When students begin to read they must focus on blending phonemes and sounds. Tongue twisters, hand gestures, pictures, and sounding it out with your mouth are great ways students can learn phoneme awareness. Short vowels are often hard for young children to identify, so it is wise to start teaching those first. The goal of this lesson is for students to recognize phoneme a= /a/ in written and spoken words.
Dry erase board (tongue twister and words written on it), dry erase marker, Elkonin boxes (3 letterboxes for each student and a set for the teacher), letter tiles (letters: n, a, p, c, t, b, g, m, h for each student and a set for the teacher), big book A Cat Nap, primary paper and pencil for each student, assessment quiz
1. Today we are going to learn the short vowel a= /a/. The vowel a= /a/ makes the aaa sound. Has anyone ever been to the doctor and the doctor says, "Stick out your tongue and say aaa?" Well that is what a= /a/ makes. Let's try it together. I want everyone to say aaa, pretend you are at the doctor.
2. Now we are going to go over a tongue twister that is written on the board. I will read it first, and then I want you to repeat it after me: Andrew and Alice asked if Annie's active animals were angry. Now, let's stretch out the a= /a/. /A/ndrew /a/nd /A/lice /a/sked if /A/nnie's /a/ctive /a/nimals were /a/ngry.
3. Now I am going to give you each three letterboxes and I want you to get out the letters: n, a, p, c, t, b, g, m, h.. I am going to show you an example first, so look up at the board. I am going to spell the word nap. Let's see, what letter do we hear first in the word nap? Right, nnn. What do we hear next? aaa. Ok, what is at the end of the word nap? Good job, ppp. I will put each letter in my letterbox as I model. Now I want each of you to spell the word cat. After they spell the word cat, I will get them to spell the words: bag, man, and ham. I will go around and monitor how they do and note the miscues.
4. After we have finished doing the letterbox lesson I will write the words nap, cat, bag, man, and ham on the dry erase board and the students will have to read the words I point to. I will demonstrate by reading the word nap first. I will stretch out the phonemes: /n/ /a/ /p/.
5. Tab the cat loves to nap in strange places. What do you think is going to happen when his owner finds him in his bag at the baseball game? Let's read this story to find out. I will model how to read the first page of the book A Cat Nap and then I will call the students up to the big book individually to read a page or a word I point to.
6. Then I will give each student a piece of primary paper and a pencil and I will ask them to write about their pet.
The students will then be given a short quiz with words from the lesson. They will have to match the words: cat, bag, man, and ham with the corresponding picture. I will be able to assess their understanding by how they perform on the quiz.
Cushman, Shelia. A Cat Nap. Educational Insights:
Aaaaa! I'm at the Doctor by Whitney Wingo
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