Rationale

This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ai = /A/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. Throughout this lesson the children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling ai. They will learn a meaningful representation (a picture of a train), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ai = /A/.

 

Materials:

• Graphic image of a train

• Cover up critter

• Whiteboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and magnetic letters for teacher

• Individual letterboxes and letter manipulatives for each student

  • Letters used: p, a, i, n, r, l, m, d, r, g, f, c, t

• List of spelling words on a whiteboard to read

  • aid, rain, maid, drag, snail, claim, faint, (extras – straight, grand, baid).

• Class set of decodable text James and the Good Day and an assessment worksheet.

 

Procedures:

• Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn how the letters tell us how to pronounce the word. Do you remember how we learned that a_e = /A/? Good! Today we are going to learn how the letters ai say /A/. When I say /A/ today I want you to think of a train coming down the tracks (show the graphic image of a train).  Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we are learning today. Another way of spelling /A/ is with the letters a and i, which together tell me to say /A/. (Write ai on the board).

 

• Say: Before we learn about the spelling of ai = /A/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I am listening for the /A/ in words, I hear ai say its name /A/ and my mouth opens up into a soft smile (model how mouth opens and corners of the mouth turns up). I’ll show you how to first: train. I heard ai say its name and I felt my mouth open and the corners turn up a bit (use your fingers to make a smile on your face). There is the digraph ai in train. Now I’m going to see if it is in trap. Hmmm, I didn’t hear ai say its name and my jaw dropped. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Here comes the Train!” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in bad, paid, ham, rain, fang, straight? (Have children make a smile with their fingers on their face when they feel /A/ say its name).

 

• Now, what if I want to spell the word sprain? “I think I got a sprain in my ankle!” Sprain in this sentence means to over-stretch a ligament or tendon in your body. To spell sprain in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word. To find this out, I have to stretch out the word and count: /s//p//r//A//n/. I need 5 boxes. I heard the /A/ right before the /n/ so I am going to put the a and i in the 4th box. The word starts with /s/, so I’ll need an s and ill put that in the first box. This next part is tricky so I am going to say it slowly, /s//p//r//A//n/. I think I heard /p/ so I’ll put a p right after the s. Now just one more sound before the /A/, hmmm, /s//p//r//A//n/, I think I heard growling /r/ so I will place an r before the ai. Now I have “sprai” and I need “sprain”. I hear a /n/ at the end of the word so I’ll get an n and put it in the 5th box.

 

• Say: Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for aid. Aid means to help. “I called my dad to come aid me in changing my tire.” Remember that the ai is a digraph and goes into one box. I am going to check your spelling as I walk around the room. (Observe progress of the students). You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound to put in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and be sure to remember the digraph! The word is rain, “The rain falls from the sky”; rain. (Allow students to spell the remaining words, giving sentences for each word: maid, drag, frail, claim, faint).

 

• Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled.  But before we do that, I am going to show you how I would read a tough word. (Display poster with the word snail on the top and model reading the word). I am going to use my cover up critter to isolate the vowel ai; that part says /A/. Now I am going use my cover up critter to break up the first part of the word. I hear /s//n//A/ and put the beginning letters with it: s-n-ai, /snA/. Now I’ll put that chunk together with the last sound, /snAl/. Oh, snail, like “The snail climbed up the tree.” Now you are going to read some words of your own. (Show the words pain, rail, maid, drag, snail, claim, faint, the extra words straight and grand and the pseudoword baid. Have students read the words together. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.)

 

• Y’all have done a great job spelling and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: ai. Now, we are going to read a book called James and the Good Day. This is a story about a boy named James who starts off his day excited to see what will happen! He wants to play in the tub with his boat so he goes to fill the tub with water. James is so ready to start his day that he leaves the room and forgets about the running water! Let’s read our books to see what happens to James and his day! (After each child read the book to him/herself, the class will reread James and the Good day together, stopping between pages to discuss the story.)

 

• Say: Before we finish up our lesson on how ai = /A/, I want you to piece together some words for me. (Hands out worksheet to students.) This worksheet has a variety of sentences that are missing a word! Your job is to read the sentences and then choose the "ai" word from the box that makes sense within the sentence. First read all of the words within in the box, and then read each sentence and pick which word fits within the sentence. (Model how to read the sentence, choose a word from the box, and then write the word in the given space).  Please raise your hand if you have any questions! [After everyone has finished collect the sheets to evaluate each child's progress.]

 

Resources

         Cushman, S. & Kornblum, R. James and the Good Day. Educational Insights, Carson CA., 1990.

 

Geri Murray Oh, I Didn’t Know! A Beginning Reading Lesson http://www.auburn.edu/~murrag1/BRMurrayG.htm

         

Smith, Mary Beth. “Hop on the Train!”

http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emes0022/smithbr.htm

 

Assessment Worksheet:

 

http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/sounding-out-vowel-pair-ai/

 

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