Lesson

Rationale: This lesson teaches students about the long vowel correspondence a_e=/A/. 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 spelling a_e. They will learn a meaningful representation by saying “there was a fake snake in the lake,” 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: Graphic image of a fake snake in a lake; cover-up critter; whiteboard for Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, b, c, e, f, h, k, l, p, s, t ; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bake, cape, face, skate, plate, chase, lace; decodable text: Long Vowel a: Abe, 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. We have already learned to read short vowel words with a, like cat, and today we are going to learn about long A and the a_e signal that is used to make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of a the saying “There was a fake snake in the lake” [show graphic image].

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 lips move and widen like this. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: cake. I heard A say its name and I felt my lips widen.

There is a long A in cake. Now I’m going to see if it’s in cat. I didn’t hear A say its name and my lips didn’t widen. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Fake snake in the lake!” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it”. Is it in chase, hand, late, can, rake, mat? [Have students make c’s with their hands around their mouths to show that their lips are widening when they say/hear /A/.]

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3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter A followed by E with another letter in between. This tells me to say A’s name. [Write a_e on the board.] The A with the E after the letter in between signals us to say /A/. What if I want to spell the word cake? “I want a slice of cake.” To spell cake in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /c//A//k/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just after the /c/ so I’m going to put both a in the second box. The word starts with /c/, the c makes the sound /c/. After the a, I heard /k/ so I need a k. Lastly, since it is a_e, we have to put an e at then end. Now I’m going to say it slowly, /c//A//k/. Our last letter is e because we can hear the /A/ in the word. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /c//A//k/.]

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4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with three boxes for the word bake. To bake is to cook something in the oven, “I love to bake cookies.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. 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/ and don’t forget to put e at the end. Here’s the word: rake, “I don’t want to rake the leaves” ; rake. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: r – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: plate; I have veggies on my plate. [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 /A/

in it before you spell it: hand; you always want to double check your work. Did you have an a with an e at the end? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear A say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a [volunteer spells it on the front board.]

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 chase on the top and model reading the word.] If I see there’s an a, another letter, then an e, that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. I’m going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /c//h/ = /ch/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /chA/. Now all I need is the end, /s/ = /ChAs/. Chase; 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.]

c h a s e

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6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Long Vowel a: Abe .This is a story of a guy named Abe who liked to bake. Abe liked to bake so much, that he decided to share some of his baked treats with his friends. Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Long Vowel a: Abe to find out if Abe’s friends like he baking. [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 The Long Vowel a: Abe aloud together and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

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7. Say: That was a fun story. Did Abe’s friends like what he baked? Right, both of his friends liked the cake he baked. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to

see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words with the long vowel a missing. Your job is to look at the picture and decide which letter you need to write in to finish the word. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

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Resources:
Geri Murray, Oh, I didn’t know!:http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/
Long Vowel a with Abe: https://www.freephoneticreaders.com/long-vowel-books/long-a/long- vowel-a-with-abe
Long Vowel A Worksheet: https://www.allkidsnetwork.com/phonics/long-vowels/long-vowel-a- worksheet.asp

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