Miss Beck's Reading Lessons

Beginning Reading Lesson:

This Takes the Cake

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. They will learn a meaningful representation (take the cake), 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: Cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, b, c, e, g, h, k, p, r, t, v, w; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: take, bake, wave, ate, shape, grate, scrape; decodable text: Jane and Babe 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 with a, like cat, 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/ think of a picture of a cake that you just want to take! [show graphic image].

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 make a big shape like this. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: shape. I heard a says its name, and I felt my mouth open wide. There is a long A in shape. Now I’m going to see if it’s in task. Hmmm, I didn’t hear o says its name and my lips didn’t make that big, wide shape. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Take the cake!” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.”. Is it in cat, bake, hair, wave, skate, snow? [Have children make a wide mouth when they feel /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 signal 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 signal. What if I want to spell the word wave? “I like to wave at the bus driver when he drops me off at school.” Wave means to greet in this sentence. To spell wave in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /w//A//v/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /v/ so I’m going to put an a in the 3rd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /w/, that’s easy; I need a w. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /w//A//v/. I think I heard /v/ after /A/ so I’ll put a v in the empty box.

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ate. “I ate a banana for lunch.” What should go in the first box? [Respond 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: bake, I love to bake cookies. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: b-a-k-e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: take; I need to take my shoes back to the store. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: grate; She had to grate the cheese for dinner. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; I got a scrape on my knee when I fell. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

5. 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//c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /scrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /scrAp/. 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 as had a turn.]

6. Say: You’ve done a great job reading words with out new spelling /A/ = a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This book is about a lion named Babe. Babe is asleep, and Jane is his tamer. She must wake up, but first she must figure out how to wake him. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Jane and Babe to find out how she wakes him up. [ 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, and stops between pages turns to discuss the plot.]

7. Say: That was a fun story. What woke up Babe? Right, Jane called his name. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/=a_e. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see if you can pick out long a words out of a group of random words. On this worksheet, you have groups of three words in each box. Your job is to circle the word in each box in which you hear a say its name. Just try your best and always remember the correspondence we have been working on today, a_e." [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

Resources:

Celeste Brady, I’m Late, I’m Late, For a Very Important Date: http://celestebrady4.wix.com/minimal-layout - !beginning-reading/wtst7

Assessment worksheet: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonics/mc/a-long/index.shtml

Back to the connections site: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/connections.html