Uhh, What?
Beginning Reading Design
Hannah Proctor
Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence u = /u/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling u. They will learn a meaningful representation of scratching their head and saying “uhh, I dunno”; they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence u = /u/.
Materials: Graphic image on a confused emoji; cover-up critter; whiteboard; dry-erase marker; colorful letterboxes for each student (to count phonemes); letter tiles for each student and magnetic letters for teacher: u, p, r, n, l, m, f, o, g, b, c, h, s, t; list of spelling words on PowerPoint to read: up, run, plum, frog, bunch, stump; decodable text: “Gus the Duck;” assessment worksheet
Procedures:
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Say: In order to become expert readers, we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce different words. We have already learned to read vowel words with all our other short vowels, like with e and tell; and today we are going to learn about short u, which says /u/. When I say /u/ I think of when someone asks me a question I don’t know the answer to and I go “uhhh, I dunno.” [scratch head as a gesture and show graphic image].
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Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /u/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /u/ in words, I hear someone sounding confused and opening their mouth kind of wide like this [Make vocal gesture of /u/]. I’ll do one first: sun. I heard someone sounding confused and I felt my mouth open a little wide [Make vocal gesture of /u/]. There is a short u in sun. Now I’m going to see if it’s in moon. Hmm, I didn’t hear someone sounding confused and my mouth didn’t open wide, it only opened a little bit. Now you try. If you hear /u/, say “uhh, I dunno” and scratch your head. If you don’t hear /u/, say “Nope!” Is it in bun, bread, moon, sun, lake, puddle?
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Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /u/ that we’re going to learn today. The way to spell /u/ is just with the letter u! [Write u on the whiteboard]. What if I want to spell the word blunt? “The edge of the knife was blunt.” In this sentence, blunt means not sharp. To spell blunt in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I’ll stretch it out and count: /b/, /l/, /u/, /n/, /t/. I need 5 boxes. I heard the /u/ just before the /n/, so I’m going to put a u in the 3rd box. The word starts with /b/, so I need a b. Next, we’ve got /b/, /l/ /l/. I hear an l, so I’ll put that letter right after the b. Now we’ve got /b/, /l/, /u/, and we have two empty boxes left. /b/, /l/, /u/, /n/. I hear n, so I’ll put that in the fourth box. We only have one box left. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word /b/, /l/, /u/, /n/, /t/]. The missing letter is /t/ = t.
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Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two letterboxes for up. “I’m going up the stairs.” 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 three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /u/. The word is run; “Sally wants to go on a run today.” [Allow children to spell words]. Now check your work and see if you got it right. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: r – u – n and see if you spelled it the same way. Let’s try one with four boxes: plum; a plum is a type of fruit that is purple. “I ate a plum with my lunch today.” [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the board for the class so children can check their work. Do the same for each new word]. Let’s do the next word. Listen to see if this word has /u/ in it before you spell it: frog; “there was a frog in the pond.” Did you use the letter u? Why not? Right, because this word has the short vowel o = /o/, a vowel we’ve already done. It does not have u = /u/ in it [Volunteer spells it on the front board]. Now, let’s do the word bunch; “I had a bunch of roses.” One more and then we’re done spelling. For this word, you will need 5 boxes. See if you can spell the word stump; “There was a tree stump in my backyard.” Try to stretch it out to get this tough word.
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Say: Now we’re going to read all the words you just spelled; but first I am going to show you how you might read a tough word [Write down scrunch on the whiteboard and model reading the word]. First, I see that there is a u in the middle, so I know that I am going to hear someone that sounds confused, /u/. I’m going to use a coverup to get the first part of the word [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel]. /s/, /c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /u/ = /scru/. Now, all I need is the end part, /ch/ = /scrunch/; scrunch; that’s it! Now you guys try it, everyone say it all together [Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn].
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Say: You guys did such a great job spelling and reading our new words with u = /u/! Now we’re going to read a book called Gus the Duck. This is a story about a duck named Gus. He goes to play in the mud one day. He gets too dirty, so he takes a bath with lots of bubbles. We’ll have to read to find out how his bath goes! [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired readings, the class rereads Gus the Duck out loud together, and we stop between pages to talk about the plot].
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Say: That was such a fun story. What happened to Gus when he got home from playing in the mud? Yeah, he takes a bath! What did he do when he started playing with the sub in the bath? Right, he found a bug! Before we finish our lesson with short u = /u/, I want to see you solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, there are a bunch of pictures. Say the name of each picture and if you hear the short u sound, write down u to finish the word. Reread your answers when you’re done to make sure they make sense [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress].
Resources:
Anne Lupo, Icky, Sticky Glue: https://anneclupo.wixsite.com/my-site-1/beginning-reading
Assessment worksheet: https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/sounding-out-short-u/
Starfall Gus the Duck: https://www.starfall.com/h/ltr-sv-u/gus-the-duck/?sn=ltr-classic
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