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 (hands in the air, like a mad New Yorker) 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 a mad New Yorker; 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, c, d, e, f, h, l, m, n, p, s, t, v; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ate, tape, hand, cave, flame, scape; decodable text: The Race for Cake, and 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 say, 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 a mad man from New York saying “Ay! I’m walking here!” [show graphic image].

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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 wide to where I see my teeth and my tongue is pulled back like this. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: play. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth open wide and to show my teeth [point to teeth]. There is a long A in play. Now I’m going to see if it’s in crab. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and mouth didn’t open wide to show my teeth. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Ay! I’m walking here!” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in eat, are, stop, go, plate, fork? [Have children make a circle motion around their pursed lips when they feel /A/ say its name.]

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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 the word is a silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word brave? “I need to be brave so I can ride the roller coaster.” Brave means not scared in the sentence. To spell brave in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /b/, /r/, /A/, /v/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /v/ so Im going ot put an a in the 3rd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /b/. that easy; I need an b. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /b/ /r/ /A/ /v/. I think I heard /r/ so I’ll put a r right after the b. I have one empty box now. [Point to the letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /b/ /r/ /A/ /v/] the missing one is /v/= v.

 

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 big dinner last night.” What should go in the box first? [Respond to the children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about the 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: cane, When I get old I might need a cane; cane. [Allow children to spell words.]  Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: c – a – n – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: tape; if your paper tares I will get the tape. [Have 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: hand; I put the sticker on my hand. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a.  [Volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: flame; the fire had a big flame. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; if I scrape my elbow I will need a bandage. 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 brave 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.] /b//r/ = /br/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /brA/. Now all I need is the end, /v/ = /brAv/.  Brave; 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.]

 

6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Race for Cake. This is about Ben and Jess. They just went swimming and are very tired, but their mom made a cake! Jess asks Ben if he wants to race her to the gate. Let’s get into pairs and take turns reading The Race for Cake to find out who gets to eat the cake. [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.]

 

7.Say: That was a good book wasn’t it? Who got to eat the cake? Right, the dog, Lad actually get to eat the cake! 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 some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide which a_e word fits best to make sense of this very short story. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

 Resources:Meri Hamilton, The Ghost Says “Boo!”: http://mdh0029.wixsite.com/readinglessons/beginning-reading

Race for Cake: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/murraybr.htm

Murray, G. (2004) Jakes joke. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html

Assessment worksheet: http://www.galacticphonics.com/longvowels/a-e/resources/aesplitpictures.pdf