Drake Ate the Cake
Beginning Reading
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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 (He ate the 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/.
Materials:
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Cake image
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Cover-up critter
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Smartboard
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Letterboxes for each student
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Letter manipulatives for each child and teacher: a,b,c,e,f,g,k,l,m,p,r,t,v,z
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List of spelling words on cards to read: lane, cave, grape, brave, stake, plate, flat, pick, shot, flame, back, trape
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Decodable text: Jane and Babe
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Assessment worksheet
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Crayons
Procedures:
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Say: To become an expert reader, we must learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned about the short vowel a and how it says /a/ like in sat. Today, we are going to learn about the long vowel A and the silent e that is used to make A say /A/. When I see a_e we say the letter A’s name. (Show image of cake to incorporate the a_e sound /A/)
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Say: Before we learn about the spelling of long A, we need to listen and find it in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I pretend that someone ate the cake. My mouth opens up and I say /A/. Let me show you: lane. I heard A and pretended I ate the cake and I felt my mouth get wide. There is a long A in lane. Let’s see if there is long A in clap. Hmm, I don’t think I heard the long A. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “YUM,” if you don’t hear /A/ say “EW.” Is it in fame, tag, card, flake?
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Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/. You spell /A/ with the letter a and the silent letter e. What if I want to spell the word brave? “She was brave and went into the dark room.” To spell brave in the letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I need to stretch it out and count: /b//r//A//v/. I need 4 boxes. I heard the /A/ just before the /v/ so I am going to put it in the 3rd box and the silent e outside the last box. The word starts with /b/, so I need the letter b. Now it gets a little harder so I’m going to say it slower /b//r//A//v/. I heard a growling /r/. I now, have one empty box! Let’s say the word one last time /b//r//A//v/. [Point to letters as you spell the word.] The missing letter is /v/.
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Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. Let’s start out easy with 3 boxes. Let’s spell game. What letter should go in the first box? [Respond to answer]. What goes in the second box? Did you remember to put the silent e outside the last box? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress]. You will need four letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound of the letter that goes in the first box. Then listen for /A/; don’t forget to put the silent e outside the last box. Here is the word plate, “He had no more food on his plate.” Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: p-l-a-t-e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Now let’s try some other words with four letterboxes: flame, brake, stake, grape. [Monitor students while they spell the words and write sentences with them.]
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Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled. [Show the words name, lane, brave, brake, stake, grape, plate, flame, the extra words cave and back and the pseudoword trape. Read the words together. Afterwords, get in groups of 4 and play Fan & Pick. Allow one student to pick a card, one will say the word, the next student will spell, the word, and the next student will tell them if they are correct or not. (Students will go around until each student has a turn to spell the word. Say: We finished reading out words, great job!”
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Say: You have done a great job today reading words with /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. There is a lion at the zoo named Babe. Babe is very very sleepy. Jane, the zookeeper wants to wake up Babe. What do you think Jane and Babe will do when Babe wakes up? You will have to read the book to find out. Student will read Jane and Babe. (Students will get with a partner and alternate reading a page aloud while the teacher comes around the room to observe. When partner reading is over we will read the book and discuss as a class).
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Say: That was a great story we read! Now before we finish, I want you to get out your crayons. On this worksheet that I am handing out, Ann and Abe are looking for something. Your job is to color in words with a_e that say /A/ blue, and words that say /a/ gray to figure out what Ann and Abe are looking for. Once you have finished coloring, write your answer in the space below. [Collect worksheets to evaluate each child’s progress.]
Resources:
Assessment worksheet: http://www.free-phonics-worksheets.com/phonics-worksheet-36.html
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Beverly McMichael’s: Bake the Cake
http://bcm0023.wixsite.com/bevslessondesigns/beginning-reading
Cushman, Sheila and Kornblum, Rona. Jane and Babe. 1990.
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