Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. In order 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 a_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (making a yummy cake), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a_e = /A/.

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Materials: Graphic image of child making a yummy cake; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, a, b, c, d, e, f, h, k, n, p, r, s, t ; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ate, rake, face, back, snake, parade, decodable text: The Race for Cake, and assessment worksheet titled “Find the Spelling: Short a & a-e words”.

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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 short vowel words with a, like tap, and today we are going to learn about long A and the silent e signal that is used to make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of a nice little child making a yummy cake “Say, let’s make cake! [show graphic image].

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2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /A/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear a say its name /A/ and my lips make a slightly open and smiling a shape like this. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: lake. I heard a say its name and I felt my lips make a smiling a [make a smiling motion around slightly opened lips]. There is a long A in lake. Now I’m going to see if it’s in hat. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and my lips didn’t make that smiling a sound. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Say, let’s make cake.” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in cat, cup, spoon, plane, nose, eyes? [Have children make a smiling motion around their slightly open lips when they feel /A/ say its name.]

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3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say A’s name. [Write a_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word snake? “If I see a snake at the zoo, I will want to hold it.” To spell snake in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//n//A//k/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an a in the 3rd  box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s//n//A//k/. One more before the /A/, I think I heard /n/ so I’ll put a n right after the s. Hmm . . . /s//n//A//k/, I think I heard our making cake sound /A/ so I need an a. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//n//A//k/.] The missing one is /k/ = k.

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4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ate. When we have already eaten something yummy and we tell our friends about what we had we say, “I just ate a delicious apple.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? 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 /A/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: rake, I have to rake the leaves in the yard; rake. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: r – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: face; I put sunscreen on my face [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /A/ in it before you spell it: back; if someone is behind me I have to look back to see them. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: space; aliens live in outer space. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: parade; I want to go to the 4th of July parade. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.

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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 poster with snake on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. 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//n/ = /s/ + /n/ = /sn/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /snA/. Now all I need is the end, /k/ = /snAk/. Snake; 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 had a turn.]

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6. Say: You’ve done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Race for Cake. This is a story about a little boy Ben and his sister Jess, both Ben and Jess were out playing in the lake when they realized their mom was in the house baking a cake. Ben and Jess decide to race to the house to get to the cake but someone else in the family decides to join in on the race as well. Who do you think joins in on the race and who do you think might get the cake first? Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Race for Cake to find out who gets to eat the cake first. [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 Race for Cake aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

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7. Say: That was a fun story. Who was the unexpected character that joined in on the race for cake? Right, it was the family dog named Lad. What happened to Ben as she was running towards the cake? Right, he fell and scraped his face. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a spelling and reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some pictures that match up with correct spellings. Your job is to look at the picture on the left, and decide which a_e word is spelled correctly. First take a good hard look at the picture, then choose the word that is spelled correctly remembering our a_e spelling sequence. Reread and check your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

Murray G. Oh! I didn’t Know! Beginning Reading Lesson http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/cultivations.html

 

Murray, G. (2006) The Race for Cake. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/Geniebooks/RaceCake.ppt

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Assessment Worksheet https://www.themeasuredmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/a-ewkshtpack.pdf