Beginning Reading
The Doctor Says “Say Ahh!”
By: Caroline Dean
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 – like after a yummy meal, or when the doctor wants to check your throat), 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:
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Graphic image of a child saying “ah”
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Cover-up critter
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Letterboxes (Elkonin boxes) for modeling and for each student
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Letter manipulatives for each child: o, x, j , b, h, t, f, r, g, s, p, c, k, n, d, e
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List of spelling words to read: (ox, job, pot, frog, stop, sock, blonde)
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Decodable text: Doc in the Fog
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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 (like 'a' in sat), e (like 'e' in bet), and (and 'i' in wish). 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 their 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 sock? “Susie is wearing mismatched socks on her feet.” To spell sock in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /s/ /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 /s/, so I need a 's'. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s/ /o/ /ck/. I think I heard the digraph /ck/ so I’ll put those letters in the 3rd and last box like this. s 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 at my friend’s farm.” 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: pot; I can cook pasta in a pot. (allow children to spell pot). Model how to spell pot and for them to check their work. Next word. Listen to see if this word has /o/ in it before you spell it: cat; cats like to chase mice. Did you hear the “ah” sound? Why not? Right, because our lips didn’t make an o shape. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: frog; frogs hop on leap pads. 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. blonde: My friend has long blonde hair.
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 sock 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). /s/ /o/ = /so/. Now I’m going to blend the end of the word into the /so/ we have already uncovered. Sock; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone, together. (have children read words in unison. Afterward, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has a turn.)
S O CK
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 Doc in the Fog. This is a story about a magical wizard named Doc. He can touch anything and turn it into something else! ZOT! He touches a dog, doll and more! You will have to read to figure out what he changes them into! Let’s pair up and take turns reading Doc in the Fog to find what happens to our wizard friend Doc! (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 Doc in the Fog aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss what is happening with the story.)
7. Say: That was a good story. What happened to Doc? (The fog got him!) 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 see how many words that have the “ah” sound that they can make from the letters they are given.
Resources:
Reference:
Book: Doc in the Fog
https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1198004/pages/Educational%20Insights%20decodable%20books
Worksheet:
Lesson Plan Reference:
Harris, Caroline. (2019) Sam wears Socks.
https://ceh0108.wixsite.com/carolineharris/beginning-reading
Back to Reading Genie
http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/developments/
