MACKENZIE SKINNER'S LESSON DESIGNS
Learning to love to read
FLOSSING FUN WITH F!
MACKENZIE SKINNER- MES0109@AUBURN.EDU
Rationale: This lesson will help identify /f/, the phoneme represented by F. With the sound analogy of flossing, students will learn to recognize /f/ in spoken words and the letter symbol F.After this is learned, students will practice by finding /f/ in spoken words and applying phoneme awareness with /f/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with “Francie’s family had fun flipping flapjacks”; highlighters; word cards with FIT, MIX, FELL, FROM, CAST, FEND; Dr. Seuss’ One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /f/ (URL at bottom of page)
Procedures:
Say: As we grow up and begin communicating with others, we have to learn our language and alphabetic code. In order to communicate, we must become familiar with what letters stand for and how we make sounds that form words. Today we are going to work on a fun letter F. We will spot the mouth move /f/. The sound /f/ makes sounds like flossing, as the floss goes back and forth between our teeth. Let’s try.
Let’s get out our floss and floss back and forth with a quiet /f/, /f/, /f/, /f/. Notice where our top teeth are touching our lower lip and we are blowing air between the two.
Let’s try to find /f/ in the word draft. While I drag it out, you listen for my flossing sound. Dddddd-rrrrrr-a-a-a-ffffffffff-t There it was! Did you hear and see when my top teeth touched my bottom lips to make that /f/ sound?
(Get out chart for tongue tickler) What is your favorite kind of breakfast food? Do you ever cook breakfast with your family? Well my friend Francie loves to cook flapjacks with hers. Flapjacks is an old name for pancakes, yummy! Here is our tickler: “Francie’s family had fun flipping flapjacks.” Now, let’s say it and stretch the /f/ at the beginning of the words. “Ffffffffffrancie’s fffffffamily had fffffffun ffffffflipping ffffflapjacks.” This time, we are going to break the /f/ off of the words: “/f/rancie’s /f/amily has /f/un /f/lipping /f/lapjacks.
With primary paper and pencil, students will work on writing capital and lower case F’s. Start just below the rooftop. Start to make a little c up in the air, then straighten it out all the way down to the sidewalk. Then cross it at the fence. Once your sheet is complete with 10 capital F’s and 10 lower case f’s, I will check it and give you a sticker for your page.
For the practice of recognizing /f/ in spoken words, we will split up into two teams in the classroom. The teams will alternate back and forth: I will ask, do you hear /f/ in flip or move? Crumb or food? Stiff or sore? Craft or project? (Include more so there are 20 total for the game with students). Whichever team wins will get to make up tongue-ticklers with /f/ for the other team to draw out using the flossing example.
Next we will use the phonetic cue reading cards. I will model using the card FIT and model how to decide if it is fit or pit: The F tells me to floss my teeth, /f/, so this word is ffff-it, fit. Still in teams, I will let students try some: MIX: mix or fix? FELL: dwell or fell? FROM: drum or from? CAST: fast or cast? FEND: fend or bend?
After we do the phonetic cue reading cards, we will read Fr. Seuss’, One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish to help with /f/ recognition. Book talk: Today class we are going to read about a boy and a girl named Jay and Kay and the many amazing creatures they have for friends and pets! What kind of creatures do you like?! Instruct students that every time they hear an /f/, they will be instructed to quietly pretend floss in their seat to signalize they have heard it and understand that is the sound.
For assessment, I will give out the worksheet and have students highlight the word that has the sound, /f/. Since students are pre alphabetic, I will read it aloud to the class so they can have the sheet to read and me to read the word aloud. Students will have to highlight the word that they hear the sound /f/. After students are done, they will check their worksheet with a partner then both students will turn their sheets in to be checked by the teacher.
Reference: Jayme Moore, Emergent Literacy Design Brushing Your Teeth with Fhttps://jlm0104.wixsite.com/readingdesigns/emergent-literacy-design
Assessment Worksheet: https://www.enchantedlearning.com/phonics/mc/f/index.shtml
SHORT I IS ICKY STICKY
Mackenzie Skinner- mes0109@auburn.edu
Rationale:Students have to become familiar with the phoneme and shape of each letter to be able to become a fluent reader. This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence i=/i/. To read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling i=/i/. They will learn a meaningful representation (of something that is iiiiicky stiiiiicky), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence i=/i/.
Materials:Cover-up critter, whiteboard, markers, image of glue on fingers, letter boxes for modeling, letter boxes for each student, letter manipulatives for each child, letters for teacher (p, i, c, k, s, w, m, f, t, d, z, b, r, w, g, n, b, l), list of words on a poster: pick, sip, swim, swift, dim, and zib, decodable text: Liz is Six, and assessment worksheet
Procedure:Say- Today we are going to learn about the sound the letter i sounds. In order to become expert readers, we need to learn how to pronounce words. To learn out new, fun, letter, when I say /i/, I think of icky, sticky, glue that has spilled all over my hands (I will make hand motion while stretching out my i). Now, when we see the letter i today, we know it says /i/ like an icky, sticky, glue.
Say- Before we learn about spelling words with /i/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /i/ in words, I hear the “i, i, icky” sound and my mouth gets a little bit wider (make vocal gesture for /i/). I’ll show you first: sip. I heard that i, i, icky i sound and I felt my mouth get a little wider (mode what is happening by pointing to the corners of your mouth drawing out.) Now I am going to see if it’s in dog. (Ask students if they heard it). Hmmm, I didn’t hear the “i” sound and my mouth didn’t get wider like it did with the short i. Now, you try. If you hear /i/, say “iiii icky sticky.” I want you to put your fingers on the corners of your mouth, too, so you can feel your mouth stretch when it makes the /i/ sound. Is /i/ in bad or bit? Broom or brick? (Let children turn to a partner to see which word has the iiiiicky sticky i… instruct students to do hand gestures while working with a partner).
Say- What if I want to spell the word “trick?” “I can’t wait to go trick-or-treating for Halloween this year.” Trick means to confuse and deceive someone, or pull a prank on them. To spell “trick” in letterboxes, I first need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /t/ /r/ /i/ /ck/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /i/ for the vowel, so I am going to put a /i/ in the middle of the letter boxes. The word starts with /t/, that’s easy; I need a “t.” Then I hear the letter r saying /r/ so I’ll put that “r” after the “t”. Now I am going to say it slowly, /t/ /r/ /i/ /ck/. I have one box left after the /i/ now. (Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word /t/ /r/ /i/ /ck/). I heard the /ck/ after the /i/, so we’ll put a “ck” there, because in this word the “ck” sound is made by putting the letters “c” and “k” together. /t/ /r/ /i/ /ck/, trick! Now we are ready to go TRICK-or-treating!
Say-Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You will start out with 3 boxes for “sip.” Listen for that /i/ sound. I want your partner to check your spellings and see if you get the right thing. If you get something different, try to figure it out together, but raise your hand if you need me to look over it for you! (Give students a minute to do this). Now try another 3-box word. This one is “pick.” “Since it is close to Halloween, I am going to PICK out a pumpkin to carve.” You will need 4 letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound to spell in the first box, then listen for /i/. Here is the word: “strip” “I need a strip of tape to hang my picture.” (Allow children to spell remaining words, giving sentences and correct number of letterboxes for each word:
4 letterboxes: sick, trip, twig, pink
5 letterboxes: strip, twist, blimp
6 letterboxes: sprint, script
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 the word script on the whiteboard and model reading it first). First, I find my iiiiicky sticky i. (Point to where I see it). Now, I’m going to use a cover-up critter to get the first part. (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 /i/=/scri/. Now I need to do the next letter, which is “p.” /scri/+/p/=/scrip/. Now all I need is the end, /t/=/script/. Script, that’s it! Now, let’s try them together. (I will show the words and start reading them with the students- once I think they are getting the hang of it, I will fade out and let them continue). Now, back with your partner, you guys try together and see if you can do it as a team!!
Say-Now we can read words with iiiiicky sticky i says /i/. We are going to read a book called Liz is Six. (Begin book talk) How old are you guys? What is your favorite thing to do on your birthday? (Let about 2 or 3 students share). Well, in our story Liz has a birthday! She turns six today. She gets a special present. Hmmmm, I wonder what it will be! (Students will read by themselves, then we will transition to read as a class).
Say- What did you guys think? Wasn’t that a fun story about Liz? Oh! And were you able to see a few iiiiicky sticky i’s? Let’s see how well we can spot out the sound /i/ in words. On this worksheet, we have words that have the /i/ sound, and words that don’t. Read each word and follow the directions to figure out what the picture is supposed to be. Read the words carefully to make sure your answers make sense. After your finished, exchange your paper with your partner, and then tell a partner what that word means, so we know we are reading for meaning. See if you agree with them and got the same answers! Then, the both of you come up with a sentence with that word. Once you’re done bring it to me so I can see how much iiiiicky stickiness we found! (I will then use this as a tool to evaluate progress).
Sources:
Cushman, Shelia. Liz is Six: Book 5: Short I
Assessment worksheet: http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/meet-word-family-short-i/
Megan Lee, Getting Icky Sticky with short i
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/solutions/leebr.htm
Tay Tay Stroud, Icky Sticky Sticky short i
https://tstroud11.wixsite.com/classroom/begining-reading
Rationale: Fluent reading is the ability to automatically recognize sight words and to read quickly with understanding and expression. The purpose of this lesson is to teach students how to become fluent readers by teaching strategies such as decoding, crosschecking, rereading, and fast reading for understanding and learning new words as sight words. The students will reread a text over and over to help build fluency skills.
Materials:
Pencils/Pens
Class set of Beezus and Ramona (by Beverly Cleary)
Whiteboard/markers
Timer for each group of 2
Peer fluency sheet
Teacher fluency check sheet (one for each student)
Comprehension questions for “Beezus and Ramona”
Reading rate forms for teacher
Procedures:
Say: “Good morning students, today we are going to work on becoming fluent readers. We know that our goal is to become fluent readers, but what exactly does that mean? What do you think of when I say a fluent reader?” Wait for responses from class. “Fluent means “smooth.” So, fluent readers are able to read quickly, smoothly, and with expression because they recognize words right away without having to sound out or think about the word too much, it automatically comes out of their mouth! This also helps us understand what we are reading because we don’t have to stop and think about each word. This makes reading more fun.”
Say: “Now let's look at a sentence written on the board: Ben and his sister went for a walk. Everyone put your listening ears on! I want you to tell me if I sound like a fluent reader when I read this sentence aloud to you. B-b-b-e-e-e-e-n-n-n, Ben, and his s-s-i-i-i-s-t-e-r, Ben and his sister went for a w-/w/-al-l, Ben and his sister went for a wall. Oh, that doesn't make sense. It must be walk. Ben and his sister went for a walk. That makes sense! Did you notice that when I read the sentence, I got stuck on the last word? To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word walk said, wall. That did not make sense, did it? Ben and his sister couldn’t go for a wall, that doesn’t make any sense! So, I went back to reread to figure out what the word should read that would make sense. This strategy is called crosschecking (write this word on board), and it is so important to use when we are learning to become fluent readers! Since I figured out these hard words while reading it helped me become a fluent reader. Raise your hand if you think that I sounded like a fluent reader when I read that sentence. That’s right, I wasn’t reading like a fluent reader because I had to figure out some of the words in the sentence. Here's how a fluent reader would read that sentence: Ben and his sister went for a walk. I read the sentence with no problems, and it was much easier to understand! Now turn to a partner and practice reading the second sentence on the board. (Lucy was at home with her mom. Her mom was tired.) Read the sentence to your partner until you sound like a fluent reader.
Say: “Let’s think back to when I read the first sentence when I got stuck on the word walk. To figure out what that word was, I reread the sentence from the beginning and tried what I thought the word walk said, wall. That did not make sense, did it? So, I went back to the text to reread to figure out what the word should say that would make sense. Does anyone remember what this strategy was called?” (Give students time to answer) Yes! This strategy is called crosschecking, and in order for us to become fluent readers, we must use crosschecking!”
Say: “Just like practicing running to finish a race, practice makes perfect! All good runners get better by practicing, and all good readers get better with practice, too. When I first read the sentence, it was difficult because I had never read it before. The second time I read the sentence, it was easier because I knew the words. By the third time I read the sentence, I was able to say it smoothly and add expression! I became fluent in reading by rereading the sentence until I understood it. That is how you will become fluent readers, too! Let’s practice becoming fluent readers with a friend!” Assign partners for each student and pass out the books. “Now we are going to practice being fluent readers by reading the book, Beezus and Ramona, a book I used to love while I was learning to read. This book is about an older sister, Beezus, and a younger sister, Ramona. They have some crazy adventures together as sisters! But, they can also get on each other’s nerves. This book actually is about Beezus’ birthday party, but some pretty fun things happen. We’ll have to read and find out how this special day goes for these wacky sisters!”
Students should read the first three pages silently to themselves. Then they should each read a chapter aloud to each other. (If chapters are too long, students will read a page each, back and forth, until they are out of time.) Tell the students that while they are listening to each other read to not help their partner out.
After students have read with their partner, pass out recording sheets and stopwatches to each group. Say: “Now we are going to play the fluency game. Put your listening ears on to hear how to play! Reader 1 is going to start the game off and Reader 2 will be in control of the timer. Reader 2 is going to time while Reader 1 reads the first two pages, and then Reader 2 will record the time on the sheet I have handed out to you. After recording the information, the readers will switch (Reader 2 will read and Reader 1 will record.) Read and record the time three times each. As you listen to your partner read aloud the pages, I want you to be listening for how their reading changes each time. If they remember more words, write that down. If they read with more expression, write that down. Try to find one positive thing your partner did (such as read very fluently, read with expression, etc.) and compliment their reading each time (so 3 times total!)
7. After the student pairs have each read through the passage three times, have the students, come up one at a time and read a paragraph of your choosing from what they have read so far. Ask them to bring their record sheet so you can attach it to the back of the assessment sheet that you have. You will time them on the paragraph read aloud, and use the formula given to record how many words they have read per minute. The goal is to get the students reading 85 words per minute.
Formula: Words x 60 seconds/seconds read
Assessment: Use a list of comprehension questions (listed below) to understand how fluency is affecting their comprehension. (Note: the comprehension questions are from the whole book, only ask them questions based on what they have read. We can use the whole thing to assess after students read entire book.)
Peer Fluency Check:
Name of Reader: ____________________
Date: _________________
1st Time: ________
2nd Time: ________
3rd Time: ________
I noticed that my partner…
After which read? 2nd 3rd
Remembered more words
Read faster
Read smoother
Read with expression
Teacher Fluency Check
Name of Reader: _______________
Date: _________________
Time: ________
Words x 60/time in seconds: _______WPM
References:
Cleary, Beverly. Beezus and Ramona, 1955.
Comprehension Questions for Beezus and Ramona https://www.teachingbooks.net/media/pdf/BF/BeezusandRamonaBG.pdf
Sherell Brown, Flying into Fluency https://sites.google.com/view/readingwithmsbrown/growing-independence-fluency
Meredith Worley, Finish Line Race to Fluency https://mdw0036.wixsite.com/mysite/growing-independence-fluency
UNDER THE SEA OF SUMMARIZATION
MACKENZIE SKINNER- MES0109@AUBURN.EDU
Rationale: Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. Students who are at this level are ready to learn strategies to better understand a text. This lesson introduces a strategy called about-point to help students learn to form a topic sentence about a paragraph by asking two questions. The first question asks “What is the text about?” and the second question asks “What is the main point the writer is making about the topic?” By finding the most important points that the author is making, students are learning to summarize a piece of text.
Materials: Individual copies of “Dolphins” for students OR tablets for each student to read off of, pencil, paper, summarization checklist, comprehension quiz, dry erase board, markers
Procedures:
Say: Have you ever read a book or watched a movie that you loved so much and wanted to tell your friends about it? When you explained the book or movie to them, did you tell them every single detail, or did you only mention the most important parts? If you have ever shortened a story like this by telling a friend the most important parts of a book or movie, you have practiced summarization! Summarization is a strategy that expert readers use to comprehend a book or article by only telling the most important parts through a summary. Summaries are important because you can’t remember everything, so you should know how to reduce what you read to remember the most important points that the author made about a topic.
Say: One way we can summarize is by using a strategy called about-point. (write this on board) When we use about-point, you will ask yourself 2 different questions about your reading. You will answer an easy question, “What is the text about?” and a tough question, “What is the main point the writer is making about that topic?” (Write these two questions on the white board for students to have as reference.) When you answer the tough question, it will help you to identify an “umbrella” term that covers the important parts that the author has written. The answer to both of these questions will help you make a topic sentence.
Say: Later in this lesson, I will model how to practice the about-point strategy with a paragraph in an article called “Dolphins.” You will read this article today while you practice summarization. Have you ever seen a dolphin in real life? Dolphins are my favorite sea animals! In a few minutes we will read about them to see why and see if any of you like dolphins too!
Say: You need to know what the word alternate means to understand the paragraph that we will read together. Let’s look at alternate. To alternate means to occur in turn, back-and-forth. Alternating doesn’t mean to stay the same way over time, it means something changes in turn repeatedly. You wouldn’t say that you alternate wearing shoes each day because you wear shoes every single day. However, you could say that you alternate between two different pairs of shoes everyday if you switch back and forth between wearing 2 different pairs of shoes. Which one of these uses alternatecorrectly? “When we watch movies in the car, we alternate between Finding Nemo and Despicable Me.” or “I alternate going to school every day.” Right, the first sentence is correct because you are switching back-and-forth between two different movies. The second sentence in incorrect because you go to school for the same amount of days each week, and you are not switching back-and-forth between anything in that sentence. Try finishing this sentence: Each week, my teacher will alternate between… (Possible answers: writing on the board with a red marker or a blue marker, reading the class a book in the morning or in the afternoon, etc.)
Say: Now that we understand the word alternate, we will look at a paragraph from the article together: “Dolphins spend most of their lives underwater, where they can rest for up to five hours at a time before coming up for air. When active, they typically alternate between being underwater for a few minutes and coming up to the surface to breathe air for a few seconds.” What important points does the author make? Dolphins come up from the water briefly so they can breathe air. Dolphins spend most of their time underwater. I can form a topic sentence by joining these two points: Dolphins only briefly come up for air since they spend most of their life underwater.
Say: It’s your turn to try about-point! Read this paragraph: “Dolphins have excellent eyesight and hearing. Underwater they use echolocation. Echolocation is kind of like sonar where dolphins make a sound and then listen to the echo. Their hearing is so sensitive to these echoes that they can almost "see" objects in the water by hearing. This allows dolphins to locate food in cloudy or dark water.”
What is this paragraph about? Correct, dolphins seeing and hearing. What are the main points that the author makes? Yes! They use echolocation. What is another point that the author makes? Right, they can almost “see” things in the water by hearing. Crazy, right?! To make a topic sentence, you will put these points together! Let’s try: Dolphins…? Dolphins use echolocation for seeing and hearing.
Now, I want you to finish reading the article and write a topic sentence for each paragraph using about-point. This will allow you to have a strong summary of the whole article once you are finished. Your summary will help you remember the most important facts about dolphins. Remember to answer both questions in about-point to help you form a topic sentence. You can look at the board for the questions if you need help. Don’t forget to only pick out the most important points that the author is making in each paragraph, and to summarize in your own words. When you are finished, staple your topic sentence page to the article and turn it in to me.
I will review each student’s topic sentence page to determine if they successfully summarized the paragraphs of the article. I will use the assessment checklist to record student grades. The students will also take a brief comprehension quiz.
Checklist:
Student Name: ________________
____ Wrote a topic sentence for each paragraph
____ Deleted unimportant or repetitive information
____ Significantly reduced the text from original to form summary
____ Identified important points
____ Successfully conjoined the important points to form a topic sentence
Comprehension Questions:
What types of animals are dolphins? (Answer: Mammals)
What are groups of dolphins called? (Answer: Pods)
What do dolphins have that is used for breathing? (Answer: A blowhole)
What do dolphins eat? (Answers: fish and squid)
What do dolphins use to hear? (Answer: echolocation)
What do dolphins do with their brain while sleeping? (Answer: use half of it)
Name one interesting fact about dolphins. (Answers will vary)
References:
“Dolphins”https://www.ducksters.com/animals/dolphin.php
Murray, Bruce. Using About-Point to Awaken the Main Idea. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/AboutPointRL.html
Hannah Locklear. Sea-ing Summarization https://hml0013.wixsite.com/literacydesigns/reading-to-learn
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