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“YAAAY” Let’s play with /A/ 

Beginning Reading Design 

Perry Steed 

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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 (excited kids screaming “YAAAY”), 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 excited kids screaming “YAAAY”, cover-up critter; whiteboard or Smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin letterboxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, b, c, e, g, l, m, p, s; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: grace, blame, space, grape, snake, plane; 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 a tap, 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 excited kids saying “yAAAy!” [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 say its name /A/, and my lips form a smile like this. [Make a vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: trace. I heard a say its name and I felt my lips make a smile [smile big]. There is a long A in space. Now I’m going to see if it’s in splat. Hmm, I didn’t seem to smile when I said that word. Now you try. If you hear /A/ I want you to smile super super big! If you don’t hear /A/ I want you to frown and say, “That’s not it.” Is it in mash, lame, ants, boat, pack, sake, brake? [Have children put a finger on each end of their mouth when they hear /A/ and smile with it.]

 

 

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 fake? “The deer hanging on the wall was fake.” Fake means not real in this sentence. To spell fake in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /f//A//k/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put a k in the 3rd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /f/, that’s easy; I need an f. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /f//A//k/.] The missing one is /k/ = k.

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4. Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two letterboxes for at. What goes in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What about the second box? [Respond to children’s answers]. I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] For the next one, you’ll need three boxes for cut. What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What about in the third box? [Respond to children’s answers]. 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: tame. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: t – a – m – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: tape; You need tape to get the poster to stick to the wall. [Have volunteers 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: sack; The potatoes were in a sack. 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.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: plate. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; If I scrape my knee, I will need a bandaid. 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 has had a turn.]

 

6.  Now we are going to read a book called James and the Good Day. James wakes up, excited to have a good day. He gets up and plays with his toy boat in the bathtub. James then goes and plays with another toy. Uh oh, something happens next and it does not seem to be good. Read and find out what James did. Let’s pair up and take turns reading James and the Good Day and finding out what they like to do together. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads James and the Good Day aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

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7. That was a fun story. What happened to James? That’s right, his bathtub overflowed! Before we finish up our lesson about one way to spell /A/=a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, there are some pictures. Next to each picture there are two different words. I want you to circle the word that is the correct spelling for the picture. [Go around and assess progress]. 

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References: 

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Jaima Griffith, AAAY With A:  https://jaimagriffith.wixsite.com/jaima-griffith/beginning-reading-design

 

Caitlin Brown, Bake a Cake With Jake: https://caitlinbb.weebly.com/beginning-reading-design.html

 

Assessment Worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Short-Long-A-Sorting-Game-FREEBIE-1471349

 

Bruce Murray, Reading Genie: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/

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Decodable book: James and The Good Day-Decodable book 1-long a-Phonics Readers

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