Ms. Muller's Class
*This photo is licensed for use through creative commons.
"Yawning With Short O"
Beginning Reading
Rationale: This lesson teaches students the short vowel correspondence o = /o/. Learning vowel correspondences is crucial for reading because it allows students to map word pronunciations through their spellings. In this lesson, students will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the short vowel o. Students will use a meaningful representation of the phoneme, a person yawning, to help identify and map this correspondence. Students will also spell and read words containing short o in a letterbox lessons and then apply their understanding to reading a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence o = /o/.
Materials: graphic image of yawning woman; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin letterboxes for modeling and individual Elkonin letterboxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each student and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: o, p, n, d, g, t, f, r, s, m, c, k, l, b, h; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: on, pop, dot, frog, plop, smock, stomp, frost, blond, prompt, shog; decodable text Doc in the Fog, and assessment worksheet
Procedures:
1. Say: Reading is like cracking a code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already cracked the code for some of the short vowels by learning that a = /a/, e = /e/, and i = /i/. Today we are going to continue to learn about short vowels by focusing on the letter o and the sound it makes, /o/. The sound /o/ makes me think of a person yawning like this, “ahhhhh.” [Show the graphic]. See how the person’s mouth looks like an o when she yawns? We are going to use this to remember that the letter o says /o/.
2. Say: Before we learn about spelling words with /o/, we need to review how to recognize the sound in words. When I listen for /o/ in words, I hear the person say “ahhh” like a yawn. I can also tell if a word says /o/ by the movements my mouth makes when I say the word. When I say /o/, my mouth opens and air comes out. Let’s all yawn and cover our mouths so we can hear the “ahhh” sound and feel our mouths open and air come out. [Demonstrate vocal gesture]. Now we are going to practice recognizing the sound /o/ in words. I’ll show you first: spot. I heard an “ahhh” and felt my mouth open and air come out so there is a short o in spot. What about the word home? Hmm, I didn’t hear an “ahhh” and my mouth made a little o shape instead of opening like a yawn so /o/ is not in home. Now it’s your turn to try. If you hear /o/, cover your mouth and pretend to yawn. If you don’t hear /o/, shake your head and say “No short o.” Is it in pot, pan, bird, frog, stop, go?
3. Say: Now that we have reviewed how to find /o/ in spoken words, we can look at its spelling using letterboxes. What if I want to spell the word strong? “You have to be strong to lift that heavy box.” In order to spell strong in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes are in the word. When I stretch out the word strong I hear /s/ /t/ /r/ /o/ /ng/, which is 5 phonemes, so we will need 5 letterboxes. I heard /o/ just before the /ng/ at the end so I’m going to put an o in the 4th box. I hear /s/ at the beginning of the word, so I put s in the 1st box. Now I need to listen carefully to make sure I get all the sounds. [Say strong slowly]. I heard a /t/ after the /s/ so I need a t after s. One more before the /o/, hmm… /s//t//r//o//ng/, I think I heard growling /r/. The last sound /ng/ is tricky because it is a digraph that we spell with two letters, n and g. Let’s sound out what we have spelled, /s//t//r//o//ng//, strong!
Next I will show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with frost on the top and model reading the word]. I’m going to start with the vowel in the middle; the o says /o/. Now I’m going to stretch out the beginning part, /f//r/. I add those sounds together with the vowel, f-r-o, to get /fro/. Now I’ll look at the ending sounds, /s//t/. When I blend all the chunks together I get fro-st, frost.
4. Say: I’ve demonstrated how we spell words in letterboxes and then read words with short o. Now it’s your turn! Everyone get your letterboxes and letter tiles out! Let’s start with two boxes for the word on. [Wait for a minute for students to spell the word.] That was an easy one. Can anyone tell me what letters go in the boxes? [Call on a student]. Now we are going to spell a word that needs three letterboxes. Listen for the beginning sound, then the /o/ in the middle, and then the ending sound. Here’s the word: pop, My baby sister likes to pop bubbles; pop. I am going to check your spelling as I walk around the room. [Check progress of each student]. Next we are going to spell a few more words. [Allow students to spell remaining words, giving sentences for each word: dot, frog, plop, smock, stomp].
5. Say: Learning how to spell words is important because it helps us create a map for how to pronounce words when we read. For this next activity, we are going to read the words we spelled in our letterboxes. [Show the words pop, dot, frog, plop, smock, stomp, the extra words blond and prompt, and the psuedoword shog. Have students read them out loud together. Afterwards, walk around to each student’s desk and have them read you a word.]
6. Say: You have all done such an awesome job spelling and reading words with short o. Now we are going to read a book called Doc in the Fog. This book is about a wizard named Doc that has magical powers. Doc can change one thing into another using his magic wand. What will Doc use his magic to do?
What will happen if his magic goes wrong? Let’s get into pairs to read and find out. [Students will alternate reading each page while the teacher walks around to check student progress. Then the whole class will reread Doc in the Fog together, stopping to talk before you turn.]
7. Say: That was an exciting book! We are going to do one last thing with o says /o/ today. For this activity you are going to read the words in each box and color them one color if you can hear /o/ and another color if you do not hear /o/. At the end you should make a picture and you write the object in the picture at the bottom! [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual understanding.]
Resources:
Heavlin, Rachel. “Say ‘Ahhhhh’”. http://rah0032.wixsite.com/ctrd/beginning-reader.
Assessment worksheet: http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/short-sounds-o/
Cushman, Sheila. Doc in the Fog. Carson, CA. Educational Insights, 1990. Print.
