Beginning Reading

Let’s Bake A Cake!

A Beginning Reading Design

Rationale: This lesson will teach children about the long vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. In order to be able to read, children must first learn to recognize the spellings and pronunciations of words. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling a_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (baking a cake), they will read words containing a_e in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that contains the correspondence a_e = /A/.

Materials: Graphic Image of cake; cover-up critter; whiteboard letterbox lesson boxes for modeling; individual letterbox lesson boxes for each student; tackle box of letters for each student and magnetic letters for teacher: a, p, e, c, k, t, l, s, n, b, r, m; list of spelling words on a poster board to read: ape, ate, cake, pale, snake, brake, plate, trame; decodable text: Jane and Babe; and assessment worksheet (URL below).

Procedures:

Say: “In order to become expert readers we must learn the code that helps us learn how to pronounce words. We already learned how to read short vowels with , like , and today we are going to learn about long A and the silent signal that is used to make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of baking a cake [show graphic image].”
Say: “Before we learn about the spelling of /A/, we need to be able to hear it in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear it say its name, /A/ and the corners of my mouth pull back like I’m smiling. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: cake. I heard a say its name and I felt my mouth stretch back to say it like I was smiling. There is a long A in cake. Now let’s see if we hear a say its name in hand. Hmm, I didn’t hear it. Now I want you all to try! If you hear /A/ say, “Baking a cake!” and let me see you put your cake in the oven. If you don’t hear /A/ say “that’s not it.” Is it in ape, tin, tape, run, make, spot?”
Say: “Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we will learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and a signal e at the end of the word that signals to me that I should say A’s name for that word. [Write a_e on board]. This blank line means that there is another letter, a consonant, after , and at the end of the word there is a silent . What if I want to spell the word snake? “I saw a slithery snake outside by my house.” To spell snake in my letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s/ /n/ /A/ /k/. I need 4 boxes. I heard the /A/ right before the /k/, so I’ll put an a in the 3rd box. Because our e is silent, it goes on the outside of the boxes at the end. The word starts with /s/, so I need a s. Then I heard /n/, so I’ll put an n after and s. I have one empty box left between the a and e. [Point to boxes when stretching out the word: /s/ /n/ /A/ /k/]. The last letter is /k/ = k.”
Say: “Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ape. An ape is an animal that looks like a big monkey. “I saw an ape at the zoo yesterday.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e? Remember to put it outside the boxes. I’m going to walk around and check everyone’s spelling. [Observe progress]. You’ll need two letter boxes for the next word too, then the next couple you will need three letterboxes. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and don’t forget to out the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: ate, We ate eggs for breakfast, ate. [Allow children to spell words]. Let’s check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: a-t-e and see is you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another word with three boxes this time: cake. I got a chocolate cake for my sister’s birthday. [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 is this word has /A/ in it before you spell it: tin. The tin can sat outside of the door. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say it’s name. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: plate. I had my dinner on a paper plate tonight. One more and then we are done with spelling, and you will use 4 boxes again: brake; When I stopped my car I pressed on the brake. It’s a tough word so remember to stretch it out and say it slowly.”
Say: “Now I am going to let you read the words that you have spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with graze on the top and model how to read the word]. First I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say it’s name. There’s the vowel a, so it must say /A/. I’m going to use my cover-up critter to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel]. /g//r/= /gr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /grA/. Now all I need is the end, /z/ = /grAz/. Graze; that’s it! Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Show words and have students read in unison: ape, cat, met, cup, cake, snake, plate, extra word pale, and pseudoword trame. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn].”
Say: “You’ve done a great job reading many different words with our spelling for a_e = /A/. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This is a story about a lion named Babe and his tamer named Jane. One day Jane goes into Babe’s cage to wake him up and she can’t get him awake. She tries tapping her cane and saying Babe’s name but he still doesn’t wake up! Is Jane ever going to get Babe awake? You’ll have to read the rest of the book to find out. [Students pair up and take turns reading every other page of the book. The teacher will walk around the room monitoring the progress of the students. After individual paired reading, the class will reread the book together out loud, and will practice talking before they turn the page].”
Say: “That was an interesting story! Did Babe ever wake up? That’s right, he finally woke up after Jane shouted his name. Did Jane and Babe play together after he woke up? Right! They had a fun day together. Before we end our lesson with spelling and reading = /A/ words, I want to see how well you can solve reading problems. On this worksheet, I want you to decide if the words need a silent e or not. After you decide, check the correct box and rewrite the word correctly. [I will collect the worksheets to evaluate the progress of each individual child].

Resources:

Phonics Readers. “Jane and Babe.” Educational Insights: 1990, pp. 8.

Piper, A. “Ay! I See A_E!” http://annamariepiper.wixsite.com/readingdesigns/beginning-reading

Assessment Worksheet: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/184014334754932862/

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