​

 Rob the Dog Is a Slob

 

Rationale: This lesson teaches the short vowel correspondence o = /o/. Students will learn to recognize /o/ in spoken words, spell and read individual words with the short o, and apply the correspondence to whole text reading. Children need to understand the alphabetic principle that spellings map the phoneme sequence of spoken words. In this letterbox lesson, students spell words before they read them in order to transfer this sounding-out (blending) strategy from spelling to reading. This helps them learn words thoroughly enough to remember them as sight words.

 

Materials:

• Familiar book (usually from the previous letterbox lesson)

• Tongue Ticker: Rob's slobber is on my sock.

• Letter manipulatives & Elkonin boxes

• Word list: 3 Phonemes – Dog, Sock; 4 Phonemes – Frog, Drop, Clock, Stop; 5 Phonemes – Strong, Stomp

  • Letters Needed: r, o, b, d, g, s, c (X2), k, l, p, t, n, m, f

  • ​​A printout of the lesson words in large font for the student(s) to read. Include a pseudoword (Trob, for example).

• Decodable book for the short vowel correspondence o = /o/: One Funny Dog

• Assessment worksheets (along with pencils & crayons)

 

Procedures:

1. Why: “Today we’re going to learn the short vowel correspondence o = /o/ by doing a letterbox lesson. An important part of this lesson will be for us to listen for the basic sounds in words and to learn how we use letters to make a map of these sounds.”

2. Review/Background Knowledge: “Spellings are sensible ways to write down words. Spellings are simply maps of the sounds in words. When spellings make sense, they are much easier to read and remember.” (Before the letterbox lesson begins, the student should reread a familiar book aloud while you assess his/her reading by noting miscues and keeping a running record.)

3. How: “I am going to call out two words at a time. Let’s listen to the words carefully and say which of the two words has the /o/ sound. Do you hear /o/ in pot or moon...phone or throb...block or room? We heard the /o/ in pot (“po-o-o-t”), throb (“thro-o-o-b”), and block (“blo-o-o-ck”). Did you notice what your mouth did when you made the /o/ sound? When we make the /o/ sound, it’s similar to when we yawn.”

4. Model: “I’m going to show you how to spell and read slob. (Put out four boxes, stretch the pronunciation, and spell it phoneme by phoneme.) Let’s see, /s/ is the first sound, so that’s letter s. /sl/, the second sound is /l/. I’ll spell /l/ with an l by itself. Slob. I hear /b/ at the end, so that’s a b. But there was something before the b. /slo-o-o/...o goes in that third box. Now I’m going to read the word I have just spelled. I’ll start with the o; o by itself says /o/. /s/, /l/, /o/, that much says /slo/, so that’s not a word yet. I’ll add the ending; b says /b/. /slo/, /b/, slob. Slob, like, “There’s drool everywhere! Rob is such a slob!” NOTE: Unfold the correct letterbox set for each word. The correct box is the one with the same number of cells as the number of phonemes in the word, not necessarily the number of letters. Give students only the letter manipulatives to spell the words in the lesson.

5. Practice: Spelling the Words...This is when the word list is to be used. Call out one word at a time, giving a sentence for each. The student should now spell the words using the letterboxes. NOTE: If a student has trouble spelling a word, don’t ask questions. Pronounce the spelling exactly as the student has spelled the word – “That says ____. We’re spelling ____.” If the student still cannot correctly spell the word, model by saying the phonemes in order and showing how to choose letters to spell each phoneme. Move on to the next word and later, go through your list again until the student can spell all the words without scaffolding. Reading the Words...This is when the printout of the lesson words is to be used. At this point, the letterboxes need to be put away (only used for spelling the words, not reading them). Have the student read each word presented on the list/chart (the printout). NOTE: If a student has trouble reading the words, guide him/her to blend vowel first. After he/she blends, make sure he/she understands what the word is. Blending will not always produce the exact pronunciation. If the student still doesn’t understand, model blending for him/her, using the vowel first, body-coda sequence, explaining why you’re taking each step. Don’t ask questions (usually confusing and counterproductive). Go through problem words again until the student can read them without a mistake.

6. Whole Texts: “This book is called One Funny Dog. Do any of you have a dog? For those of you who do have a dog, what are some funny things that he/she does?” Book talk: “This book talks about lots of dogs who can do funny things. The first dog jumps on a hog! Do you think the other five dogs can top that? Let’s read to see what funny things the other dogs do.”

7. Assess Students Individually: (Give the assessment worksheet to each student.) “This worksheet has three different sections. Read the directions carefully for each section. Please bring me your worksheet when you are finished. If you have any further questions, please let me know; I am here to help you.” (If the lesson needs to be moved along more quickly, have the students simply circle the pictures for section #1 of the assessment worksheet rather than color them.)

 

 

Resources:

Dr. Bruce Murray, The Letterbox Lesson

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html

Decodable Book: One Funny Dog

https://cdn.thisreadingmama.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FREELTR-ShortoReview.pdf

Assessment Worksheet:

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b6/65/4a/b6654af1752c54c801aaef48b1f96bb3--vowel-activities-phonics- worksheets.jpg