After learning to recognize phonemes in spoken words, children
develop alphabetic insight and awareness in order to identify letters
phonemes stand for in written words.
This lesson focuses helping children identify long oa=/O/ in
written words. It is very important for
a beginning reader to be confident in identifying spoken and written
correspondences in order to read accurately and fluently.
Elkonin boxes for each child (2, 3 & 4)
letter tiles a,
b, c, d, f, g, k, l, o, s, t (tape oa
Book (Multiple copies of) A Toad on the
(yellow, red, orange, green)
Brown construction paper
- Introduce the lesson by explaining the
importance of recognizing letters in written words and their sounds. "Today we are going to review the oa= /O/
correspondence by becoming wild Indians. But,
you have to listen very closely."
- Ask students: "Have
you ever seen a movie where people are sitting around a campfire and
off in the distance you can hear Indians? Does
anyone know what wild Indians sound like? Now,
I have never been to the jungle and actually heard Indians, but I know
that they do this: O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O (hit mouth with hand). Now, I want everyone to pretend that we are
wild Indians dancing around a campfire. On
the count of three, I want us all to make this noise: O-O-O-O-O-O. One,
two, three O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O." What sound
do you hear? Today, we are going to learn
that oa=/O/. You see the letters oa together to make the /O/ sound in words like: coat,
moan and soap. I want you to listen for
some other words that have the /O/ sound and be paying attention to
written words that have the oa=/O/."
- "Let’s try a tongue twister. Write on the board: Old Omer only eats
I want everyone to
say this three
times slow together. Now, I want us to
say it three times
faster. Great Job! This time, I want
everyone to say it and hold out the /O/
Excellent job! What were the words with
/O/ in them?"
"I want everyone to take their primary paper and pencil out of
desk. We are going to write o and a
together. I want you to start at the
fence and make a circle whose bottom touches the sidewalk. Right next
start at the fence and make the letter c.
Bring your pencil back up to the fence and
draw a straight line down to the sidewalk that closes up the c. I want you to keep writing oa across
your page. I am going to walk around to
make sure that
everyone is writing these letters correctly."
6. Pass out book A Toad on the Road. "I want you to read this book once through. After you have read it once through, I want
you to write down all the
words that you found with
the oa= /O/. When you are done with that,
I want you to put your head quietly down on your desk to show me that
- "Pull out your letterboxes and letters
and set them on top of your desk. We will
use what we have learned today about the oa=/O/ sound to spell words. I
want everyone to pull out the letters a, b, c, d, f, g, k, l, m, n, o,
p, s, t (Write letters on the board). "To
begin, we are going to review our short o=/o/ words.
What does short /o/ sound like? Write the word cold on the
board. “Fold out three letterboxes. Fill
in the word mop." Have everyone say the word. “How did you spell the
word mop?" Provide other short o=/o/ review words: cold, long and sold.
“Great Job!” Now, I am going to put a piece of tape on your desk and I
want you to tape the letter o and the letter a together with the o in front like we
have learned. Alright, raise your hand if you are not ready. Everyone fold your letterboxes to where only
two are showing. Spell the word oak. Now
because the o and the a are taped
together, they go in one box together.” After it looks like everyone
has finished, draw two boxes on the board to show correct answer. Have the class say the word out loud. "Now, I want you to fold out another box." Provide the words: toad, goat, soak. Walk around and make sure children are
spelling words correctly. Draw amount of
letterboxes on the board and fill in the answers after each word. Have the class say the word.
Have children fold out another letterbox and provide words:
toast and float.
7. Assessment: When
child has their head down on their desk to show me that they are
finished, I am going to call them up to my desk. I
will have some picture flash
cards. I will show them a picture and have
them write down the name of the picture. The pictures will all be of
words we have discussed or they have seen
before: toad, goat, soap, coat, boat, coach, toast.
After the child has written all the words, have them read them back to
you. Send them back to their seats to
write down words off the word wall with oa= /O/ in
8. After everyone has come up to my desk for
an individual assessment, as a class the children will share the words
they wrote down from the story. I will
write them on the board.
9. Pass out materials (pre-cut) feathers and brown
construction paper for headbands. Have
children cut a strip off of brown piece of construction paper. Have
children glue three feathers on. Have each child write an oa
with their black marker on middle feather. I will go around and staple
headbands. Make the
O-O-O-O-O-O sound for review. Everyone
wear headband all day.
Schade, Susan. A Toad on the Road. New York: Random House,
“Ooooh I get it! By Ginger Outlaw
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