Rationale:
This lesson is designed to help children learn the short vowel correspondence o=/o/. Students must have the skill of decoding to be able to learn to read. Recognizing spellings and learning to decode are two vital steps in making sight words and in learning to read. In this lesson, students will learn to decode, read, and spell new words containing the correspondence o=/o/. The students will learn to detect this phoneme through a fun representation (saying ‘aah” at the dentist), they will practice reading a spelling words with a letterbox lesson, and they will read a short, decodable book that focuses on practicing this correspondence.
Materials:
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image of Dr. Ollie the Octopus
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primary paper, the letter o written on the board
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coverup critter
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letterboxes
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list words for LBL: on, pot, fox, glob
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letters for letterbox lesson: o, n, p, t, c, d, f, x, g, l, b, s
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Decodable book: Doc in the Fog
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Assessment worksheet: link available in references
Procedure:
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Pretend you’re at the dentist and the doctor tells you to open up, what sound do you make? “you say /o/ right?” When we say /o/ like we are at the dentist’s office, we are using the short letter sound for o. -​Now notice the shape that your mouth makes, it is very similar to an o! *draw o on the board* now let’s practice a few times “say /o/!”
2. Tongue tickler: Say this as a way to remember the sound: “Dr. Ollie Octopus says, ‘say aah (/o/)
3. Have students repeat with me, emphasizing short o sounds
have students practice on their own
3. Phoneme awareness practice: Now let’s practice listening for the sound. Do you hear /o/ in pat or pot? Gut or got? Not or not?
4. LBL: o=/o/ Alright let’s pull out our letterboxes for some practice. I want you to use one box for each sound that you hear in each word I give you. I will go first!
- I am going to spell the word sock with my letters. I hear 3 sounds in the word sock. /s/ /o/ /k/ so I am going to use three letterboxes. Now I am going to think about each sound that I hear to spell this word. “ /s/-/s/- that sounds like s (put s down) ……. /o/-/o/-/o/ Oh! like I’m at the dentist /o/ is o! (puts o down)….. /k/ -/k/-/k/ that sounds like k! Read modeled word. “SOK—SOK” Now this word does say sock, but it is not the way you spell the sock that is on my foot. *add c-k” S-O-C-K. That is how you spell sock!
- Say: “Let’s try reading a word that is a little bit trickier.” Place 4 letter boxes on the board with C-L-O-CK in each one. “Okay now let’s try to read this word that I’ve put up on the board. I know that each box makes one sound, so there are 4 sounds in this word. First box: /c/ -/c/ ….. Second box:/ l/-/l/….. /o/ /o/ /o/ Like I’m at the dentist! /o/ /o/…. /k/-/k/ CLOCK! C-L-O-C-K! That is how you would read the work clock.
- now it is your turn! Call out the words: 2- on, at; 3- fox, gib, pot, met, ; 4- glob. Use each word in a sentence for context.
- read and spell each word together to complete the activity
5. Now we are going to practice a skill call crosschecking to be able to check ourselves when we are reading. I am going to read this sentence on the board “I got out /o/f bed. /off/ that doesn’t sound right. Oh! Of! I got out of bed!” Sometimes words can make irregular sounds so it is important to finish the sentence and correct yourself when something sounds funky.
6. Now let’s practice writing the letter o. The way you do this is to make a circle starting at the fence, bringing it down to the sidewalk, and completing where you started at the fence. As you practice, I want you to make the sound like you are at the dentist. /o/ /o/ /o/
7. Now we are going to read a short book. In this story, Doc is a wizard who loves to use his powers to “zot” all of these objects. One day, the magic gets him back. Let’s keep reading to find out what happens.
- observe students while reading and scaffold miscues with coverup critter
8. Assessment: have students complete worksheet on short o sounds. Help students to fill in reminding worksheet answers.
9. Fun activity: Think of a word with the short /o/ sound and make up a story and draw a picture to share with the class.
Resources: https://www.brighthubeducation.com/lesson-plans-grades-1-2/102867-short-o-sound-phonics-lesson/
Doc in the Fog. Educational Insights. 1990.
Assessment worksheet: https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/sounding-out-short-o/
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