Ms. Webb's Class

Beginning Reading

Let's Bake a Cake

Beginning Reading Lesson

Kailyn Webb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale: This lesson is designed to teach children about the long vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize these spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the a_e = /A/ correspondence. To help students understand this correspondence, they will see a meaningful representation (children act out mixing cake batter), do a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a_e = /A/.

 

Materials: Graphic image of children baking a cake; letter tiles and boxes for letterbox lesson; cover-up critter; whiteboard and markers; flash cards with words that have a_e = /A/ correspondence; list of spelling words on board; decodable text: Snake and Ape.

 

Procedure:

1. Say: In order to become great readers, we need to learn the code to pronounce each word. We have already covered short vowel correspondences, so today we are going to move on to long vowels by learning the a_e = /A/ correspondence. I am going to teach you about how a long A and a silent e make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/, let’s pretend we are baking a cake (show image of children baking a cake). Now let’s look at the letter /A/ that we are talking about today. You can spell /A/ with the letter a and a signal e at the end of a word to make it say its name, /A/ (write this correspondence on the board).

 

2. Say: Before we learn more about the spelling of /A/, we are going to listen for it in some words. When you hear a sound like its name /A/, open your mouth as if you were saying the letter (I will show them an example by doing it myself). Say: game. I heard a say its name and I felt it on my lips. There is a long A in game. Now see if you hear it in the word hall. I didn’t hear a say its name, did you? If you hear /A/, you can say, “Let’s bake a cake!” If you don’t hear it, say, “No cake please!” Is it in: late, boat, ate, male, lake, shoe, rage, pin, or waste? You should hear it in some of these words.

 

3. Say: What if I want to spell late? We see this in, “Hurry up or you’re going to be late.” To spell late in letterboxes, we have to count the phonemes in the word, so let’s count them: /l//a//t/. I need 3 boxes. I heard the /A/ before the /t/ so I will put the a in the second box, and the silent e signal on the outside of the end box. We know we need the letter /l/ for the first part, before the a in the second box. The missing letter is /t/.

 

 

4. Say: Now I’m going to let you spell some words in the letterboxes. We will start out with two boxes for an easy word: ate. Ate is the past-tense of eating. “I ate the last piece of pizza.” Did you remember to put the silent e outside the last box? I will come and check to see that you understand. You will need three letter boxes for this next word. When I say the word, listen for the beginning letter, /A/, and don’t forget the silent e. The word is: lake, “We went to the lake today.” (Let students spell remaining words: male, rage, waste, grape).

 

5. Say: Now, let’s go over the words you spelled.  (Show the words: late, ate, lake, male, rage, waste, grape, the extra words stare and cave, and the pseudoword bame).

 

6. Say: You guys are doing great with the correspondence a_e = /A/. Now we are going to read a book called Snake and Ape. Booktalk: “There was a jungle that a snake and ape lived in. They liked climbing on the trees until people started cutting them down. Read the story to find out what happens when the trees are cut down and how they solve the problem.” (Have students read and discuss the book with a partner).

 

7. Say: Before we are done with this lesson, we are going to do a worksheet to see how well you can solve the problems. The words on the worksheet given, some words in the story are missing. After looking at the word bank, decide which a_e word fits in the story. Try to see if your answers make sense by rereading the story. (Collect worksheets to monitor student’s knowledge).

 

References:

Book: Snake and Ape https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=42

 

Heard, Jami. /A/ you! Stop that!. https://sites.google.com/site/missheardsresearchreading/home/beginning-reading-a-you-stop-that