“Uhhh”, can you say that again??
A Beginning Reading Lesson
By Maggie Neal
Rationale: This lesson will teach children about the short vowel correspondence u = /u/. In order for children to successfully read, they 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 u=/u/. They will learn a meaningful representation (an unsure child who says “uhhh” can you say that again??) they will spell and read words in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence u = /u/.
Materials:
1.Graphic image of an unsure child looking confused and saying “uhhh” can you say that again??
2. Cover-up critter
3. Whiteboard or smartboard
4. Elkonin boxes for modeling for the teacher
5. Individual Elkonin boxes for each student
6. Letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: u, p, r, g, o, t, s, n, c, l, b, k, a, h
7. Spelling words on flash cards to read: Phoneme count: (2): up, (3): rug, rot, sun, (4): club, truck, cast, (5): brunch
8. Decodable text, "Fuzz and the Buzz" (Phonics Readers: Short Vowels, Book 9 Short u)
9. 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 the short vowels a, e, i, o. Lets review these real fast! The short vowel a says /a/ like a crying baby who says aaaa. The short vowel e says /e/ which sounds like opening a creaky door. The short vowel i says /i/ like icky sticky! The short vowel o says /o/ like opening your mouth real wide at the doctor. Today we are going to learn about the short vowel u. When I say /u/, I think of a cute little kid confused in class who says “uhhhh can you say that again please”. (show graphic image) Now when we see the letter u, we know it says /u/ like a confused little child. (write letter u on the board)
2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /u/, we need to listen for it in words and see if we can hear it in those words. When we listen for /u/ in words, we hear the sound a kid would make when they aren’t sure of something in class. Have you ever been confused and said “uhh” well when we do that our mouth opens and our tongue lays flat behind our bottom teeth. [Model saying uhhh with lips open] Let’s try looking for /u/ in a tongue tickler! [have tongue tickler written on white board] “Uncle was upset because he was unable to put his umbrella up.” This time we are going to read it all together and I want you to listen for the /u/. Now, lets read it slower and I want you to make your mouth gesture every time you hear /u/ and scratch your head. Finally, lets all together stretch out the /u/ in the tongue tickler when ever we hear it. Uuuuncle was uuuupset because he was uuuunable to put his uuumbrella uuup. Great job! I heard the /u/ in uncle was upset because he was unable to put his umbrella up.
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /u/ that we’ll learn today. What if I wanted to spell the word “brunch”. I am meeting my parents for brunch. Brunch is a meal that serves as both breakfast and lunch. To spell brunch in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /b//r/u//n//ch/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /u/ just before the /n/ so I’m going to put a u in the 3rd letter box followed by the /n/. The word starts with /b/, that’s easy; I need a b. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /b//r//u//n//ch/. I think I heard /r/ so I’ll put a r right after the b. Then I definitely hear the /u/ after the /r/ like I have. Then I have /n/. Then to finish is a little tricky because two letters make up the last sound I hear /ch/ so I put the c and the h in the 5th box. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /b//r//u//n//ch/]
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for the word “up”. Up is a direction and the opposite of down, “The rocket went up, into the sky.” 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 /u/. Here’s the word: rug, “I rolled out the new rug” “rug”, [Allow children to spell the rest of the words and give sentences for each word: (2): up, (3): rug, rot, sun, (4): club, truck, cast, (5): brunch]
5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled. [show the words (2): up, (3): rug, rot, sun, (4): club, truck, cast, (5): brunch] But first I’ll show you how I would read the word. Let’s take the word duck. [have the word duck written on board] I will sound it out using my cover up critter. [uncover and blend sequentially before vowel then blend with vowel] d=/d/ Now ill blend it with the /u/= /du/ Now all I need is the end /ck/=duck. Duck! Like, “I fed the duck that was in the pond”. Now it’s your turn to give it a try! [Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]
6. Say: You’ve done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /u/. Now we are going to read a book called Fuzz and the Buzz. This is a story about a little bear named Fuzz. Fuzz loves to adventure and runs away from home. But, when he runs away he comes across some trouble when he finds some bees that try to sting him! Will he get stung? Let’s read the book and find out! [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 Fuzz and the Buzz aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: Didn’t you love that story! Fuzz is such a cute and silly little bear! Before we finish up our lesson on /u/ I want to see how you can solve a reading problem! I want you to read all the short u words on this worksheet and then draw a picture of what the word means underneath it! Take your time and do your best! [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
Resources:
Hayes, Darby “The Confused Caveman says Uhhh”
http://darbyhayes23.wixsite.com/portfolio/beginning-reading-design
Muller, Lauren “Uhhhhh my tummy”: http://laurenmuller96.wixsite.com/teacherwebpage/reading-to-learn
Murray, Gerri “Oh, I didn’t know”: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/murraybr.htm
Book: Fuzz and the Buzz
Decodable Book: Phonics Readers- short vowels: Fuzz and the Buzz. Educational Insights, 1990.
Assessment Worksheet: http://cvcworksheet2.blogspot.com/2015/08/new-762-cvc-short-u-worksheets.html
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