Rationale: In this lesson children will learn about the long vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. In order for the children to be able to read, they 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 (lake day with snake and jake), 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: You will need a graphic image of Snack and Jake at the lake playing; a cover up critter; whiteboard or Smartboard Letterbox for modeling the group and then individual Letterboxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or Smartboard letters for teachers: a, B, c, d, e, f, g, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, w; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ale, page, lake, name, grade, snake, plane, scrape; a decodable text: Jane and Babe; and an assessment worksheet.

 

Procedures: 1. 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, such as rap, sat, brag, lash, and splat. So today we are going to learn about the long A and the silent e signal that is used to make the A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of a fun activity where you are having a fun “Lake Day with Snake and Jake”. (Show the graphic Image of Jake and Snake playing at the lake).

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 makes a shape like this. (Make vocal gesture for /A/). My tongue stays behind my bottom teeth and I let out a long /A/ sounds. I’ll show you first: lake. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth move to make the a. That means that there is a long a in lake. Now I’m going to see it is in jar. Wow, I didn’t hear a say its name and my mouth didn’t make that movement. Now you can try. If you hear /A/ say “Lake Day with Snake and Jake” and if you don’t hear /A/ say “No not here”. OK, so is it in bat, car, game, snare, wake, kite?

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/, that is what we will learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and signal e at the end of the word, this tells me to say A’s name. (Write a_e on the board). This blank line here means there is a letter (a consonant) after a, and at the end of the word there is a silent e signal. So what if I want to spell the word grade? “I hope I get a good grade on my test.” Grade is a mark a student gets showing the quality of their work. To spell grade in my letterboxes, first I need to know how many sounds or phonemes I have in the word. So I will stretch it out and count: /g/ /r/ /A/ /d/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /d/ so I’m going to put an a in the 3rd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /g/, so that mean I need my g. Now it gets a little harder, so I’m going to say it again but slowly, /g/ /r/ /A/ /d/. I think I heard a /r/ so I will put the r right after the g in the other letterbox. I now have one empty letterbox, let’s listen one more time to slowly to see what comes last, /g/ /r/ /A/ /d/. I think I heard a /d/, so the missing one is d.

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You will start out easy with two boxes for ate. Ate is the past tense of eat. “We ate watermelon”. What should go in the first box? (respond accordingly to the child’s answer). What goes in the second box? What about the silent e, do you remember where to put it? Outside of the boxes? I will walk around the room and check. (Observe progress). Now you will need three letterboxes for the next word. Remember to listen for the beginning sounds that will go in the first box. Then listen for our /A/ sound and then don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside of the boxes. Here is our new word case. A case is where you can put things. “My dad put his favorite baseball in a special case”. (Allow the children time to spell the word). Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: c---a---s---e. Now see if you spelled it this way. Let’s try another one with three letterboxes. Our new word is late. “My sister always makes us late for school”. (Allow the children time to spell the word). Time to check your work. (Have a volunteer spell it on the letterboxes on the board). (Repeat this step for each new word). Now we have a new word. Listen to see if this word says /A/ in it before you spell it nap. “I took a nap after school”. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we didn’t hear a says its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. (Have a volunteer spell it on the board). Now let’s try a word with 4 phonemes and 4 boxes plate. “I like to eat dinner off of my favorite plate”. You can do one more before we are done with the spelling. This word will need 5 boxes because it has 5 sounds ablaze. “That tree was set ablaze”. Remember you can stretch out the words to help you figure out hard ones.    

5. Say: Now I’m going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. (Display the board with ablaze on top and model reading the word). First I see there’s a silent e on the end. That is my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s a vowel a, so it must say /A/. I’m going to use my cover up critter to get the first part. (Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend the vowel). /a/ + /b/ + /l/ = /abl/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /ablA/. Now all I need is the end. At the end is /z/ = /ablAz/. Ablaze, 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 have done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /A/, which is a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This is a story of a lion named Babe and his owner named Jane. Jane goes in to wake up Babe. After she finally wakes him up, she wants to play. What do you think they are going to do together after Babe wakes up? We’ll have to read to find out. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Jane and Babe to find out what happens. (Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each. The teacher walks around the room monitoring everyone progress. After the children are done with their paired reading, the class reads Jane and Babe aloud together, don’t forget to stop between each page to discuss the plot).

7. Say: That was a great story! What did they do after Babe woke up? Correct, Jane helped clean his cage and then they ran around, racing to Babe’s pail. What was in the pail? Oh yes, Babe’s dinner. Great job! Now before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ by a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem all on your own. On this worksheet, there will be words that you have to write yourself and circle which picture matches the word. Then there is a fun crossword, so you have to find all the words with the /A/ sound. (Collect worksheet to evaluate individual child progress). Assessment worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonics-Printables-Long-Vowel-a_e-Freebie-977739

 

References: Dr. Bruce Murray: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/

Geri Murray: https://sites.google.com/site/readingwritingconnection/beggingreadingdesign

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