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 as /A/. They will learn a meaningful representation (wave for AY), 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: 

• Cartoon image of the dinosaur waving

• Cover up critter

• Letterboxes for each student or a white board in which the letterboxes can be represented on

• Letter tiles for the words included in the letterbox lesson
     -a,e,s,k,t,l,f,w,h,c,n,r,m,v,p

• List of a_e words to practice reading
    -skate, lake, flake, whale, cake, snake, frame, rake, cave, & plane

• Decodable book: Jane and Babe

• Assessment worksheet

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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 cat. Today we will 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 saying hey like “Ay” to my friends.

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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 mouth opens and my teeth separate like this. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: “make”. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth open and my teeth separate. There is a long A in make. Now I’m going to see if it’s in map. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and my mouth did not open the same way. Now you try. If you hear /A/, wave at me like you would if you see your friend on the playground. If you don’t hear /A/ then just keep your hands on your lap. Is it in rake, bad, dog, bake, slate? [Have students wave when they hear /A/ say 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 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 there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e. What if I want to spell the word bake? “I want to bake some cookies today.” To spell bake in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word. I stretch it out, sounding out each phoneme, and count: /b//A//k/, 1-2-3. I need three boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an a in the second box and the silent e outside the last box. The word starts with /b/, that’s easy; I hear /A/ after /b/. So far we have /b/ in the beginning then /A/. (Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /b//A//k/.) Now, now we know our last sound is /k/ so we should put a k after the a. This is the tricky part if we want a to say its’ name, we must put the e. We don’t say /e/ so we will put it outside of the last box- indicating that it is silent. Now, let’s say the word together (pointing to the letters). bAAAAk.

 

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with three boxes for lake. “I went swimming in the lake this summer.” What should go in the first box? (Respond to students’ answers). What goes in the second box? What about the third box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the classroom. (Walk around checking work and correcting or digging deeper for self-corrections if possible.) (Do all words requiring three letterboxes.) You’ll need four letterboxes for the next  few words. 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: skate; Emily loves to skate around the neighborhood. (Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work.) (Allow children to spell words!) Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: S-K-A-T-(outside of boxes) e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with four boxes: frame, My grandmother loves to put our pictures in a frame. *pause* Frame. (Allow the students time to put their letter tiles in place within the letterboxes.)  Repeat these steps for each new word. 

 

5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll model how I would read a tough word. (Display paper with flake on the top and model reading the word.) First, I see there’s a 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 will now use my cover up critter to decode this word. (Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.) /f/+/l/+/A/=/flA/. Now, I need  the end, /k/= /flAk/, flake,  that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. (Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, if time allows, write additional a_e words on the board calling on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn. Assist using the cover-up method if necessary.) 

 

6. Say: You all have done a wonderful job reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now, we will read a book called Jane and Babe. This story is about a lion named Babe. The zookeeper, Jane, enters the cage with Babe. Let’s pair up and read the book to see what happens with Jane and Babe. (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 Jane and Babe aloud together, stopping between page turns to discuss the plot.) Say: That was an interesting story. What happened to when Jane entered the cage with Babe? That’s right, she had to wake him up and they became friends.

 

7. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/= a_e, I want to see if you can apply what we learned. On our worksheet, there are pictures we need to cut out. We will cut and paste those pictures next to the correct word representing it. (Collect the worksheets to do an informal assessment on the students’ progress.) 

 

Resources:

• Adapted from Meredith Gray, Show me your wave for AY-https://sites.google.com/site/readingwithmsmeredithgray/home/beginning-reader-design

• Cushman, S., & Kornblum, R. (1990). Phonics readers: Long vowels. Dominguez Hills, CA.: Educational Insights.

• Assessment worksheet: http://www.themeasuredmom.com

• Murray, B.A. (2012).  Making Sight Words:  Teaching Word Recognition from Phoneme Awareness to Fluency.  Ronkonkoma NY: Linus. P 294.

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