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Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence o=/o/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map out word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing o. They will learn a meaningful representation (saying “Ah” at the doctor’s office), they will spell and then read words containing this vowel in a letterbox lesson, and finish by reading a decodable book that focuses on the o=/o/ vowel correspondence.
Materials:
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Graphic of a child saying “ah” at the doctor’s office
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coverup critter
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poster or smartboard image with the alphabet
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whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual (flat) Elkonin boxes for each student
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letter tiles for each child and magnetic or smartboard letter tiles for the teacher (j,o,t,b,l,c,k,s,e,n,r,s,g,f,d,p,m,p)
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list of spelling words on whiteboard or smartboard to read: jot, block, sent, cross, strong, frost, blond, prompt
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On or Off?
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assessment worksheet
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pencils
Procedures:
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Say: “In order to become expert readers we need to learn code that tells us how to pronounce all words! We have already learned say and read short vowels words with a, like flag, e, like dent, and i in list. Today we are going to learn about the short o sound /o/.”
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“When I say /o/ I think of when you are at the doctor’s office and they need to check your throat, so they tell you to “say ah!” (show the graphic of the child at the doctor’s office). Now let’s look at the letter that represents the /o/ sound. Can someone come and point to the letter o on our alphabet poster? (have alphabet poster on smartboard or displayed in classroom).”
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“When we say our /o/ sound our mouth opens wide into a loose O shape. Let’s move our mouths in that shape and practice saying “ah” like we are at the doctor’s office (model vocal gesture).”
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“Now let’s practice a tongue tickler: Oliver had an operation in October, and Oscar gave him an octopus. Oliver needed to get surgery in October. His Friend Oscar felt bad, so he decided to give him a gift to keep him company while he is recovering from surgery. Oliver had an operation in October, and Oscar gave him an octopus.”
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“Good! Now let’s see if we hear our /o/ sound in some words. When we say stop do you hear our “ah” sound like at the doctor’s office? How about in skip? Right! Our /o/ sound was not in the word skip.” Have them practice this with, frost, smash, plop, and rent.
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“What if I want to spell the word strong? “The weightlifter was so strong because he could lift 200 pounds.” Strong means having physical power. To spell strong in the letter boxes we first need to figure out how many boxes we need. To do this I stretch it out: /s/ /t/ /r/ /o/ /ng/. So, I need 5 boxes. I heard my /o/ after the /r/ so I will put it in the 4th box. The word starts with /s/, so that will go into the first box. Next, I hear a /t/ so I will put that in the next box. Do you hear the next /r/ sound? That will go into our third box. Now all I have left is the end of the word: /ng/ sound. To make this sound we will put an n and g in the same box.”
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“Now I am going to show you how to read a hard word (show the word on the whiteboard or smartboard). I am going to start with our o says /o/ sound. Now I am going to put the beginning letters with the o: p-r-o /pro/. Finally, I am going to create the ending chunk and then put it together with the beginning chunk: p-m-t /mpt/, /prompt/. Oh, prompt, like the teacher will prompt you when you need to answer the question.”
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“Now it is your turn to try to spell some words in letterboxes. We will start easy. Let’s start out with 3 letter boxes for jot. To jot something is to quickly write something down. “The teacher told us to jot down our ideas.” Everyone spell jot in your boxes as I walk around the room and check your spelling (Observe the class’ progress).” Repeat these steps for the remaining words: block, sent, cross, frost, and blond.
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“Now we are going to read the words that we have spelled (show the words strong, prompt, jot, block, sent, cross, frost, blond, and the pseudoword yot). Let’s read these words together.” After, call on individual children read a word off of the list until each student has participated.
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“Now that we have spelled and read short o words, we are going to read a book called On Or Off? It is a hot, sunny day on the dock. Ben and Tim are fishing, while Lad and Slim are messing around on the raft. Suddenly it gets really hot, and Lad jumps off the raft! Will the others join him? Let’s read to find out! Let’s pair up and take turns reading to find out what will happen (pair up children and have them take turns reading). Now we are going to read it as a class (talk before your turn each page).”
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Great job on reading On Or Off? Before we finish lesson, we are going to do a worksheet, so that I can make sure you understand our /o/ sound. I am going to pass out a worksheet that has a short o coloring puzzle. I want you to read each of the words, and if you hear a /o/ sound then color the box that the word is in. Make sure to check your answers!” Collect all of the worksheets and evaluate each student’s progress.
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