Rationale: In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the short vowel a = /a/. They will learn a meaningful representation by saying "Aaa! A Monster!" to emphasize the /a/ sound, by reading and spelling words containing this correspondence in a letterbox lesson, and by reading decodable book that focuses on the vowel correspondence a = /a/.

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Materials:

1. Picture of a monster chasing children and saying the /a/ noise.

2. Cover-up critter

3. Pencil and Paper

4. Letterboxes and lowercase letters

5. Decodable Book 

6. Worksheets for assessment

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Procedures:

1. It is important as a reader to understand how to pronounce words. Today, we are going to be working on the short vowel a. When I say /a/ I want you to think about a monster chasing you and saying "Aaa! A Monster!" Show picture of monster chasing children and ask students to repeat this.

2. Say: "To make the /a/ sound we open our mouths and make the sound from the back of our throat." Show vocal gesture for /a/. "Do you hear the /a/ sound in the word bat? b-a-t. I heard it in bat! How about hair? No, I did not hear the short vowel /a/ as in "Aaa! A Monster!" did you? Okay so now you are going to tell me if you hear the /a/ noise in these words I'm about to say. If you hear the /a/ "Aaa! A Monster!" noise then raise your hands in the air like you're scared. Do you hear /a/ in cat? tack? pair? map? play? math? sat? flip? stop? rat?

3. Say: "Now we are going to learn to spell words similar to the /a/ Aaa! A monster! sound. What if I want you to spell the word clap? First, I need to count the phonemes.../c/ /l/ /a/ /p/. That is 4! I need 4 boxes. I heard the /a/ aah! a monster! towards the end of the word. The first phoneme I hear is /c/, /c/, /c/, so that is a C. I will put that in the first box. Next phoneme I hear after /c/ is /l/, /l/, /l/, that an L. Then I hear the "aa! a monster" sound- /c/ /l/ /a/. That leaves one sound left to go in the fourth box. Clap- /c/ /l/ /a/ /p/. /p/, /p/, /p/, Now I am done! Let's read this word together, /c/ /l/ /a/ /p/, clap!"

4. Now is the time for you to try with letterboxes. The first word we are going to do is "at" as in "I walked my dog at the park." How many phonemes are there? Let class answer (2). "Very good! Place two boxes down and put the letter in them. Now our next word is rat, as in look out there is a rat! How many phonemes?" Let class answer (3) and fill in the corresponding letters. Continue on to do the words chat (3), back (3), fast (4), flat (4), smash (4), snap (4). Make sure students count the phonemes in each before filling in the spelling.

5. Say: "When words get challenging, we need to be able to decode without using letter boxes." Pull out pencil and paper and write the word track. "For example, I will take my coverup critter and see this tough word- track. Remembering /a/ makes the "Aaa" noise, I can decode this word one at a time /t/ /r/ /a/ /ck/ track" Now students write and read the words they previously spelled with the letterboxes, one at a time- rat, chat, back, fast, flat, smash, snap.

6. "Now it is time to move on to a book! This book is called "Nat the Cat" It is about a cat named Nat who likes to be happy/glad, but when things do not go his way he acts different. You will have to read to find out what happens!" Have children read the book together and discuss events and pictures throughout.

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Practice Activity:

Give worksheets to students to complete. Instructions- 1. Say the name of each picture below. Color the pictures with the short /a/ sound. 2.- Circle the words with the short /a/ sound. 3- Write 3 words with the short a sound.

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Assessment:

Have students identify the sentences that use the vowel a = /a/.

1. The cat took a nap.

2. Sally is happy today.

3. The dog jumped on the couch.

4. The car drove fast around the track.

5. There is a mouse in my shower.

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Practice Worksheet:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/531143349780417525/

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References:

"Nat the Cat" by Cindy Garrett

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/geniebooks/teacherbooks/

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"Beginning Reading Design: Peyton Hayes"

https://hayespeyton1999.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading

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