Rationale: This lesson teaches the short vowel correspondence u=/u/. For children to be able to read, they must be able to recognize spellings that map word pronunciations. The goal of this lesson is that children will be able to identify, spell, and read words containing the short vowel u. Students will learn a meaningful representation (confused boy saying ‘uhh?’), spelling and reading of words containing short vowel u in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book focusing on the correspondence u=/u/.
Materials:
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Graphic image of little boy scratching his head
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Cover-up critter
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Smart board Elkonin boxes for modeling
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Letter manipulatives for each child
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Smart board letters for teacher: u, o, l, n, c, h, p, s, t, d, j, g, k, m
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List of words on poster to read: lunch, up, us, cut, dug, dock, junk, stump
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Decodable text: Sheila Cushman’s Bud the Sub
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Assessment worksheet
Procedures:
1. Say: We have to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words so we can become expert readers. By now, we have already learned other short vowels such as short a, e, i, and o. Today we will learn about short u and the sound it makes, /u/. When I say /u/, I think of a confused boy looking for his baby brother Gus, scratching his head saying “Uhhh, where is he? His mother said ‘Gus is asleep in his bed, but don’t wake him up. He is snug as a bug in a rug.’” [Show graphic image.] Scratch your head and say “Uhhh” like the little boy.
2. Say: When I say /u/, my lips open, my tongue rests at the bottom of my mouth, and I make the “uuuhhh” noise in the back of my throat. Let me show you how to listen for u: duck. I felt my lips open, my tongue fell to the bottom of my mouth, and the back of my throat made the /u/ sound. There is a short u in duck. Let’s see if u is in chick. I didn’t feel my lips open wide or hear my throat make the /u/ sound. Now you try. If you hear /u/ scratch your head like the confused boy. If you don’t hear /u/ say, “that’s not it!” Is it in jump, lamp, hunt, sit, rest, cub?
3. Say: Now we can practice spelling some words. I want to spell the word lunch like “My mom packed me a peanut butter sandwich to eat for lunch.” To spell this word in our letterboxes, I need to know how many boxes I should have. Remember, each box gets one phoneme, which is one sound. Even when two letters make one sound, they go into just one box! I will stretch out the word and count: /l//u//n//ch/. I need 4 boxes. I hear the “confused boy” /u/ sound just before the /n//ch/ sound, so I’ll put u in the 2nd box. The word starts with /l/, that’s easy; I need an l. I already have my u, so next I hear /n/ which is n. I hear /ch/ which is a sound made with a c and an h. So, I put c and h together in the last box since they make one sound. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /l//u//n//ch/.] We’ve spelled lunch!
4. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. [Have students get out their own individual letterboxes and letter tiles.] We will start with easy words, so you will need 2 boxes to spell the word us. Us is used to direct attention to two or more people like “Show us the picture you colored at school.” Spell this word as I come around the room to check. [Observe progress.] Now spell up like the direction. “I look up to see the sun in the sky.” [observe.] Now, add one more box because the next words have 3 phonemes. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for the /u/ sound to put u in the following box. Here’s the word: cut, “I cut my finger dicing the vegetables for dinner.”; cut. [Allow time for students to spell the word]. Now time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: c-u-t and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: dug; “My neighbor’s dog dug up the flowers in our front yard.” [Have volunteer spell it in the letterboxes on the board for students to check their work.] Listen to see if this word has /u/ before you spell it: dock. “We brought our fishing poles down to the dock.” Did you need ‘scratch-your-head’ u? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear the “uuuhhh” sound like the confused little boy scratching his head. We spell it with short vowel o. [Volunteer spells on board.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with ck? Let’s try 4 phonemes. You will need to add another box: junk; Her house was cluttered with a lot of junk. We will try one more, and this time with 5 boxes: stump. “My dad cut down the tree beside our house, so now there is just a stump.” [Observe progress.]
5. Say: Now you will read the words you’ve spelled, but first I am going to show you how to read a tough word. [Display the word brush on the white board and model reading it.] First, I see u so I know that the word has the /u/ sound in it like the confused little boy scratching his head. 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.] I see b which makes the /b/ sound and I see r which makes the /r/ sound, so I will blend /b//r/ with /u/. Then I have sh which says /sh/. Now I will blend it all together: /b//r//u//sh/, brush, 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 wonderful job reading words with our new short vowel u! It’s time to read a book now. We are going to read a book called Bud the Sub. A submarine is like a boat that can go underwater, and we shorten the word to call it a sub. In this story, there is a sub named Bud and his captain named Gus. One day, Gus takes Bud the sub into the water. They see a tug boat sailing by, and the tug boat crashes into an iceberg! What do you think will happen to Bud the sub and Gus? Do you think the tug boat is okay? We will have to read to find out! [Have students pair up to take turns reading alternate pages while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual have finished paired reading, the class reads Bud the Sub aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
7. Say: That story was so interesting! Before we finish today’s lesson of short u, we are going to complete a worksheet. Each word on the right side of the page is a picture of a word on the left side of the page. Your job is to find the word that matches the picture and draw a line to connect that picture with the correct word. [Allow time for students to complete the worksheet. Collect the worksheets and evaluate each student’s understanding.
References:
Assessment worksheet: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/alphabet/matchwordsandpix/shortu/tiny.GIF
Cranston, Molly. “Ugly Uhh’s” https://mcranz15.wixsite.com/mysite/br-lesson-design
Cushman, Sheila. Bud the Sub. Educational Insights: Carson, Ca. 1990.
Ormond, Ellen. “’Ow!’ Says the Brown Cow” http://ekormond.wixsite.com/art-director-portfol/beginning-reading
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