c//r//A//p/. I heard /c/ so after the s I will put c. Now I have one more box to fill before /A/, I am going to stretch the word again /s//c//r//A//p/, I heard growling /r/ so I need an r. I have one empty box now at the end. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//c//r//A//p/.] The popping p goes in the last box and here is my word, “scrape.”
4. Say: Now it’s your turn to spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start with two boxes for the word ate. Like, “I ate the pie and it was yummy.” What should go in the first box? That’s right, a goes in the first box, but what helper does it need to make it say its name, /A/? Right, e, and where do we put e? Yes, outside the last box! What goes in the second box? Let me see if everyone if everyone’s got it [walk around the room to observe.] So for this next word you will have three letter boxes. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and don’t forget to put the silent e helper at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: made, I made a picture in art class. [Allow children to spell words.] It’s time for me to see. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: m – a – d– e and check yourself to see if you got the correct spelling! Try another with three boxes: tale; my grandmother told me a tale. Can I have a volunteer this time to spell tale in my letterboxes? [Choose a student from the class to show how to spell tale].Here is your next word: sock; like I lost my sock in the wash. Make sure you stretch it out before you spell! It may be different sound from our other words. Do we hear a say its name? So do you need a silent e helper? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say its name. We spell it with our short vowel o. Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck because it is a short vowel? Now let’s try 4 phonemes, so 4 letterboxes: grade; Milly made a good grade on her test.
5. Say: Now it is time for you to read the words you just spelled! But I am going to show you how first! I am going to read a really tough word. [Display the word scrape and model reading the word.] First I see there’s a silent e helper on the end; that’s my clue to know that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/ because it has its helper. I’m going to use a cover-up. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /s/ + /c/+/r/= /scr/ Now I’m going to blend that with the /A = /scrA/. Now all I need is the popping p, /p/ = /scrAp/. Scrape is the word. Now it’s time for you to try, everyone together. [Have students read words together. Next, ask each student to read one word on the list, including the pseudoword: zate, until everyone has had a turn.]
6. Say: Y’all have done a great job today! You have all spelled and read words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called James and the Good Day. This story is about a boy named James who wakes up one morning with big plans! He wants to sail his little boat! So he goes and he fills the tub with water, but what happens when he forgets to turn off the water?! We have to read to find out! Now, I want you each of you to pair up and take turns reading James and the Good Day! Let’s find out what happens to James! [Students pair up and take turns reading, teacher walks around room observing the progress] After paired reading, the class rereads James and the Good Day aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: So James had to clean up his mess! Poor James! Okay, so before we finish, I need you to do this fun worksheet. On this worksheet, you will read the short story and circle the pictures that were mentioned in the story! [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
References:
Blair, Audrey. "Say Ah!" http://abb0036.wixsite.com/funwithreading/beginning-reading
Assessment worksheet: http://www.funfonix.com/worksheets/book3_page8.php
GIF: http://giphy.com/gifs/disney-wave-gSJ5Q7Uh8Fi4E
