Play on the Train
A Beginning Reading Lesson
Rationale:
This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ay/ai = /A/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling ay and ai. They will learn a meaningful representation (play on the train), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ay/ai = /A/.
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Materials:
Graphic image of playing on the train; Letterbox lesson boxes for modeling and individual boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and teacher: d, a, y, s, l, s, z, i, b, r, n; list of spelling words to read: day, rain, ban, braid, slays, zaid; decodable text: James and the Bad Day, and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1. Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read short vowel words with a, like nap, and apple, and e, like dent. Today we are going to learn about long A and the y that signals A to say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ think of words that you can hear the long vowel A in? Let’s think about play. You can remember long A by remembering the phrase play in the train (show picture of playing on the train).
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/. When I say A, my mouth is open, my tongue is behind my bottom row of teeth, and I push air through. I’ll show you first: stay. I heard A say its name and I noticed my tongue behind my bottom row of teeth. Stay has a long A. Is there a long A in spat? I didn’t hear A say its name and my tongue was not behind my bottom teeth. Now you try. If you hear A say its name say “Ay”, if you do not hear it say its name say “No”. Say the words snow, day, sleep, coy, way, plain. Have the students answer whether they hear /A/ or not.
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 y at the end of the word to tell me to say A’s name. [Write ay on the board.] You can also spell /A/ with an a and an i. [Write ai on the board.] At the beginning and end of the words you will see blanks to represent the beginning and ending sounds of the word. What do I do if I want to spell brain? What is a brain? Do we all have a brain? I use my brain to think. To spell brain in letterboxes I first need to sound out the word slowly to find out the number of phonemes so that I know the number of boxes I need. /b//r//ai//n/. I need four boxes. I hear the /A/ right before the /n/, so I will put ai in the third box. I hear the beginning phoneme /b/, so the b will go in the first box. And the n in the last box. Let me sound it out slowly to find out what I am missing. B---r---ai--n. I hear a /r/, so I will put a r in the second box. [Point to the letters as you say the word slowly for the students]
4. Say: Now you will spell some words in your own letterboxes. Let’s start out with two boxes for day. A day is a part of the week. “Each day is a new start.” What should go in the first box? If you sound it out slowly you should hear a d at the beginning. What goes in the second box? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. The next word has three phonemes, so you will have to add a letterbox. Try the word rain. “The rain fell from the sky.” What if I ask you to spell the word ban? Is this a long A word? No? Why not? Right, you did not hear a say its name /A/. Ask one student to come up and spell the word so that the others can check their work. Repeat this for each new word. You’ll need four letterboxes for the next word, so add one more. Listen to the word braid. “I will braid my sister’s hair.” What do you hear in the beginning? The middle? What about the end? Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: b – r – ai – d and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. One last word and then we are done! This one requires five boxes, so add one more to the line. Try the word sprays. “My brother sprays me with the water hose.” Great job! You have successfully spelt words with ay and ai.
5. Say: Now you will have the opportunity to read the words you just spelt, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. BRAIN. First, I see there’s ai so I know it will say its name /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.] /b//r/ = /br/. Now I’m going to blend that with /ai/ = /brai/. Now all I need is the end, /n/ = /brain/. brain; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. Read the words day, rain, ban, braid, sprays. After reading them together, call on a student to read one word by his/herself.
6. Say: You all have done such a great job spelling and reading words with ay and ai. Now we are going to read a book called James and the Good Day. This is a story of a boy named James who loves to play with his toys. What happens to them when he wants them in the water, but does not pay them any attention? Let’s pair up and take turns reading James and the Good Day to find out what happens. [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 James and the Good Day aloud, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: That was a fun story. What happened to James’ toys? Right, he did not pay attention and they sailed away. Before we finish up with our lesson about spelling /A/, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, you are given some pictures with three words that could explain them. You must match the ay/ai word with the picture by reading the words. When you are finished, bring it up to me for me to check!
References:
Worksheet: https://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonics/mc/
Lesson: Murray, G. (2019). Oh, I Didn’t Know. Online.
Book: James and the Good Day. https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1198004/files/search?preview=150425427&search_term=james+and+the+.
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