Beginning Reader

We AR Pirates!

By: Madeline Griffith

Rationale: This lesson teaches students the vowel digraph ar = /ar/. In order to read, students must be able to recognize the spellings that map out pronunciations. In this lesson, students will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the vowel digraph ar. They will remember ar with a meaningful representation of a pirate saying “ARRR!” by making a hook with one hand, they will spell and read words containing that digraph with a Letterbox lesson and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ar = /ar/.

Materials: Graphic of pirate saying “ARRR!”, letterbox squares for each student, letterbox tiles for each individual and teacher c, h, a, r, m, s, t, t, e, y, n, d, k, p, f, pencil, doc cam, Smartboard, pirate song document, Wheels on the Bus karaoke song, CD player, Flash Game powerpoint, Barb’s Sharp Car book, assessment worksheet for each student

Procedures:

1. Say: In order to be expert readers, we need to learn about the “bossy r” and one of his friends. We have learned how to read short vowels words with a, like tap, and long vowel words with a_e, like tape, and today we are going to learn about how when a and r are paired together they make the /ar/ sound. When I say /ar/ doesn’t it sound like I am a pirate? (show graphic and act like a pirate saying “ARR” with his hook up. A-R are mateys. A is the matey to R the pirate.

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /ar/, we need to listen for it in words. When I listen for /ar/ in words, I hear a pirate growling…”arrrr” and my lips are pursed and make an o shape and my tongue touches my top teeth like this. (make hook with one finger for /ar/). I’ll go first then you follow: barn. I hear ar like my pirate and I felt my lips go into an o shape. (make a hook). There is the pair a-r in barn. Now I am going to see if it is in house. Hmm… I didn’t hear my pirate growl. Must not be in house. Now you try. If you hear /ar/ say, “ARR!” and make a hook like you are a pirate. If you don’t hear /ar/, say “That’s not right.” Is it in grass, rain, yard, range, bark? (Have students make a hook when they hear /ar/). Now repeat after me, “Artie and Arnold are in the dark.”

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /ar/ that we’ll learn today. We can spell /ar/ with an a and a r paired right next to each other. First, we’ll start with a song to practice how to spell /ar/: it goes to the Wheels on the Bus tune

The pirates all say “ar, ar, ar,

Ar, ar, ar,

ar, ar, ar

The pirates all say ar, ar, ar

And it’s made by A-R!

A-R’s in words like car and tar,

Far and star

Hardy-har!

The pirates all say ar, ar, ar

And it’s made by A-R!

4. Awesome job friends! Now that we know pirates say arrrrr and it is spelled A-R, we can spell words using our letter boxes! What if I wanted to spell the word charm? “My good luck charm is a four leaf clover.” A good luck charm is something or someone that brings you luck when you have it with you. To spell charm in the letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word. So, I am going to stretch it out and count how many times my mouth changes: /ch/ar/m/. Three! I will need three boxes. I heard my pirate in the middle, so I will put /ar/ in the 2^nd box. It starts with /ch/, hmm what makes the /ch/ sound? Oh! c and h, okay I need to start with the ch. Ch-ar-mmmm, it ends with /m/. So I need an m in my last box.

5. Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words on your own in the letterboxes! Remember our pirate song if you get stuck on a word. We’ll start with two boxes and work our way up. First word is arm. “I use my right arm to throw.” What goes in your first box? (Respond to student’s answer). What goes in the second box? (Respond to student’s answer). Next, we will use three letterboxes so go ahead and add one more box. Here is the next word: yarn. “Grandma uses yarn to knit.” (Have students spell on own). Alright, it is time to check our work. (Have one student come up and show how they spelled the word on teacher model). Is this what everyone else got? (Wait for response). Anyone get anything different? (Wait for response). Good, so in yarn, if we stretch it out yyy-arrrrrr-n-n. /y/ goes in the first box, /ar/, like the pirate, goes in the second box and we end with /n/ so that is in the last box. Let’s do another three-box word: dark. When I turn out my lights, my room is dark. (Give students time to spell on own; have another volunteer come up and spell). Students check answer. Did anyone get confused and spell dark with a ck? Or just a c? In this word, we use just the k to make the /k/ sound. Now, we’ll do 4 boxes: starch. “Potatoes are a starch” (repeat previous way). The next word is state. I live in the state of Alabama. (repeat previous. Ask if anyone was tripped up about the word.) One more word and we will move on. The word is spark. “There was a spark in the sky from the fireworks.”

5. Now we are going to read the words we just spelled. I am going to show you how to read tough words like scarf. (Model on doc cam). First, I see that my pirate and his trusty matey are paired together, so let’s start with that. (Cover sc and f and just show ar; uncover and blend word body-coda style). s + c = sc sc-ar, scar; scar-f. Scarf! Awesome, now it’s your turn to read words. We are going to play a game so I need everyone focused and in the zone. I am going to display a word, but it will only be up there for a split second! Then you will tell me what the word says. Ready? Go! (Play Flash Game with words, have students say words out loud two times, then call on individuals to tell me the word).

7. Way to go! You are all rockstars at finding AR in words just like pirates! Now we are going to partner up with our shoulder neighbors to read Barb’s Sharp Car. Barb loved her car! It was her prized possession, meaning her favorite thing she owned. Everyone stared at her car as she passed, she even got the army to protect her car. One day, she decided she would take a very longgg road trip. So, she packed up her things and mapped out every place she was going to go in her car! Where do you think Barb went on her trip? Let’s read and find out! (children match up with their shoulder partner and partner read, switching off every page. After individual reading we will read Barb’s Sharp Car together and stop at each page to discuss plot).

8. What a fun story! What were some of the places that surprised you about Barb’s journey? (Let children respond and answer). Before we finish our lesson with our new friends A the matey and R the pirate, to know ar says ARR like pirates, I want to see if you can finish sentences with words that say /ar/. First, I want you to read all of the words in the word bank. Then you will read each sentence and figure out which word best fits in the blank. Once you have all the blanks filled and every word has been used. Read each sentence to yourself and check your answers. (Collect every worksheet and evaluate progress).

Fill in the Blank

Directions: Fill in the blanks with an ar word from the bank.

1. My dog ___________________ at cats that run by.

2. Many animals live on a _____________________.

3. I put on a _________________________ because my neck was cold.

4. I love to play at the _______________________.

5. The big _____________________ was swimming around looking for fish to eat.

6. I am _________________ because I work hard in school.

Word Bank

farm

shark

smart