“Open Up and Say AHHH”
Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence o=/o/. 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 letter o. They will learn a meaningful representation (saying “ahh” for the doctor), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence o= /o/.
Materials:
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Image of a child opening his mouth for the doctor, saying /o/
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Cover-up critter
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Whiteboard or smart-board Elkonin boxes for modeling
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Elkonin letterboxes for each student
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Letter manipulatives for each student and smartboard letters for teacher: f, r, o, s, t, d, g, m, b, a, n.
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Poster with stomp written on it
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Poster with each spelling word on it: pop, frost, cop, frog, stop, strong, stomp, clop
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Decodable text Doc in the Fog
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Assessment worksheet [URL below]
Procedure:
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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 short vowel /o/. When I say /o/ I think of a visit at the doctors office when we have to open our mouth wide and say “ahh”. [Show graphic image
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Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /o/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /o/ in words, I try to hear that “ahh for the doctor” sound and my lips open wide to make the shape of an uppercase O. [make vocal gesture for /o/]. I’ll show you first: pop. I heard o make its “ahh” sound and I felt my lips make a big O [make a circle motion around opened mouth]. There is a short o in pop. Now I’m going to see if it is in football. Hmm, I didn’t hear the sound I make when I open my mouth for the doctor and my lips didn’t open and make a big O shape. Now you try. Listen to the words I say and if you hear the /o/ sound, open your mouth and press your thumb on your lip as if your doctor is looking down your throat. If you do not hear the /o/ sound close your mouth tight. Ready? Is it in frog, apple, clock, map, trot, sock?
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Say: What if I want to spell the word frost? “The ground was covered with frost this morning”. To spell frost in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /f//r//o//s//t/. I need five boxes. I hear the /o/ just before /s/ so I’m going to put o in the 3rd box. The word starts with /f/, that’s easy; I need to put an f at the beginning. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /f//r//o//s//t/. I think I heard /o/ before /s/ so I am going to put an s in the 4th box after o. I also heard the /t/ after the /s/ at the end of the word, so I am going to put a t in the 5th box. I have one empty box now. I am going to say the word slowly again to find out what goes in the missing box: /f//r//o//s//t/ [point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word]. The missing on is /r/=r and I am going to put that in the 2nd box.
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Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You will start out easy with three boxes for our first word cop. “The cop gave a ticket to the girl for speeding”. What letter should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about the third box? I will check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You will need four letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box, and then listen for the /o/ sound. Here’s the word: frog, “The frog came out of the water”; frog. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: f-r-o-g and see if you have spelled it the same way. Try another with four boxes: stop; I stop talking when the teacher begins to talk. [Have volunteer 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 /o/ in it before you spell it: bag; I put my clothes in the bag. Did you hear /o/ in that word? Why not? That’s right we didn’t open our mouth wide like we are at the doctors saying “Ahhh”. We spell it with our short vowel /a/. Now lets try five phonemes: strong; the football player was so strong that he lifted up two teammates by himself. One more with five boxes and then we are done with spelling: stomp; the little boys stomp to beat in their music class. [Add a review word in the mixture such as grab and/ or smell]
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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 a word. [Display a poster with stomp on the top and model reading the word.] Lets start with the letter o, which we know says /o/. I am going to use my cover-up critter to get the first part of the word. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with vowel.] /s/ /t/ = /st/+ /o/ + /m/ + /p/= /stomp/. Stomp; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have students read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]
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Say: You have done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /o/=o. Now we are going to read a book called Doc in the Fog. This story is about a wizard named Doc who changes things into something new! One day, while he was doing magic, a dark fog surrounded him. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Doc in the Fog to find out what happens to Doc. [Students get with their assigned reading partner and take turns reading alternate pages while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After paired reading, the class rereads Doc in the Fog aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
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Say: That was a great story! What happened to Doc? That’s right, the fog got Doc. Before we finish for today I want to see how well you know /o/. On this worksheet you will have a picture and you need to label that picture with a word from the word bank. There is also a line for you to write your answer below the picture. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual student progress.]
Resources:
Clark, Kate. “Say AHHHHH!” https://sites.google.com/site/kmc0044ctrd/home/beginning-reading-lesson
Short Vowel Phonics Readers: Doc in the Fog by Sheila Cushman
Cushman, Sheila, and Patti Briles. Doc in the Fog. Dominguez, CA: Educational Insights, 1990. Print.
Reference:
"Short Vowel O Worksheets." Short O Activities. 1998. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/vowels/lettero.htm
Worksheet:
Assessment worksheet: http://www.funfonix.com/worksheets/book1_page28.php
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