A Beginning Reading Lesson
Ay, It’s My Lucky Day!
By Christina Hogan
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Rationale:
This lesson will teach 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 out word pronunciations. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling a_e = /A/. They will learn a meaningful representation (a child picking up a penny saying Ay, it’s my lucky day!), 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:
Graphic image of a child picking up a penny; 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, t, e, c, k, s, f, m, p, l, g, r, d; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ate, cake, safe, map, plate, scrape; decodable text: The Race for Cake, and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1. Say: In order to become expert readers, we must learn the secret code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned how to read short vowel words with a, like cat, 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 kid picking up a penny saying, “Ay, it’s my lucky day!” [show graphic image].
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/. My jaw and tongue are down, the sides of my mouth open wide like I am trying to smile big, and a tiny bit of hot air escapes my mouth as I say the sound /A/. [Make vocal gesture for /A/]. I’ll show you first: date. I heard a say its name, and I felt the sides of my mouth open wide like I am trying to smile big [make the sides of the mouth open wide like a big smile]. There is a long A in date. Now I am going to see if it is in clock. Hmm, I did not hear a say its name, and my lips did not open wide like I am trying to smile big. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Ay, it’s my lucky day!” If you do not hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in jump, lake, help, plane, brave, slip? [Have children put their pointer fingers on the corners of their “big smile” when they feel /A/ say its name.]
​
​
​
​
​
​
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 scrape? “The girl had a scrape on her knee after she fell down.” The word scrape in this sentence means a booboo. To spell scrape in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /s//c//r//A//p/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /p/ so I’m going to put an a in the 4th box and a silent e signal outside of the last box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it’s about to get a little tricky so I am going to say it slowly, /s//c//r//A//p/. I think I heard /c/ so I’ll put a c right after the s. One more before the /A/, hmm… /s//c//r//A//p/, I think I heard a growling /r/ so I need an r. Now, I only have one empty box left. [Point to letter in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//c//r//A//p/.] The missing one is /p/.
​
4. Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words in some letter boxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ate. Ate is the past tense form of eat. “I ate pizza for dinner last night.” 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: cake, I always get a cake for my birthday; cake. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: c – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: safe; The baseball player was ruled safe on second base. [Have a 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: map; I looked at the map for directions on where to go. 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 /p/ with a p? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: plate; I eat dinner off of a plate. One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; I had a scrape on my knee after I fell off of my bike. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
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 scrape 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//c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /scrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /scrAp/. Scrape; 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.]
6. Say: You’ve done a great job of 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 the perfect snack to eat after a tiring swim, cake. Mmm! Can you smell it? Uh, oh. Lad smells it, too! Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Race for Cake to find out if Lad steals a piece of cake. [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.]
7. Say: That was a fun story. Who won the race to the cake? Right, Lad won the race and stole a piece of cake from mom’s hand. Who was the cake supposed to be for? Right, Jess and Ben. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have six words listed. Your job is to read the words and color in the pictures of the words. First, read and write all of the words on the blanks provided. Then, color in the pictures of the words. Go over your work to make sure it makes sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
Resources:
Bonk, Mackenzie, Ay! The Ape Ate My Banana: https://mackbonk.wixsite.com/rbld/beginning-reading
Murray, G. Oh, I didn’t know!: https://sites.google.com/site/readingwritingconnection/beggingreadingdesign
Murray, G. (2019) The Race for Cake. Reading Genie: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/
Assessment worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonics-Printables-Long-Vowel-a_e-Freebie-977739
​
​