“Ay, Welcome To My Summer Wonderland!”
Beginning Reading Lesson
By: Hannah Helton
Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. In order to read, children must learn to recognize the different 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 (Olaf the snowman saying, “Ay, welcome to my summer wonderland!”), 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 Olaf the snowman saying, “Ayyyy” ; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard, Elkonin boxes for modeling ,and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: c, a, k, e, s, n, m, t, d, r, p, g; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: flame, cake, same, ate, scrape, bake; decodable text: The Race for Cake and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
Say: In order to become expert reader’s 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 map, and today we are going to learn about long A and the silent e signal that is used to make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/, I think of Olaf the Snowman saying “Ayyyy” as he welcomes us to his land of summertime. [show graphic image].
Say: Before we can 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. (Demonstrate making the sound). Let’s see if we can hear a in the word flame. (Say Flame slowly) Did you hear it? (Wait for their responses). There is a long A in bake! Now let’s see if it’s in jet. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Ayyyy welcome to my summer wonderland!” like Olaf the Snowman. If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in school, game, skate, bike, frame, window?
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 and an e at the end of the word to tell me to say A’s name. [Write a_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word flame? “If I pour water over the fire the flame will die down.” Flame means fire in this sentence. To spell flame in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /f//l//A//m/.I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /m/ 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 /f/,that’s easy; I need an f. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /f//l//A//m/.I think I heard /l/ so I’ll put a l right after the f. I have one empty box now. Hmm . . . /f//l//A//m/, I think I heard yummy m= /m/so I need an m.
Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ate.When you say the word “ate” you are saying that you have already eaten something. For example, yesterday I ate an apple. What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? 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 the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: cake, I love to eat cake for my birthday; cake. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: c – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: same; We have the same color hair. [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: pack; be sure to pack your socks for the trip. Did you need a silent e? 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.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: snake; there was a big snake behind the rock. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; If I fall on the concrete, I will scrape my knee. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
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 scrape on the top and model reading the word.] First I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. 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.] /s//c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /a/ = /scrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /scrAp/. Scrape; 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.]
Say: You’ve done a great job spelling and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Race for Cake. This is a story of everyone’s favorite snack after a tiring swim- cake! Yummy, yummy, cake. Can you smell it? Uh oh. Lad can smell the yummy cake too. What will happen?
[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 aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
Say: That was a great story. That made me want some cake! 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 pictures. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide which a_e word fits best to make sense of each sentence. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
Assessment Worksheet
Name:_______________
Write the word in your best writing.
rake
_____________
tape
_____________
cape
_____________
scale
___________
whale
______________
Resources
https://www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Murray/e/B07VH5LHWG?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060
-Fun and Games with Lad and Slimby Bruce and Geri Murray
https://afs0024.wixsite.com/mrsmccarley/beginning-reading -"Waving With Ay With a_e" by Autumn McCarley-
