‘A’ Matey!!
Rationale:
This lesson will teach children about the long vowel correspondence a_e=/A/. In order for children to be able to read, they must be able to recognize the spellings that map out the word pronunciations. This allows them to learn to effortlessly read the phonemes and learn these words as sight words. Therefore, in this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling a_e=/A. They will learn a memorable representation with a sound analogy (a pirate saying “A” Matey), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and then they will read a decodable book which concentrates on a_e=/A/.
Materials:
Printed image (or digital if appropriate technology is available) of talking pirate; cover-up critter for scaffolding; either large scale Elkonin boxes or Digital Elkonin boxes for modeling, and individual boxes for each student, digital letters for teacher, and letter tiles for each student: a,b,c,e,h,k,k,l,,n,o,p,s,t,u ; list of spelling words on large scale paper or digital copy to display for reading: ace,bake,sale,hate,shape,plane; decodable book: Jane and Babe; and final assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1. Say: To become an expert reading we need to learn the secret code that tells us how to pronounce words the right way. We have already talked learned to read our short vowel words like a in tap, so today we are going to learn about long A, and how the silent e on the end of the word makes A say its name /A/. When I say /A/ I think of a happy pirate saying, “A, Matey!!” to his crew or friends (show image).
2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /A/, we need to listen for that sounds in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear a says its name /A/ and the bottom of my mouth moves down like this (show mouth gesture for /A/). First, I’ll show you: hate. I hear a say its name and my mouth moved down in the gesture for /A/ (slowly repeat mouth gesture). There’s a long A in hate. Now I am going to see if there is a long A in scam. I didn’t hear the a say it’s name, and my mouth barely moved to say the word. Now it’s your turn! If you hear /A/ in say, “A, Matey!” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “Nope, not this time!” Is /A/ in plan, pants, cape, rose? (Have the child place their hand below their jaw and when it extends fully to say a_e=/A/ they will know).
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we’ll learn today, it’s a little different than what we’ve learned before with vowels because it has a silent letter. One way you can spell /A/ is with the letter a and silent e at the end of the world telling me to let A say its name. (model a_e on the board, or on large scale paper). This blank line between our vowels means there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a silent little e signal. What if I want to spell the word shape? “I want to shape my clay to look like a dog.” Shape in this sentence means to move or mold my clay to look a particular way. In order to spell shape in our letterboxes we first need to know how many phonemes we have in the word so I stretch it out so we can count: /sh/ /A/ /p/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /A/ right before /p/ so I’m going to put /A/ in the second box and the silent e outside of the last box. This word starts with /sh/, so I need box an s and h letter tile. Now I need my final sound /p/ which I hear at the end of the word so I will place that in the 3rd box. Lets point to our phonemes as we say the word slowly in order to make sure we have them in the right order. (point to each phoneme while saying the word slowly) /sh/ /A/ /p/. Perfect!
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in the letterboxes just like what we did together with shape. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ace. An ace is a kind of playing card, “I have one queen, one jack, and an ace.” What should go in the first box? (use appropriate response to children’s’ answers). What goes in the second box? (respond appropriately again to children’s’ answers). What about silent e? Don’t forget our silent little signal letter, did you place it outside the box? I will be checking everyone’s spelling as a walk around the room. (do observations and scaffolding while walking around classroom). You will need 3 letterboxes for this next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then Listen for /A/ and don’t forget to put that little silent e at then end, outside of the boxes again. Here’s the word: bake, I love to bake cakes; bake (allow time for children to spell word). Time to check your work! I am going to spell bake in my letterboxes up here, and I want you to check and see if you’ve spelled it the same way: b-a-k-e. (Continue this style of modeling with all words, having the children do it themselves, then model for them to check and self correct).
5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words that you have just spelled, but first I am going to show you how to read a tough word. (Display poster with shape and model reading the word). I first notice that there is a silent e on the end, so I know that a will say it’s name /A/. There’s that vowel /A/ (point to the long vowel). I’m going to use my little cover-up critter to get the first part of the word (Uncover and blend before the vowel, and then with the vowel). /s/ /h/= /sh/. Now I’m going to blend this first part with our vowel /A/. /sh/ /A/= /shA/. Now, all I need is the end, /p/=/shAp/. Shape, that’s it! Now, it’s your turn to try, everyone together. (have class work together, afterwards, call on individual students to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.
6. Say: You’ve done a wonderful job reading our words with our new spellings for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read this awesome book called Jane and Babe. Babe is a lion, who lives in a cage with his name on it. His friend’s name is Jane. Jane comes and visits Babe, and wakes him up and does lots of other stuff with Babe. Do you think Jane is safe? And, what all does she and Babe do together? Let’s popcorn read to find out what will happen to Jane and Babe. (Children will take turns reading pages, while teacher walks around the room and observes progress. Then the class will discuss the plot and things they found most interesting about the book).
7. Say: That was such a fun and exciting story! Was Jane safe? Of course she was! Babe is a sweet lion who just wanted to have fun with Jane. Before we finish up with our reading lesson about a_e=/A/, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have pictures with missing words. I want you to look at the picture, and fill in the missing sounds for each a_e word. Look at all the pictures first, then slowly (to yourself) say the sounds for each word and fill in the blanks. Reread your answers to make sure they make sense! (collect worksheets to evaluate each child’s understanding of a_e).
Resources:
Phonics Readers, Jane and Babe
Assessment worksheet: http://www.galacticphonics.com/longvowels/a-e/resources/aesplitpictures.pdf
Reference:
Noie Yancey, OH OH My Knee Hurts
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/yanceybr.htm
Beginning Reading Design
