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Beginning Reading Design

Abby Watson

A Long, Long Yawn

Rationale: This lesson teaches readers about the short vowel correspondence o = /o/. In order to read and pronounce the letter o, students must be able to differentiate between the long o sound (“oh”) and the short o sound (“ah”). In this lesson, students will learn how to identify, spell, and read words with the short o vowel in them. This letter o creates the phoneme /o/. In order to help them with this, they will learn a meaningful representation (yawning) and a tongue tickler (Oliver had an operation in October, and Oscar gave him an octopus). They will spell and read words using this spelling during a letter box lesson. Finally, students will read a decodable book focusing on the short o vowel correspondence o = /o/.

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Materials:

Sound analogy picture: Yawning Angel

Cover-up critter

Letterboxes for modeling and spelling in the letter box lesson (class set)

Letter tiles: a, c, d, e, f, k, l (2), m, o, p (2), r, s, t, x

List of words printed out on large cards for students to read

Decodable book Doc in the Fog

Assessment worksheet

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Procedures:

  1. Say to the student(s): “Today we are going to learn about the short o sound. It is very unique, because short o actually sounds like /ah/. Whenever I say short o, I think of the angel sitting on her cloud and yawning, ‘ahhhhhh.’ [Show graphic] This is an example of a long, long yawn. Let’s look at the way words with short o in them are spelled. One way to spell /o/ is in the middle of two consonants, such as cot, spelled c-o-t or mop, spelled m-o-p.”

  2. Say: “Before we learn about spelling /o/, we need to hear the way that it sounds in a few words. When I hear the short o sound /ah/,  I pretend to yawn like this. [Put hand over mouth and yawn, modeling vocal gesture.] Now you try. [Allow student to demonstrate] Great job! There is a short o in the word sock. Can you say sock? [Allow student to answer.] Did you feel your mouth open like you were yawning? Watch me. [Say sock, dramatizing the o and pretending to yawn] See, I felt my mouth open as if I was yawning when I said the o in sock. Now, let’s try and see if it is in the word bone. [Say the word bone normally.] Did you see my mouth open like a yawn? [pause.] No, that’s because bone has the long O sound, which is different from the short o. Now, you try. If you hear /o/, then say ‘That’s a long, long yawn!’ if you don’t hear /o/, you can say ‘No, that’s not it.’ Let’s give it a try. Is it in log, pain, fed, boat, shop, win? [Make sure students demonstrate yawning sound for the o in log and shop.] Another way we can practice this is with a tongue tickler. Repeat this one after me: ‘Oliver had an operation in October, and Oscar gave him an octopus.’ Now, whenever you hear the /o/ sound, let’s practice our yawning movement. ‘Ooooliver had an ooooperation in Ooooctober, and Oooooscar gave him an ooooctupus.’ Good job!”

  3. Say: “What if I want to spell the word soft? As in, ‘My new blanket is very soft.’ Soft means silky in this particular sentence. Before we spell soft in the letterboxes, we need to count the number of phonemes. To do this, let’s stretch the word out and count them: /s//o//f//t/. That means we need four boxes. Where did you hear /o/? [Allow student to answer, scaffold if needed]. That’s right, we hear /o/ after the /s/. So the /o/ will go in the second box, and /s/ will go in the first box. [Place letter tiles o and s in the second and first letterboxes] What sound do you hear next? Let’s say the word slowly, /ssss//oooo//ffff//tttt/. So, you hear the /f/ and then the /t/.” [Place the letter tiles f and t in the third and fourth letterboxes.]

  4. Say: “Now, I am going to have you spell some words in the letterboxes. Let’s start with an easy one: ‘rot.’ If you leave food sitting out for too long, it may rot. [Observe progress, scaffold if needed.] Let’s try some more words.” [Allow children to spell remaining words by having one student at a time come up and model spelling the word, providing sentences for each word: doll, sock, cat, pod, fox, fed, cost, pomp].

  5. Say: “Next, you are going to read the words you’ve spelled. When I show the card, read the word that you see back to me.” [Have students read each word]

  6. Say: “Great job! You have really made progress reading words with o = /o/. Now we are going to read a book called Doc in the Fog. Doc is a magical wizard who has the power to change any object to something completely new. Will he be able to use his magic to save the day? Let’s find a partner and read to find out! [Pair students up] Make sure to take turns reading alternate pages.” [Walk around the classroom and monitor students’ progress as they read.]

  7. Say: “’Wasn’t that an amazing story? Can anyone summarize what the book was about?” [Allow students to summarize and discuss the events in the book].

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Assessment: Say: “Now, I am going to let you show me how much you know. On this worksheet, I want you to color in all of the pictures with the /o/ sound. Remember to make sure the letter o in each word you color in sounds like a long, long yawn!” [Pass out and allow students to complete worksheet.]

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References:

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Sound Analogy Picture: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/materials/phonlet2/

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Tongue Tickler: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/materials/ticklers/

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Book: Cushman, S. (1990). Doc in the Fog. Carson, California: Educational Insights

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Assessment: http://www.schoolexpress.com/fws/ws/phonics/vowels/Short_Vowel_Oo_Book_1.4.pdf

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Click here to return to applications: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/applications/

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