Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long 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 (The angry Ay! Because the monkeys eating my banana) 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 monkey and banana; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, c, d, e, g, h, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, w; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ate, ape rake, face, name, stake, stage; decodable text: James and the Good Day, and 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 short vowel words with a, like can, and 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 a funny little monkey who ate my banana [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 lips make a wide shape with the sides of my tongue touching my teeth like this. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: bake. I heard a say its name and I felt my lips make a little a [wide shape with the sides of tongue touching teeth]. There is a long A in bake. Now I’m going to see if it’s in ham. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and my lips didn’t make that wide a. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Ay! He ate it.” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in snake, rain, pants, coat, game, arm? [Have children make a circle motion around their pursed lips 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 a 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? “We have to put up the stake for the tent.” Stake means the sticks to hold a tent in this sentence. 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/e. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an a in the 4th 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. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//t//A//k/e.] The missing one is /k/ = k. Finally we end with the silent e.
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ate. If you ate then you already had your meal. 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 the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] Here’s a review word with two letter boxes for up. We went up the stairs. What’s in the first box? And the second? 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: take, I’m going to take a cookie; take. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: t – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Let’s try another review word. How about top? We went into the big top. What goes in the first letterbox? Do you remember what picture goes with the o sound? And what makes that last sound? Try another with three boxes: game; I want to play a game. [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: ham; Do you want to eat some ham? 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.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: stage; She wants to be on stage. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need four boxes again: stake; We need the stakes to put up the tent. 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 stake 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.] /s//t/ = /st/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /stA/. Now all I need is the end, /k/ = /stAk/. Stake; that’s it. 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_e. Now we are going to read a book called James and the Good Day. This is a story of a boy named James who wakes up knowing he will have a good day. He makes a lake in the bath to sail, but doesn’t want to wait and goes to play a game. Let’s pair up and take turns reading James and the Good Day to find out what happens to his lake when he leaves. [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 James and the Good Day aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: That was a fun story. What happened to James’ lake? Right, he floods the bath tub. What does he have to do? Right, mop the mess. 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. We are going to see some pictures and make a_e words that matching the pictures. We also are going to make some new a_e words. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
Resources:
Book: Cushman, Sheila and Kornblum, Rona. James and the Good Day. Educational Insights
Assessment worksheet: http://www.galacticphonics.com/longvowels/a-e/resources/aesplitpictures.pdf
Phonics Lesson: Eliza Gaber, Ay! It’s Mine.
https://ehg1998.wixsite.com/readinglessons/beginning-reading
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