Beginning Reading

Bob got a dog!

Beginning Reading Design

Madelyn Brown

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence o = /o/. 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 o. They will learn a meaningful representation (child saying “ah” with their mouth), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence o = /o/.

Materials:

Graphic image of child saying “ah”
Cover-up critter
Letter boxes for modeling and for each student
Letter manipulatives for each child
List of spelling words to read: (ox, job, hot, book, stop, clock)
Decodable text: The Tot and the Pot
Assessment worksheet

Procedures:

1. Say: 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, and i. Therefore, today we are going to learn about short o that makes the /o/ sound. When I say /o/ I think of a child opening their mouth wide and saying “ah” while a doctor is looking at their throat. (show graphic image)

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /o/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /o/ in words, I hear an “ah” sound and my lips make an o shape like this (make a vocal gesture for /o/). I’ll show you first: dog. I heard an “ah” sound and I felt my lips make a little o (make a circle motion around lips). There is a short o in dog. Now I’m going to see if it’s in cat. Hmm, I didn’t hear an “ah” sound and my lips didn’t make that round o shape. Now you try. If you hear /o/ say “ahhh.” If you don’t hear /o/ say, “Nope, not it!.” Is it in mop, bad, rod, mom, tin, or frog? (have children say the words out loud to see if they hear the “ah” sound and if there mouth makes an o shape.

3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /o/ that we’ll learn today. A way to spell /o/ is by starting at the dotted line and making a circle that touches the sidewalk and makes its way back up to the dotted line (write an o on the board). What if I want to spell the word rock? “There are many kinds of rocks found all over the world.” To spell rock in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /r/ /o/ /ck/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /o/ right before the /ck/ so I’m going to put an o in the 2ndbox. The word starts with /r/, so I need a r. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /r/ /o/ /ck/. I think I heard the digraph /ck/ so I’ll put those letters in the 3rdand last box like this. r o ck

4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ox. An ox is a really big animal. “I saw an ox on a farm one time on a field trip.” What should go in the first box? (respond to children’s answers). What goes in the first box? What goes in the second box? (observe progress). You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Here’s the word: job, My job is being a teacher. (allow children to spell job). Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes: j-o-b and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: hot; An oven is really hot when it’s on. (allow children to spell hot). Model how to spell hot and for them to check their work. Next word. Listen to see if this word has /o/ in it before you spell it: rat; rats like to eat cheese. Did you hear the “ah” sound? Why not? Right, because our lips didn’t make an o shape. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: stop; when the light turns red, we have to stop. How about hen? a hen lays eggs. Do you hear the /o/ sound? No, it doesn't you're right! One more then we’re done with spelling. Spell clock: we have to watch our clock to make sure we aren’t late to class. Remember to stretch it out to get this longer word.

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 the word rock and model reading the word.) First I see there’s an o in the middle of the word. It must say /o/. 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). /r/ /o/ = /ro/. Now I’m going to blend the end of the word into the /ro/ we have already uncovered. Rock; 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 a turn.)

6. Say: You’ve done a great job spelling and reading words with our new spelling for o = /o/. Now we are going to read a book called The Tot and the Pot. This is a story about Tom who is sitting outside with his mom. Tom sees a pot he wants to play with. Will Tom be able to reach the pot? If so, what will he do with the pot? Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Tot and the Pot to find out if Tom can reach the pot. (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 Tot and the Pot aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss what is happening with the story.)

7. Say: That was a good story. Before we finish up with our lesson about a way to spell /o/ = o, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. One this worksheet, students will look at a few pictures and twelve words to determine if they hear the short o “ah” sound. Then, they will come up with words on their own that have a short o in them.

Resources:

Picture: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/materials/phonpics/

The Tot and the Pot by Lili Henderson: https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=7

Assessment worksheet: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/531143349780417521/?lp=true

Hannah Lee, Aaah, an Ant!: https://hml0015.wixsite.com/mysite-2/beginning-reading

Click here for the Communications Index

Click here to go back to the Home Page