Explicit Phonics Short a

I have been involved in the teaching of reading for many years as a special education teacher, a regular education teacher, and a literacy coach. When I worked as a coach, I saw a need for an instructional tool for teachers who needed support and resources for teaching phonics lessons. As a result, I wrote lessons to use in interventions or to supplement lessons from a reading series. Several schools used the lessons locally and found them beneficial. 

 I want to do anything I can to help students become literate. As a result, I would like to share some of those lessons. I will begin with the short a lesson. If you find this useful or have feedback, I would like to hear from you.

Explicit Phonics Lesson

Short ă

Day 1

Objective: Sound and blend words using the short ă.

Review

          “Last year in kindergarten you studied all the letters of the alphabet. You learned that there are two kinds of letters: one kind is consonants such as b, g, m, t, and s. Can someone tell me what the other kind of letter is called.” (vowel) “Can you tell me the name of some of the vowels?” (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y)  “Today we are going to work with words that use the short ă sound. The short sound of a is / ă/ as in apple.” (Have letter Aa visible) “Pretend you are holding an apple in your hand with me and say the sound of short ă.” (This should be a familiar hand signal for the short ă sound.)

PA (oral/ auditory)

          “Listen to these words and see if you can hear the short ă sound or not. If you hear the /ă/ sound in the word, I want you to give me a thumbs up. If you don’t hear /ă/ in the word, give me a thumbs down. So if I say ham, /h/ /ă/ /m/, you would give me a thumbs up because the /ă/ sound is in the word ham. If I say him, /h/ /i/ /m/, you would give me a thumbs down because you do not hear / ă/ in the word him.”

class            ask              trash           truck           trick            track

mash            dish             blast            shop            that             this

Decoding

          Using two differently colored markers, write the words on the board one phoneme at a time. As you write, say “sound” and have the students give the sound for the spelling you have just written. When the word is complete, go back and have them give you the sounds again on cue. Then have them blend the sounds into a word as you use your finger to underline the word. At the end of each row go back and re-read the row before going on to the next row. When all the words are decoded, take time to talk about the meanings of any words that might be unknown.

lad               mad             tag              drag           

last              grass           ant              plant

sand             damp            raft             ram

          Once all the words are on the board, use the “Buddy Up” strategy and give clues.  The buddies are to find the word you gave the clue for, and raise their hand. As they give the answer, you circle the answer. Sometimes more than one clue may be necessary. If the first clue doesn’t produce the answer, the next clue might be the row that the target word is on.

          Some clues might be:

1. a tiny insect                                    ant

2. antonym for first                            last

3. an emotion                                      mad

4. something that floats                     raft

5. a daddy sheep                                 ram

6. moist                                              damp

7. a young boy                                     lad    

8. something that covers the beach    sand

9. it’s alive but is not an animal           plant or grass

10. a game                                          tag

11. to pull something                            drag

          When there is only one word left (plant or grass), have the buddies read the last word. Each buddy then uses the word in a sentence, telling their buddy. Some of the sentences can be shared with the whole class.

          In this procedure not only are the words being read and re-read, but the meanings of the words (or words in the clues) are being studied. Don’t neglect stressing the vocabulary factor.

Decodable Text

          Practice reading words in text using the Decoding Practice found at the end of the lesson.

Day 2

Review

“What are the names of the vowels?” (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y)

“What are the letters that are not vowels called?” (consonants)

“What is the short sound of the letter a?”   /ă/

“What is the hand sign and key word we use to remember the sound of short ă?”

          (Key word: apple    Hand sign: holding an imaginary apple.)

“Name some words that begin with the short ă sound.”

PA

          “I am going to say some words with the short ă sound. I want you to tell me if the sound is in the middle of the word or at the beginning of the word. If I say ask, you would tell me the /ă/ sound is at the beginning of the word. If I say yam, you would tell me the /ă/ sound is in the middle of the word. Be sure your Buddy agrees with you before you raise your hand to give me your answer.” Segment words if needed.

Al                fast             zap              ash              alto              dash

map             add              sap              ant              camp            and

Decoding

          Use the same procedure that was used on Day 1.

          mask            gal               fast             brag

          clap             land             slap             trap

          flat              blast            stand           crab

1. To hit with an open hand                                      slap

2. Something worn on Halloween                              mask

3. Synonym for girl                                                gal

4. Antonym for sit                                                 stand

5. Something an audience does                                clap

    (synonym for applaud)

6. An animal found on the beach                               crab

7. A way to catch an animal                                     trap

8. A rush of air                                                      blast

9. Synonym for rapid                                             fast

10. To tell someone how good you are                       brag

11. The earth is covered with ____ or water            land

          Have the students read the last word (flat)to their partner. Then each makes up a sentence using the word. Have them go for 7-Up sentences (7 or more words in the sentence.)

Decodable Text:   Use Short ă Phrases to practice reading. The first time, through have them follow as you read. The second time, have them chorally read with you. Then the Buddies can take turns reading to each other.

Day 3

Review

“What is the key word and hand sign for short ă?” (apple; pretend you are holding an apple.) “Give me some words that begin with the short ă sound.

Now give me some words that have the short ă sound in the middle of the word.”

Encoding: Dictation

          Use the dictation procedure.

1.   /w/ w         /ă/  a           /l/  l        /y/  y

2. rag          bag                   bad  

3. drag         band        stand

4. Dan will drag the rag bag.

Decodable Text:

       Practice reading the short ă  phrases as it was done on Day 2.

Day 4

Review

          Have the class decode 8 to 10 short ă words on the board or on flashcards.

Word Building or Word Chaining

          Use as much as you feel is appropriate.

an                          at                          as

ant                        mat                        ash

and                        man                       mash

land                       tan                        bash

hand                      fan                        bath

sand                      fat                         math

stand                     fast                       map

Stan                      last                        tap

tan                        blast                      trap

tag                                                     rap

bag                                                     sap

bad                                                     snap

band

Decodable Text    Use the short ă sentences to practice reading words in context. Follow the format of the phrase reading.

Day 5

Review

“The letter a is a ________. (vowel)

The sound of short ă is _____. (/a/)

The key word for short ă is _______. (apple)

The hand signal for short ă is ­­­________. (pretend to hod an apple)

/a/ is the sound of what letter?” (a)

Encoding/Dictation

1.       /kw/ qu          /ks/ x          /ă/ a               /v/ v

2.       and          tag         yam

3.       pant        plant       plan

4.       I plan to plant yams.

Decodable Text

          Use Short ă Sentences to practice re-reading sentences with a buddy.

Decoding Practice

bag     rag     brag    nap   snap          trap    fat     flat     tab    stab

the sad man               

ham in a pan

a tan hat                   

can act mad

1.         Dad can pat the tan cat.

2.       At last Jan ran fast.

3.       Stan had a nap on the mat.

4.       We will stand in the sand.

5.       The ant can go up the plant.

6.       Do not drag the flag.

Short a  Phrases

1.          had a hat                11.  drag the bat

2.        a cat nap                12.  stand on land

3.        the flat pan            13. a sand trap

4.        ran a lap                  14.  the last lap

5.        sat on a mat            15.  ant on my hand

6.        Dad is mad              16. lamp on a stand

7.        grab a cap               17. hand me the pan

8.        pat the cat              18. back to camp

9.        a sad man                 19. last stand

10.  a van and a cab        20. grand old flag

Short a  Sentences

1.         Dan had a lamp in his hand.

2.       A tan crab sat in the sand.

3.       The cat had a nap on the mat.

4.       The lad can grab the flag.

5.       Slap the ant with a flat hand.

6.       The van ran out of gas.

7.       The cab can go fast.

8.       Dad sat on the map.

9.  A fat rat ran past the gap.

10.  A plant can be in the sand.

11.  Jan had jam in the pan.

12.  Al is mad at Stan.  

 

  13.  The trap can snap fast.

14.  That man ran on the land.

15.  Grab a bat and play with me.

16.  That tag can go on the lamp.

17.  We had yams and ham.

18.            Jan ran the last lap.