Beginning Reader Design
AAAAA! A Spider!
A Beginning Reading Lesson
Rationale: This lesson design teaches children about the short vowel correspondence a=/a/. So that children can learn how to read, they must be able to recognize spellings that map out word pronunciations and they must be able to decode. Research has shown that students that learn how to decode well are able to create more sight words. In this lesson, students will learn how to recognize, spell, decode, and create new sight words containing the correspondence a=/a/. The students will learn a meaningful representation (girl screaming “aaaa!” at a spider), they will learn how to spell and read words with a through a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a=/a/ (A Cat Nap).
Materials: graphic image of screaming girl at spider, coverup critter, primary paper, the letter a on the board, letterboxes, letter manipulative, list of spelling words for letter box lesson: at, crab, crash, span, grant; letters a,t,c,r,s,h,p,n,g for letterbox lesson, decodable book A Cat Nap, and assessment worksheet (see references for link), cross checking sentence on board.
Procedure:
1. Say: Today we are going to talk about a sound that you might say especially around this time of the year. If you see a spider, what might you say?
a. Wait for student response and suggest “you might scream ‘AAAHHH’ of you saw a spider” if the students do not respond with that answer.
b. When we scream “AAAAAAA” that is the sound that the letter a makes. (Show the letter a on the board)
c. Now say the /a/ with me while pretending we just saw a spider (say /a/ with the students while putting your hands on your face in a scared manner like Kevin from the movie Home Alone).
2. Tongue Tickler-Say: A way to remember that a=/a/ is that we can say the tongue tickler “Apples are Appetizing and Adequate”. Now say with me AAAAAAApples are AAAAAppetizing AAAAAAAnd AAAAAdequate.
a. Have the students repeat it at least twice correctly on their own.
3. Practicing the correspondence- Say: Now lets practice listening for the sound /a/. Do you hear /a/ in Tammy or Ricky? Cat or dog? Rake or shack?
4. Letterbox Lesson: a=/a/. Let’s take out our letterboxes everyone. REMEMBER students, each box is for each sound you hear in a word, not necessarily each letter. Watch me do one.
a. (Model the word glad). I am going to spell the word glad. I need four letterboxes for this word because it has four phonemes or sounds. Now I am going to sound out the word and spell it with my letter tiles. /g/(put g down) /l/(put l down) /a/ “/a/, I hear the sound /a/ like AAAAA!! A spider! So I am going to put an a.” /d/(put down a d) “I am going to put a d down because I hear /d/. That is how to spell the word glad with short a says /a/.”
b. “Now it is your turn!” Call out the words 2-[at], 4-[ crab, crash, span], 5-[grant] and make sure to use them all in a sentence so that the students can use context clues.
c. Go over the correct spelling of each word once everyone has finished spelling.
d. Read the words together after the activity is complete
5. Learning how to cross check: “now we are going to learn how to cross check, or check our selves when we are reading. I am going to read the sentence on the board (read the sentence “Did you wash the dishes in the sink? And pronounce wash as w/a/sh) Did you /w/-/a/-/sh/ the dishes in the sink? W/a/sh? Oh wait, that’s wash! Sometimes our letters can make irregular sounds, but that is why we cross check just like I just did so we can still read the word and understand the sentence.
6. Letter drawing: now we are going to practice drawing the letter a. The way you do this is by drawing a circle that touches the sidewalk and the fence and a stick that touches it on the right side that starts at the fence and comes down to the sidewalk(model as you are giving instructions). Have the students practice on primary paper 10 times.
7. Decodable Book: A Cat Nap. Book talk: In this book, we will learn about a Catt named Tab. Tab is a fat cat that loves to eat and take naps after his meals. One day Tab decides to take a nap in a n interesting place: a stranger’s bag. Let’s find out what happens to Tab.
a. Observe students and help them with miscues with coverup critter.
8. Assessment: use the work sheet and have your students come over one at a time and read the words with short a and note any miscues. Have the students that are not being assessed work on the journal activity.
9. Journal: have the students write a message about what they want to be for Halloween while using some words that have our new sound (a=/a/) in it.
Resources:
Dorsey, Cydney. A-a-a-a-Choo!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/dorseybr.html
A Cat Nap. Educational Insights, Carson, CA. 1990.
Assessment worksheet: http://www.2ndgradeworksheets.net/phonics/shortvowelflashcardsnoblends-001-001.jpg