Aaaaa! I'm Scared!
Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence a = /a/. Children must learn to recognize words and their spelling maps in order to read. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the a = /a/ correspondence. They will learn a meaningful representation (Aaaaa meaning they are scared), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a = /a/.
Materials:
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Graphic image of a scared man
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Cover-up critter
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Whiteboard/smartboard Letterboxes for modeling
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Letterboxes for each student
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Letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic/smartboard letters for the teacher: a, t, m, p, h, g, r, b, s
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List of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: at, map, hat, grab, strap
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Decodable text: A Cat Nap
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Assessment worksheet
Procedures:
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Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. All the letters in the alphabet have their own sounds that make us move our mouths in a certain way. Today, we are going to learn about the letter a and the short vowel sound it makes, which is /a/. When I say /a/, I think of a person yelling, “Aaaaa! Aaaaaaa!” Have you ever heard someone yell like that when they are scared? [show graphic image of scared man].
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Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /a/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I say /a/, my jaw drops and my tongue is down. (Make vocal gesture for /a/). I’ll show you first. When I say cat, I hear the /a/ sound and felt my jaw drop and my tongue go down. There is a short a in cat. Now let’s see if it’s in pet. I didn’t hear the /a/ sound in pet, my jaw didn’t drop and my tongue didn’t go down. Now you try. If you hear the /a/ sound in a word, cover your eyes like you are scared. Is it in hip, bag, get, pat, bee, lap, at?
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Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /a/ that we will learn today. What if I want to spell the word trap? “I set a trap for the mouse so we could catch it.” Trap means device in this sentence. To spell trap in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count. /t/ /r/ /a/ /p/. I need 4 boxes. I heard the /a/ just before the /p/ so I am going to put the a in the 3rd box. The word starts with /t/ so I will put the t in the 1st box. Now we are missing two letters so I am going to say it slowly, /t/ /r/ /a/ /p/…I think I heard growling /r/ right after the t so I am going to need an r there. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /t/ /r/ /a/ /p/]. The missing one is p = /p/.
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Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You will start out with easy two boxes for the word at. “I watched a movie at the movie theater.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? I will check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress]. You will need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /a/. Here is the word: map. “I used the map to figure out where we were going.” [Allow children to spell words]. Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: m-a-p and see if you have spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: hat. “I wore a hat to keep my head warm.” [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]. Now let’s try four phonemes: grab. “I need to grab my keys before we leave.” One more then we are done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: strap. “Use the seatbelt in the car to strap yourself in.” Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
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Now I am going to let you read the words you have spelled, but first I will show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with strap on the top and model reading the word]. First I see the vowel a. It must say /a/. I am going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel]. /s/ /t/ = /st/ + /r/ = /str/. Now I am going to blend that with /a/ = /stra/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /strap/. Strap; 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].
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Say: You have done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /a/ = a. Now we are going to read a book called A Cat Nap. This is a story about a cat named Tab who wants to take a nap after eating a lot of his cat food. He finds a bag to sleep in and falls asleep quickly because he is so tired. Tab’s owner, Sam, picks up the bag and takes it with him to baseball practice since it has all his stuff in it and he doesn’t realize that Tab is in the bag. Will Tab get out of the bag without Sam knowing or will he pop out in the middle of baseball practice? Let’s pair up and take turns reading A Cat Nap to find out what happens to Tab. [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 A Cat Nap aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot].
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Say: That was a fun story. What happened to Tab? Right, Sam found him. Before we finish up with our lesson about /a/ = a, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, you will identify which words have /a/ in them. Color the words that do have /a/ in them red, and color the words that don’t have /a/ in blue. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress].
Resources:
Worksheet:https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Short-a-Worksheet-1414920
Morgan Anderson, "Aaaa, an Alligator!":https://morgananderson0011.wixsite.com/mysite-1/beginning-reading
Book: Cushman, Sheila, et al. Phonics Readers: Short Vowels. Educational Insights, 1990
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