Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence ay = /A/. In order to be able to read, children need to recognize how to spell and determine pronunciations of words. In this lesson children will learn to use the spelling ay in words so that they can better recognize, spell, and read words containing this long vowel correspondence. They will learn an important way to remember ay (sunshine outside will help them say “I want to play on this sunny day”), they will practice spelling words in a Letterbox Lesson, and reading a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence ay = /A/.

 

Materials:

1. Graphic of a kid playing outside on a sunny day

2. Cover-up critter

3. Whiteboard or smartboard

4. Elkonin boxes for modeling

5. Individual Elkonin boxes for each student

6. Letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic letters for teacher: a, e, d, l, m, p, r, s, w, y

7. List of spelling words on poster to read: way, aye, say, pay, play, pray, may.

8. Decodable text: The Train Trip, and assessment worksheet.

 

Procedures:

1. Say: In order for us 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 cat, and today we are going to learn about long A and the letter y that follows behind so that A can say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of a kid playing outside on a sunny day! [show graphic image]. One way to spell /A/ is to use the letter a followed by the letter y so that it says the name of /A/.

2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /A/, we need to make sure to be listening for it in some words. Let’s listen for /A/ in words, I hear the letter /A/ say its own name. When I say /A/, my lips open up wide and say the sound it makes to say the name of the letter /A/, then I make the shape of smiling and making the sound “yuh” now put it together and it sounds like the name of /A/. [Make your lips open wide and then close your jaw]. There is a long A in pay. Now I’m going to see if it’s in hat. Hmm, I didn’t hear A say its name and my lips did not make the shape of opening wide to make the sound of the name of the letter /A/, then closing to say “yuh” so that the sound is “aaa-yuhh” (ay). Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “I want to play on this sunny day”. If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in hop, kite, ray, bay, cry, hat, day? [Have the children make the open mouth then closed and smile to make the sound for ay 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 y at the end of the word to tell me A’s name. [Write ay on the board]. What if I want to spell the word say? “If I say hello to my best friend Jay, she will say hello back to me.” Say means speak in this sentence. To spell say in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /s/ /ay/. I need 2 boxes. I heard /A/ just before the /y/ so I will be putting a and y in the 2nd box together. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now I need an /A/ after the s. Now it is a little tricky, do I hear an /e/ or the sound “yuh” from /y/ after the a? I am going to say it slowly, /s/ /ay/. I think I heard the /y/ after the name of the letter A, so I need a y in the last box with the a. Now I will show you how to read through this word. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s/ /ay/.] I am going to start with s. To make the sound for the letter s, you push your tongue towards your closed smile and make the sound a snake makes when it hisses “ssssss”. Then say the name of the letter A for /A/ then you still have one more box to say which is /y/. The letter a and y next to each other sounds like the name of /A/.

   1. [s] [ay]

4.  Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with 3 boxes for Stay. “Stay is a word meaning you will not move or leave the place you are currently at.” What should go in the first box? [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 four letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sounds that go in the first three boxes. Then listen for /a/ and don’t forget that after the /a/ comes the /y/ to make the sound of the name of the letter A. The a and the y are going to go into the same box together. Here’s the word: relay, I am running in a relay at soccer practice today; relay. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Now watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board; r-e-l-a-y and see if you have it spelled the same way as I do. Let’s try another with four boxes: spray; I spray water from the hose. [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: plan; I have a great plan to win the game. Did you need the y after the sound of the name of the letter A? [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try one with 5 phonemes: Friday; Friday is the best day of the week. One more then we are done with spelling, everyone is doing great! This time you will need 6 boxes: always; I always play in the water at the beach. Remember to stretch it out to get this word because it is a little tough.

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 always on the top and model reading the word.] First I see there’s the letter y directly after the letter a; that is my signal that the vowel a right before the y 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.] /a//l/=/al/ + /w/= /alw/. Now I am going to blend that with  /ay/= /alway/. Now all I need at the end, /s/= /always/. Always; 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/: ay. Now we are going to read a book called The Train Trip.  This is a story about a little boy named Nate who rides on a train to meet up with his best friend named Tim. Nate’s train is delayed and he is going to be late to the train station. He loves to paint so he draws a picture to pass the time. He was excited to show his friends his pet snake, but he thought they might be scared of it. Let’s pair up and take turns reading The Train Trip to find out if Nate’s friends are afraid of his pet snake. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages to each other while teacher walks around the room and monitors progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads The Train Trip aloud together, and stops between pages to discuss the plot.]

7. Say: That was a really fun story. What did Nate paint a picture of to pass the time? Right, he painted a pig. Were Nate’s friends scared of his pet snake? Right, they ended up not being scared at all and wanting to play with it. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/=ay, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to circle the words that have “ay” in them from the word bank at the top of the page. Next, you will write 3 words from the word family that you circle at the top of the page. Then, you will find and circle words in the box that you see on the left. Lastly, when everyone is finished put your pencil down and I will come up to each of you and I want you to say the words you chose to write on the blanks on number 2 to me. Go over your answers before putting down your pencil. [Collect worksheets and evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

 

Geri Murray, Oh, I didn’t know, https://sites.google.com/site/readingwritingconnection/beggingreadingdesign

 

Book: Murray, B. A., Murray, G., & Choudhary, S. (2019). Fun and games with Lad and Slim / by Bruce and Geri Murray; illustrated by Sandeep Choudhary. Auburn University, AL: Geniebooks. pp. 15-27.

 

Assessment Worksheet:https://www.myteachingstation.com/ay-word-family-find-and-trace