BEGINNING READING LESSON DESIGN

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 spellings a_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (Canadians say Aye!), 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 Patriotic Canadian saying “Aye Go Canada”; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smart board; Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smart board letters for teachers: a, t, e, p, v, c, w, l, l, s, n, r ; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ate, pave, wall, snake, scrape 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 like a, like hat, 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 Canadian pride and Canadians cheering Aye Go Canada! [Show graphic].

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 says its name /A/ and my lips and teeth open while I say it. [Show vocal gesture for /A/]. I’ll show you first: date. I head a says its name and I felt my mouth open up while I said /A/. There is a long A in date. Now I’m going to see if it’s in happy. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say “Aye Go Canada!” If you don’t hear /A/ say “That’s not it.” Is it in bad, stain, lost, made, lead, kite? [Have children make emphasize the /A/ when a says its name.]

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 silent 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 that there is a consonant letter after a, and at the end of the word, there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word rake? “In fall, one of my chores is to rake the leaves.” Rake is like sweeping for a yard. To spell rake in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /r/ /A/ /k/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /k/ so I am going to put an a

4. in the 2nd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /r/, that’s easy; I need an r. Now I am going to say it slowly again, /r/ /A/ /k/. I think I heard /k/ so I’ll put a k in my last box because /k/ is the last phoneme I hear in rake. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /r/ /A/ /k/.]

5. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ate. Ate is eat for the past, like “I ate lots of cereal for breakfast today and now I’m too full for lunch.” What should go in the first box? [Respnd to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next 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: pave; The workers pave a new road for the town. [Have a 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: wall; The two yards were separated by the wall. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say its name. We spell it without short vowel a. [Volunteer spells it on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /l/ with a double l? Now let us try 4 phonemes: snake; I almost stepped on a snake during our hike. One more then we’re done spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; I get nervous on my bike because if I fall I might scrape my knee. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

6. 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 scrape 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.] /s//k/= /sk/+/r/=/skr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /skrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /skrAp/. Scrape; 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.]

7. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words without new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Race for Cake. This is a story is about a brother and sister named Ben and Jess, and their pet dog, Lad. When they smell that Mom was baking a cake, they all decide to race to the cake! Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Race for Cake to find out who gets to the cake first. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress.] After individual paired reading, the class rereads The Race for Cake aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

8. Say: That was a fun story. Who ended up beating the rest to the cake? Right, Lad, their dog, ate all the cake while the rest of them were helping Ben! What do you suppose Ben and Jess thought of that? Probably not happy that there is no cake left. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some sentences. Your job is to underline the words that say its /A/ name with a_e. Once you have underlined all the words, for more practice and to double check, rewrite the words below. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.