Bake a Cake with Jake
Caitlin Brown
Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the long vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. In order to be able 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 a_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (bake the cake with Jake), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a_e = /A/.
Materials: Graphic image of Jake baking a cake; cover-up critter; whiteboard or Smartboard letterbox for modeling and individual letterboxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: B, a, e, c, g, n, m, k, j, s, f, w, t, r, d, p; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ape, jake, babe, cage, cake, name, safe, wake, trade, scrape; decodable text: Jane and Babe and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say A’s name. [Write a_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word scrape? “If I scrape my knee it might hurt.” Scrape means to cut open in this sentence. To spell scrape in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//c//r//A//p/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /p/ so I’m going to put an a in the 4th box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s//c//r//A//p/. I think I heard /c/ so I’ll put a c right after the s. One more before the /A/, hmm . . . /s//c//r//A//p/, I think I heard growling /r/ so I need an r. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//c//r//a//p/.] The missing one is /p/ = p.
2. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ape. An ape is a kind of monkey that lives in the rainforest, “While taking a trip through the rainforest we saw an Ape in the bushes.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: Jake, Jake is excited to bake his cake; Jake. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: J – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: cake; I need a cake for the birthday party. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /A/ in it before you spell it: hat; we wear a hat to block out the sun from our eyes. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: trade; can we trade markers? One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; If I scrape my knee, it might hurt a little. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
3. 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 poster with scrape on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. 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.] /s//c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /scrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /scrAp/. Scrape; 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.]
4. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This is a story of a lion named Babe and his master named Jane. Babe has to stay in a cage, but his master Jane comes in and plays with Babe and they have a race to a pail, we will have to read the book to see who will win the race. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Jane and Babe to see who will win the race. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Jane and Babe aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
5. Say: That was a fun story. Who won the race to the pail? Right, Babe is a lion and can run faster, so he won the race. What was the mystery in the pail? Right, Babe’s dinner. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide which a_e word fits best to make sense of this very short story. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
References:
Murray, B. Letterbox Lesson. Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html
Murray, G. (2004) Jakes joke. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html
Assessment Worksheet: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/a-ewkshtpack.pdf
Materials: Graphic image of Jake baking a cake; cover-up critter; whiteboard or Smartboard letterbox for modeling and individual letterboxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: B, a, e, c, g, n, m, k, j, s, f, w, t, r, d, p; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: ape, jake, babe, cage, cake, name, safe, wake, trade, scrape; decodable text: Jane and Babe and assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1. Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say A’s name. [Write a_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after a, and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word scrape? “If I scrape my knee it might hurt.” Scrape means to cut open in this sentence. To spell scrape in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /s//c//r//A//p/. I need 5 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /p/ so I’m going to put an a in the 4th box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /s/, that’s easy; I need an s. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /s//c//r//A//p/. I think I heard /c/ so I’ll put a c right after the s. One more before the /A/, hmm . . . /s//c//r//A//p/, I think I heard growling /r/ so I need an r. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /s//c//r//a//p/.] The missing one is /p/ = p.
2. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ape. An ape is a kind of monkey that lives in the rainforest, “While taking a trip through the rainforest we saw an Ape in the bushes.” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: Jake, Jake is excited to bake his cake; Jake. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: J – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: cake; I need a cake for the birthday party. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /A/ in it before you spell it: hat; we wear a hat to block out the sun from our eyes. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear a say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: trade; can we trade markers? One more then we’re done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: scrape; If I scrape my knee, it might hurt a little. Remember to stretch it out to get this tough word.
3. 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 poster with scrape on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. 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.] /s//c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /scrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /scrAp/. Scrape; 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.]
4. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This is a story of a lion named Babe and his master named Jane. Babe has to stay in a cage, but his master Jane comes in and plays with Babe and they have a race to a pail, we will have to read the book to see who will win the race. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Jane and Babe to see who will win the race. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Jane and Babe aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]
5. Say: That was a fun story. Who won the race to the pail? Right, Babe is a lion and can run faster, so he won the race. What was the mystery in the pail? Right, Babe’s dinner. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some words missing. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide which a_e word fits best to make sense of this very short story. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]
References:
Murray, B. Letterbox Lesson. Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/letbox.html
Murray, G. (2004) Jakes joke. Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/bookindex.html
Assessment Worksheet: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/a-ewkshtpack.pdf