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Molly McGill
mrm0130@auburn.edu

Beginning Reading Design

       The Tap Dancer       

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Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence a = /a/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spelling that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling a = /a/. They will learn a meaningful representation (a tap dancer dancing making the “tap” sound), 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 tap dancers

  • Cover-up critter

  • Whiteboard or Smartboard

  • Letterboxes (Elkonin boxes) for modeling and for each student

  • Letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, b, t, j, s, n, l, d, t, p

  • List of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: at, jab, sand, plant

Decodable Text: Jack the Yak

 

Procedures:

  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 about the short vowel /a/ that is spelled with the letter a. When I say /a/, I think of a tap dancer tapping their feet! [show graphic image].

  2. Say: Before we learn 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 sound /a/. When I say /a/, my mouth opens while my tongue stays on the bottom of my mouth. [Make a gesture for /a/ by tapping your desk]. I’ll show you first: clap. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth open with the /a/ sound coming out. There is a short a in clap. Now I’m going to see if it’s in made. Hmmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and my mouth didn’t open with my tongue on the bottom of my mouth. Now you try. If you hear /a/ say, “Tap, tap, tap.” If you don’t hear /a/ say, “No, no, no.” Is it in sat, boat, tank, mad, pose, apple? [Have students tap their desk when they feel /a/ say its name.]

  3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /a/. When spelling /a/, you use the letter a. Let’s work on spelling the word mat. First, we need to know how many phonemes are in the word, so that we can spell it in letterboxes. Let’s stretch out the word to count the phonemes: /m//a//t/. I need 3 boxes. I heard “mmm” at the beginning so I will start with /m/, then I hear our /a/ sound. Lastly, I hear “ttt”, /t/ at the end.

  4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for at. When you are describing where you are, you can say where you are at. “I was at school today.” What should we put in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? I am going to check your spelling as I walk around the room. [Observe student’s progress]. For our next word we are going to need three letterboxes. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /a/, and lastly listen for the sound that will finish the word. Here’s the word: can, I have a can of corn; can. [Allow children to spell the word.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: c – a – n and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: jab; He gave his friend a jab in the arm. [Have a volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Now let’s try with four phoneme boxes. The word is sand, I played in the sand at the beach. [Give students time to spell and then have a volunteer come up.] For our last spelling word, I want you to spell a word with five phoneme boxes. The word is plant, I have a plant in my garden; plant. Remember to stretch out this word if you are having trouble. [Give students time to spell and then have another volunteer answer on board.]

  5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words that you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with plant on the top and model reading the word.] Let’s start from the beginning uncovering one letter at a time to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /p//l/ = /pl/. Now I’m going to blend that with /a/ = /pla/. Now all I need is the end, /n//t/ = /plant/. Plant, that’s it! Now it’s your turn, everyone say it together! [Have children read words in unison. After this, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

  6. Say: Everyone has done a great job reading word with the correspondence /a/. We are now going to read a book called Jack the Yak. This is a story of a yak named Jack that carries luggage around. Jack always eats grass, but today he is hungry and he wants a different snack! Let’s pair up and take turns reading Jack the Yak to find out what snack Jack may get today. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages while the teacher walks around the room to monitor progress. After the paired reading, the class will reread Jack the Yak aloud together, and stop between pages to discuss the plot.]

  7. Say: That was such a fun story! What snack did Jack get? That’s right, he got hot dogs. Did Jack want a snack from the pig? No, he said mud was yucky! Before we finish up with our lesson, I want you to color each picture with the /a/ sound on this worksheet. Then, you are going to circle the words that have our /a/ sound, and lastly you write three words with the /a/ sound. Make sure you check over your work! [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

 

Resources:

 

Jack the Yak

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/geniebooks/teacherbooks/

 

Assessment Worksheet https://www.myteachingstation.com/short-a-sound-worksheet

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https://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/awakenings

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