Beginning Reading

Beginning Reading Lesson: Let's Bake a Cake!

Cassidy Pilcher

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, 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 birthday cake; 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: b, a, k, e, s, n, c, g, f, m, w, l, p. list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bake, base, name, cage, cake, fame, wake, safe, lake, cape; decodable text: The Race for Cake 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 tap, 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 baking a cake. Do you like to bake? Let’s bake a cake!

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 little shape like I am slightly smiling. [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 smile. There is a long A in bake. Now I’m going to see if it’s in book. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and my lips didn’t make that slight smile. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Yay!.” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in take, cage, lane, or safe?

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 name? “What is your name? Everyone has a name. To spell name in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /n//a//m/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /m/ so I’m going to put an a in the 2nd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /n/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /n/ /a/ /m/. I think I heard /a/ so I’ll put an a right after the n. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /n/ /a/ /m/.] The missing one is /m/ = m.

[N][A][M] E

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll need three letterboxes for the first 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: wake, I got to wake up today; wake. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: w – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: fame; That celebrity has a lot of fame. [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: cage; there is a bird in the cage. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: crate; the drinks were in a crate. One more then we’re done with spelling, lake; I am ready to go to the lake. Remember to stretch it out to get this 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 trade 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.] /t/ + /r/ = /tr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /trA/. Now all I need is the end, /d/ = /trAd/. Trade; 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 The Race for Cake. This story is about two boys named Ben and Jess. They were swimming when they smelled their mom baking a cake! They ran and ran, along with their dog Lad, to get the cake. However, along the way, something unexpected happens that may jeopardize them being able to eat the cake! Will they be able to eat it? We must read to find out. Let’s pair up and read this book. [Students get in pairs to read book. I will walk around and observe the students. After everyone has read the book, I will read it aloud to the whole class and stop between pages to discuss what is happening].

7. Say: That was a fun story. I know Jess and Ben are sad they could not get any cake but I am sure Lad is very happy. Before we finish our lesson, I want to hand out a worksheet. There are pictures on the worksheet with words under them. I want you to work on the worksheet and color all of the pictures that make a long /A/ sound by using a_e. [Gather worksheets for assessment and student progress.]

References:

Murray, G. (2006) The Race for Cake. Reading Genie.

https://www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Murray/e/B07VH5LHWG?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060

Assessment worksheet: http://www.schoolexpress.com/fws/ws/phonics/vowels/Long_Vowel_Aa_Book_1.4.pdf

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