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Aaaaaaaah at the Doctor’s Office
Sydney Grace Edge

Rationale: This lesson will teach children about the short vowel correspondence a =/a/. Beginning readers first must learn correspondences so that they can decode words. In this lesson, children will be able to recognize, spell, and read words containing the correspondence a =/a/. They will learn a representation that is meaningful to help them remember (Aaaaaa. Saying Aaaaa when the doctor checks your mouth). Children will spell and read words containing correspondence a = /a/ in a letterbox lesson. Lastly, children will read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a = /a/

 

Materials: 

  1. Graphic image of a child saying “Aaaaaa” at the doctor’s office

  2. Cover-up critter

  3. Letter boxes

  4. Plastic letter tiles

  5. Chart with words listed: at, hat,tag, band, ranch, snack

  6. The decodable book, “Pat’s Jam”

  7. Short A worksheet (attached below)

 

  1.  Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. Today we are going to learn short a and that it makes the Aaaa sound. When I say /a/ I think of when you go to the doctors and they look at your tongue. (show graphic)

  2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /a/, we need to listen for it in some words and see if we can hear our sound like we make at the doctor. When I listen to /a/ in words, I am going to read a tongue tickler to you and I want you to practice saying /a/ and hearing / a/ in a word. When I say /a/, my mouth opens while my tongue stays on the bottom of my mouth. Let’s look at this tongue tickler. Listen to me say it and then I will get you to repeat it. “Andrew and Alice asked if Annie’s active animals were angry.” Now I want you to repeat after me. (Children will say the tongue tickler.)  Do you hear the /a/ sound? I hear /a/ in animals? What other words can you hear /a/ in? Andrew? Now let’s say the tongue tickler one more time, but this time let’s stretch out the /a/ sound. “Aaaaandrew and Aaaaalice aaaaasked if Aaaaannie’s aaaaactive aaaaanimals were aaaaangry.” 

  3. Say: Now we are going to look at the spelling of /a/. When spelling /a/, you use the letter a. Let’s spell hat, like what we wear on our head . First, we need to know how many phonemes are in the word, so that we can spell it in letterboxes. Let’s count the phonemes: /h/a/t/. We need 3 boxes. I heard /h/ so I will start with h, then I hear the /a/ and then the /t/ at the end.

  4. Say: Now, I want you to spell some words with the letter boxes. We can start out with three boxes for the word tag, like the game you play on the playground. What should go in the first box? (Respond to children as they answer.) What should go in the second box? And the third? Alright, next word. For the next word we need four letterboxes. Again let’s break up the sounds we hear to determine how many boxes we need. Here is the word: band, like I listened to a band last night. (Let the child spell.) B-A-N-D. Next, a word with four boxes: cash, My mom needs cash to buy groceries. (After some time, check work with teacher’s). Now the next word: ranch, I like ranch with my pizza. (Check work.) Let’s try a review word like snack, like we need a snack. For this word we need four boxes. What should go in the first box? (Respond to children as they answer.) What should go in the second box? The third? And the fourth? That’s exactly right. S-N-A-CK. 

  5. Say: Y’all did great! Now I will let y’all read the words you just spelled! *write each word they just spelled on the board one at a time and write the next word once the class has said the written word all together*

  6.  Say: You have a great job reading and spelling correspondence /a/. Let’s read Pat’s Jam. Book talk: Pat is with his friend, Pam, but they run out of gas. What are they going to do? Are they sad? What is going to happen to the jam? Let’s read to find out! 

  7. Say: That was a fun story! What were y’alls favorite parts of the story? *discuss* Assessment: Provide a worksheet for identifying /a/. Students will color the pictures that begin A. Individually assess each child by calling them one by one to read the words from the previous step of identifying the /a/ in each word. 

 

References: 

  1. Picture of child sticking tongue out: https://www.verywellfamily.com/back-to-school-medical-forms-physicals-3542339

  2. Peyton James: https://sites.google.com/view/peytonjames/beginning-reading-design

  3. Nancy Walker: https://nkw0010.wixsite.com/my-site-1/icky-i

  4. Lily Stewart: https://lcs0050.wixsite.com/lessons/beginning-reading 

  5. Short A worksheet: https://www.myteachingstation.com/short-a-sound-worksheet

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