“Aaaaaa!” Cries Baby Addie

 

Rationale

            This lesson teaches the short vowel correspondence of a= /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’.  They will learn a meaningful representation (a baby says aaaaa when they cry), they will spell and read words containing the short a in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a = /a/.

Materials

• Graphic image of a crying baby

• Cover-up critters

• Whiteboard

• Letterboxes for each student

• Letter tiles for each student and teacher: a, c, d, f, k, l, m, n, r, s, t

• Poster with spelling words that read: at, rat, mad, fan, smack, flat

• Decodable text: Rat Attack by Molly Coxe

• Assessment Worksheet

Procedure

1. Say: In order to become expert readers we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. When I say /a/ I want you to pretend to see a crying baby (show graphic). When babies cry, they like to rub their eyes! Let’s rub our eyes like a crying baby saying “aaaaaa.”

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 notice that my mouth moves (make a vocal gesture). My jaw drops and so does my tongue. When I say the word “mad” my mouth does the same thing. That means there is a short a in mad. Now let’s see if it is in the word set. Hmmm… I didn’t hear a baby cry and my jaw did not drop, so it must not be in the word set. Now it is your turn to try! When you hear the short a sound, pretend to cry like a baby. Is it in the word; lock, pet, sad, or bend?

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /a/ that we will learn today. What if I asked you to spell the word fan. “The fan turns on when it’s hot.” First, we have to see how many phonemes are in the word, so we have to stretch it out. /f/ /a/ /n/. I will need three letterboxes. I hear the /a/ right after the first letter, so it will go in the second box. The word starts with /f/ so it will go in the first box. The letter tile /n/ will go in the third, last box since it is the last part of the word! That’s it! You’ve got it.

 

1. Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out with two easy boxes for the word at. At can describe where I am. “I am at school.” What goes in the first box? (Respond to answers). What about the second box? I am going to go around the room and check your answers. (Observe progress). The next word will have three letterboxes. Fan. “The fan is spinning fast.” Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the fist box. Then listen for the /a/ sound! (Allow time for students to spell words). Time to check your work! Watch how I do it and then see if you did it the same way. (Show f in first box, a in second, and n in third box). Let’s do another three letter box word! Mad. “Mom is mad that the power went out.”  (Have a volunteer spell it on the letterboxes at the front of the room. Have children check their work. Repeat for each new word). Let’s see if this next word has /a/ in it. Stop. “You need to stop at the sign.” Do you need an a? Why not? Right! We don’t hear the crying baby sound. Now let’s try 4 phonemes. You will need four boxes for this one. Flat. “The ground is flat.” (Allow kids to do the same thing). Last one! Five boxes will be needed for this one! Clamp. The hair clamp is very cute! (Check their work and repeat the same steps).

2. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you have spelled, but first I am going to show you how to read a tough word. (Display the word clamp on the board and model reading). I know it is a long word, so I will start from the beginning and uncover one letter at a time. First we have /c/. The next one we have is /l/. Put that together. /c/ /l/. Then we hear the crying baby /a/ sound! /c/ /l/ /a/= /cla/. The next one we have is /m/. /c//l//a//m/= /clam/. The last one we have is /p/. /c//l//a//m//p//. Clamp! Now your turn! (Let the class read words aloud in unison and call children to read one on their own).

3. Say: Great job reading with /a/ today! We are now going to read a book that talks about correspondence /a/ called Rat Attack. In this book, Gram is making jam for her grandkids. While she is doing so, a big rat tells her to hand over the jam. He is trying to steal it. What will Gram do? Will her jam get stolen? Let’s find out. (Let students read in pairs. Have them alternate pages while you monitor progress. Then, have the class reread the book. After a few pages, pause and discuss the plot of the book).

4. Say: Wasn’t that story so good? Why did the rats attack? Right! They wanted Gram’s jam. One last thing to do before we finish up. On this one, you will cut out the words and paste it under the picture that it is for. (Collect worksheets to evaluate individual student progress).

Resources

Book: Murray, Bruce, and Geri Murray. Lad and his Pals. Auburn: Geniebooks, 2019.

 

Beginning Reading Lesson: Abby Kaye Jones “Oh! I Sure am Tired!”

            https://abbykj00.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading

 

Assessment Worksheet:

https://www.littledotseducation.com/post/short-vowels-worksheets-and-activities

 

Rat Attack by Molly Coxe