Morgan Anderson's
Lesson Designs
"Aaaa, an Alligator!"
A Beginning Reading Lesson
​
Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence a = /a/. Beginning readers need to learn the correspondences between sounds and letters in order to decode words. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the correspondence a = /a/. They will learn a meaningful representation (shocked person screaming Aa), 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: Graphic image of screaming person; tongue tickler on chart; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smart board Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: s, p, l, a, t, d, d, r, g, n, k, b, h, m, c; list of spelling words: add, rag, ask, bat, ham, hand, crab, snack, splat, drank; on poster or whiteboard to read decodable text: "A Cat Nap" 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. All the letters in the alphabet have their own sound and make us move our mouths a certain way. Today we are going to learn about the letter a and the short sounds it makes, which is /a/. When I say /a/, I think of someone screaming at an alligator, “Aaaaa!”. Have you ever seen a scary animal that made you say /a/?
2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /a/, we need to listen for it in some words. First let’s read it on a tongue tickler to practice saying and finding /a/. When I say /a/ my mouth is open and my tongue stays on the bottom of my mouth. (show tongue tickler chart) I want you to listen to me say it first “My dad had a cat. The cat was very fat and sleepy. The cat walked over to a flag on the ground. The fat cat napped on the flag”. Now I want you all to repeat after me when I say it again. (repeat with students two times) Do you hear the /a/ sound? I hear /a/ in cat, what other words have /a/ in them (fat, napped, flag)? Now lets say the tongue tickler one more time but lets stretch out the /a/ sound. “the faaaaat caaaat naaapped on the flaggggg.”
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /a/ that we’ll learn today. What if I want to spell the word splat? “The bug went splat on the windshield.” (show hand motion of something going splat) To spell splat in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//p//l//a//t/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /a/ just before the /t/ so I’m going to put an a in the 4th box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little hard so I’m going to say it slowly, /s//p//l//a//t/. I think I heard /p/ so I’ll put a p right after the s. One more before the /a/, hmm . . . /s//p//l//a//t/, I think I heard /l/ so I need an l. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//p//l//a//t/.] The missing one is /t/ = t.
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for add. Add in this sentence means to put two numbers together, “I can add two plus two.” What should go in the first box? What goes in the second box? 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/. Here’s the word: rag, I wiped up the spill with a rag; rag. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: r – a– g and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: ask; can I ask you a question. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] (have children also spell bat, ham, hand, crab, snack, drank)
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 drank on the top and model reading the word.] 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. Now we are going to read a book called A Cat Nap. This is a story of a cat named Tab. She gets a full belly from eating and wants to take a nap. She finds a bag to sleep in but it’s her owner, Sam’s bat bag. He doesn’t know Tab is in the bag and takes her to his baseball game. Let’s see what happens when Sam realizes Tab is in the bag. Let’s pair up and take turns reading A Cat Nap to find out what the joke is. [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.]
7. Say: Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /a/ = a, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, you have to first trace and write the word given to you, then read the word and find a picture of the word. Reread your answers to see if the make sense. [Call students one by one to desk as they finish worksheet and have them individually read the words to you]
Resources:Anna Day, “Ahhh!” Screams the Boy on the Rollercoaster
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/dayabr.html
Geri Murray, Oh, I didn’t Know!
https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1097859/files?preview=122798712
Nicole Lawyer, “Aaaaa… There’s a Spider!”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/lawyernbr.htm
Book: Cushman, S. A Cat Nap. Educational Insights, Carson, CA (USA). 1990
worksheet: http://www.funfonix.com/book1/ffonix_book1_1.gif
​
