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“Waaaaa /a/” Cried the Baby!

A Beginning Reading Lesson

By: Anna Byers

 

Rationale: Students will become more familiar with the short vowel correspondence          a= /a/. It is important that children are able to map out word spellings to successfully read. This lesson engages students in hands on instruction with a letterbox lesson, a decodable text, and various other activities to provide practice with the short correspondence a=/a/. When finished with this lesson students will be able to both read and spell words containing a short a.

 

Materials: Pencils, graphic image of a crying baby, cover up critters for each student, whiteboard or smart board, (magnetic letters if using white board) paper letter tiles for each student with letters: a, b, c, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, p, r, s, t, chart paper with the words: rag, mat, flag, had, pack, bass, mask, clap, fact, grab, strap written on it, assessment worksheet http://www.funfonix.com/book1/ffonix_book1_3.gif, a copy of Ants In A Can for each student.

 

Procedure:

  1. Teacher Says: Before we can become good readers, we need to learn about how to say the words. Today we are going to learn how to spell and read words that have a short a in them.

  2. Teacher Says: We have already learned about what sound the short a makes. Can anybody tell me what “short a” sounds like? Remember to raise your hand before answering. (Give students enough times to think about the answer, call on a student and wait for response.) That’s right, a=/a/! Lets pull out our crying baby picture that helps us remember a= /a/. (Show graphic image) Lets all cry like a baby. /aaaaa/. Our crying baby sounds just like our short a sound, /a/.

  3. Teacher Says: To get us warmed up lets practice by listening for the /a/ sound in some words. That smells bad! When I say the word “bad” I noticed that I opened my mouth wide like a crying baby. “b-aaa-d”, bad. Yes, there is a short a in “bad”. Now I want you to try some. See if you hear the /a/ sound in the words I say, and if you do open your mouth wide like a crying baby. Don’t make any sound, just move your mouth. (Between each word, pause and observe the class while they are responding with open mouths to see who hears this phoneme.) Is the short a sound in: boy, at, map, pet, trap, fab, vest?

  4. Teacher Says: Now, what if I want to spell the word rag? She wiped up the spill with a rag. A rag in this sentence is used as a towel to clean up a mess. Hmm, first I think I need to stretch out the word to really hear all of its sounds. Rrrrr-aaaaa-ggggg, rag. Now I am going to try out counting all of the sounds I hear, /r/ /a/ /g/, 3 sounds. I am going to lay out three letterboxes to spell this word. (Either draw letterboxes on the white board or pull them up on the smart board.) I know I heard my mouth open wide like a baby, so I know the /a/ sound is in there somewhere. Rrr-aaa-ggg, rag. I heard the /a/ sound right before the /g/ sound, so I am going to put a short /a/ om the second box. It is easiest to start with the vowel sound you hear first. Rag starts with /r/, so I am going to put an ‘r’ in the first box. Now there is only one box left, so I am going to stretch out my one more time. Rrr-aaa-ggg, rag. The letter I have missing is the /g/ sound, I know that g says /g/ so I will place a g in the third box.

  5. Teacher Says: “Lets try another word. I need three volunteers to help me spell the word “mat”. The mat was on the floor. Remember to found the sounds, /m/ /a/ /t/. How many letters do we need? (Wait for response). 3, good! Who can come to the board and write the letter that goes in the first box? Who can come write the letter that goes in the second box? The third? Great job! 

  6. Teacher Says: Now, I want you to spell some words in your own letterboxes. I am going to call out a word, and I want you to spell it in your letterbox. I’m going to walk around the room to check your words. Lets try a 4-box word, flag. There was a flag waving outside. Flag. Who wants to come put their spelling in their boxes in the whiteboard? Good Job!” Repeat this process for each new word. Remind students to stretch the words out, and listen for the baby crying a= /a/ sound. (3-phoneme: had, pack, bass), (4-phoneme: mask, clap, fact, grab), (5-phoneme: strap)

  7. Teacher says: Now I am going to show you how I would read this word. (pull out chart paper with words listed on them) First I see the “a” in the middle so it must say /a/ like our crying baby. I’m going to use my cover up critter to read the rest of the word. (Cover up and blend before the vowel, and then with the vowel.) /r/ /a/= /ra/. Now I am going to blend /ra/ with the “g” on the end. /ra/ /g/, /rag/. Oh, that’s easy! Rag, like, I need a rag to clean up this mess. Now I want everybody to lok at our chart paper, and lets read the words together. (Rag, mat, flag, had, pack, bass, mask, clap, grab, strap) Great job everyone!

  8. Pull out the flashcards. Mix up the words, and ask children to raise their hand to read the word. Ask them to only read the word, so that everybody can have a turn. Have students read the flashcards until every child has had at least one turn.

  9. Teacher Says: Now, we are going to read the book Ants in Can. This book is about a little girl named Jan who tries to touch an ant. Her dad tells her to put the ant in the can, so she tries to get the and by giving it a snack. The ants hurry to the snack and Jan hits them! What do you think will happen to Jan? Will the ants hurt her? We will have to read to find out! I want everybody to read to his or her shoulder partner. You can move to a new spot in the room so you can hear each other better if you would like. I want you to read a page, and then let your partner read a page. If you get stuck on a word use your cover up critter, or look at our phoneme picture of the crying baby! I will be walking around the room if you need help.

  10. Teacher Says: Great Job reading to each other! What snack did the ants have? (Wait for response) What did the ants do to Jan? (Wait for response) What did Jan’s dad give her at the end of the story? (Wait for response)

  11. Give each student the assessment worksheet. http://www.funfonix.com/book1/ffonix_book1_3.gif  Say: In this worksheet you will need to look at the pictures and read the words in the word bank. Pick the word that matches the picture the best and write it in the space provided under the picture. You can use your cover up critter to read the words if you need help.

 

Resourses:

Danson, Katelyn, Say aaaaaahhhhhhhh?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DxkAgDzxh3XyF3a7Sonha8X4kcpQ_uqcgJCcOizYqSk/edit

View this lesson 

 

Kimberley, Kaitlyn, Ahh Ahhh Ahhhh CHOOOOOO!

http://www.auburn.edu/%7Ekbk0005/kimberleybr.htm

View this lesson 

 

Murray, G. (2006) Ants in a Can. Reading Genie:

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html

View this book

 

Assessment worksheet: http://www.funfonix.com/book1/ffonix_book1_3.gif

 

 

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