Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence a_e =/A/. In order to learn how to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map out word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling a_e. They will learn meaningful representation (through waving and saying ‘Ay, there!), spell and read words with this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book focusing on a_e.

 

Materials: Coverup Critter, graphic image, letterboxes and tiles for each student, whiteboard letterbox and letter manipulatives for modeling, poster of spelling words for students to read: [ate, same, babe, snake, track, place], the decodable book, James and the Good Day, and the worksheet provided.

 

Procedure: 
1.)    Say: In order to become master readers we need to learn the code to pronounce words. We know how to decode words with short a, /a/, like in sat, but today we’re going to learn about long A and how we know to look for it when we see a silent e at the end telling us to say its name, /A/. When I hear /A/, I think about when you see your friend, wave, and say, “Hey, there!” (emphasizing the /A/ and almost cutting out the /h/ sound, then show graphic image).
2.)    Say: Before we look for the spelling of /A/, though, we have to listen for /A/ in some words. When I listen for /A/, I hear A say its name, then my mouth opens up with my teeth far apart like this (demonstrates vocal gestures). First, I’ll show you how I do it with the word plate. /p/-/l/-/A/-/A/, hey, I think I hear A saying its name, do you hear? So plate has a long A. Now I’ll try crab. /c/-/r/-/a/-/a/, no, that doesn’t sound like A’s name, does it? Crab- no, I didn’t hear a long A in that one. Now I want you to try. If you hear A say its name, say, “Ay, there!” and wave. If there isn’t a long A, I want you to just shake your head. [word list: cake, tame, talk, date, hand]
3.)    Alright, now it’s time to see long A’s spelling. One way we can spell /A/ is by using the letter a, then using a silent e at the end of the word. [write a_e on the whiteboard] The blank line means that there’s a consonant in between the a and the e. So what if I want to spell the word flame? Well, I hear the long A, so we’re going to use our silent e. “We roasted marshmallows over the flame,” so flame means fire in this sentence. In order to spell this word in my letterbox, first I need to know how many phonemes, or sounds, are in this word- /f/,/l/,/A/,/m/, so I need four boxes. Since I heard /A/ right before the end, I’m going to put it in the third box, and I know I need a silent e at the end, so I’ll put it outside the last box since it doesn’t make its own sound. Now, the first sound was /f/, so I need an f in my first box. Next, I need, hmmm, /f/, /l/, an l in the second box, and then an m in the last box to make that /m/ sound at the end. 
4.)    Now I want you to spell some words in your letterboxes. We only need two boxes for this first one- ate. “I ate some chicken for dinner.” What do you think should go in the first box? [listen to responses] What about the second? Do we need a silent e? Did you put it outside the last box? [goes around to check progress] For this next word, we need three boxes. Listen for that beginning sound, then know where to put your A, but don’t forget that silent e outside. Here’s the word: same. “I’m wearing the same shirt as John today.” [after letting children spell, model correct way to spell on the board] Let’s try another one: babe- this means baby. “The babe was hungry and started crying.” [let students attempt before checking work and correctly modeling spelling] Now, we’re going to need four boxes for this one: snake. “The snake slithered across the green grass.” [repeat process for each new word, giving students time before having volunteer come up to spell word on the whiteboard] Now, let’s make sure our next word has the long A: track. “I ran around the track all day to practice running.” Do we need silent e? Why not? Right, we didn’t hear its name, so we just use our short a. [volunteer spells on the board] Alright, our last word is place. “I live in a place called Alabama.” [repeat process and have volunteer spell up front] Great job! Thank you to all my volunteers today!
5.)    Now we get to read all these wonderful words we just spelled, but I’m going to show you how I do it first. [shows poster with spelling words printed on it, and model flame] First, I see my silent e, so I know I need a long vowel, looks like an A. I’m going to use my coverup critter for the first part. [uncovers one letter at a time] /f/-/l/-/a/, wait a second, I remember my silent e, so /f/+/l/+/A/+/m/, when I blend it all together, it says flame! Now let’s all try together. [have children read in unison, then call on students individually to read one word off the list at a time]
6.)    You guys have done such a great job, now we get to read a new book called James and the Good Day. James wakes up one morning and starts the best day of his life, but when things start to go wrong, will it still be the best day ever by suppertime? We’re gonna dive right in and find out! Let’s pair up to read together. I want each partner to take turns reading one page at a time to find out what happens during James’s good day. [students pair off and read alternate pages while teacher observes and monitors around the room. Afterwards, class reads the book together out loud, with a small discussion about the story between pages]
7.)    That was a fun book. So, do you think James had a good day after he had to clean up all his mess? Could he still have fun for the rest of the day? Before we finish for the day, I want you to use our /A/ sound and our silent e’s to do this worksheet. Use the picture and decide which word tells us what the picture is by saying each word out loud to yourself. [collect worksheets for evaluation afterwards]
 

Resources: 
Adapted from Meredith Gray, Show Me Your Wave For A
https://sites.google.com/site/readingwithmsmeredithgray/home/beginning-reader-design 

Find James and the Good Day on Amazon or online.

Cushman, Sheila and Kornblum, Rona. James and the Good Day. Educational Insights, 1990file:///C:/Users/Jennifer/Downloads/James%20and%20the%20Good%20Day.pdf 
Assessment worksheet: http://www.themeasuredmom.com

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