Uhh, what did you say?
Rationale: This lesson will teach children about the short vowel correspondence u = /u/. To be able to read, it’s necessary for children to learn how to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn how to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling u = /u/. They will learn a meaningful representation (uhh, what did you say), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence u = /u/.
Materials: Graphic image of confused boy; cover-up critter; whiteboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each student and expo marker for whiteboard letters for teacher: c, d, e, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, u; list of spelling words on whiteboard to read: up, run, shut, ran, truck, drums, cat (familiar), dog (familiar); decodable book: Fun Gum; assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1.Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. Today we are going to learn about the short vowel /u/ that is spelled with the letter u. When I say /u/ I think of a funny confused boy who didn’t hear what was said saying, “Uhh, what did you say?” [show graphic picture].
2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /u/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /u/ in words, I hear u say “uhh” and my mouth opens up with my tongue near the bottom of my mouth and I push air out with an uh sound. [Make vocal gesture for /u/]. I’ll show you first: cup. I heard u say uh and felt my mouth open up [open up mouth in a neutral shape]. There is a short u in cup. Now I’m going to see if it’s in ran. Hmm, I didn’t hear u say uh and my mouth didn’t open up to make the uh sound. Now you try. If you hear /u/ say, “uhh, what did you say?!” If you don’t hear /u/ say, “That’s not it!” Is it in play, wind, jump, cut, nose? [Have children put tongue in the top of their mouth to feel how their mouth is open when saying /u/.]
3. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /u/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /u/ is with the letter u and it can be surrounded by either vowels or consonants. [Write letter u on board]. What if I want to spell the word truck? “I don’t have a car I have a truck.” Truck is a noun in the sentence. To spell truck in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /t//r//u//ck/. I need 4 letterboxes. I heard the /u/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put a u in the third box and the ck in the forth. I word starts with /t/, that’s easy; I need a t. I heard a growling /r/ so I need an r. Did we spell it right? Let’s say it slowly: /t//r//u//ck/. I think that’s right!
| t | r | u | ck |
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for up. Up is the opposite from down. “The man climbed up the ladder to the roof of the house.” What should go in the box first? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? 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 /u/ sound. Here’s the next word: run, I will run to the finish line; run. [Allow children to spell words]. Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board; r – u – n and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: shut; I shut the door to the car. [ 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 /u/ in it before you spell it: cat; The cat loves to play with the neighbor’s dog. Did you hear /u/? Nope, you’re right, we didn’t hear /u/ we heard short vowel /a/ that we learned a few weeks ago. We spell it with our short vowel a, not using uhh u = /u/. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: truck; I don’t have a car I have a truck. Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: drums; Sally plays the drums in the band. Remember we are using short vowel u and not long vowel U.
5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you have spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with truck on the top and model reading the word.] First I see that there’s no silent e on the end making it a long U, so that’s one signal that it doesn’t say its name. It has the short vowel u and its surrounded by consonants, so it must say /u/. I’m going to use a cover-up critter to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, them blend with the vowel.] /t/ /r/ = /tr/. Now I’m going to blend it with /u/ = /tru/. Now all I need is the end, /k/ = /truck/. Truck; that’s right! 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 a turn.]
6.Say: You’ve done a wonderful job with reading words with our new spelling for /u/ using u. Now we are going to read a book called Fun Gum. This is a story about a little girl named Jill. She loves to chew gum, but one day it got stuck. IN. HER. HAIR.. She tells her mom, but what do they do? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Fun Gum to find out what Jill and her mom do to get the gum out of Jill’s hair! [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Fun Gum aloud together, and stops between pages to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: Wasn’t that a fun story? What does Jill like? Right she likes to chew gum. And what happens when Jill got the gum stuck in her hair? That’s right Jill’s mom had to cut it out of her hair. What did Jill end up telling her pals about gum? Yes, “Gum is not fun!” Before we finish up this lesson about one way to spell /u/ using the letter u, I want to do one more thing. Let’s do this worksheet on short vowel u words. You’re going to read the words in each sentence and find the word that has the short u = /u/ sound. [ I will make a running record with the students and ask them questions such as what is a bug?, to see if they know the meaning] You can take a look at the picture clue. Reread your answers to make sure they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate each students progress.]
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Resources:
Hall, Kristen. Fun Gum: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/geniebooks/teacherbooks/
http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FunGum.pdf
Assessment worksheet: Teachers Pay Teachers, No prep short u worksheets. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/NO-PREP-Short-U-Worksheets-CVC-Word-Work-2266350
Phonics lesson: Camille. Explicit Phonics Short u Lesson. https://cammied.blogspot.com/2012/08/explicit-phonics-short-u-lesson.html
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