Fifth post in a series. See here for:
- Introduction:
- Materials:
- Method:
- Part V. Beginning with a one-to-one code.
+ + +
In the first lesson with the child, we sit down with the two sandpaper phonemes "m" and "a." Here's the script I wrote for myself to use seven or eight years ago, and have used three times since.
In the second lesson, we start with a word made from those two sounds, and then we go on to learn two new sounds.
A note on notation: Recall that I enclose sounds in slashes, like this: /m/
——
LESSON 1
/m/ spelled m as in mouse
/a/ spelled a as in hat
——
"You're going to learn two sounds and the shapes that we use to spell them."
"The first sound is this: /mmmmm/. Say /mmmmm/."
"Are my lips closed or open when I say /mmmm/?"
"We use our voice to say /mmm/. Put your hand on your throat and you can feel your throat vibrating."
- Have the child say /mmmm/ while feeling his throat vibrate. Make sure he notices it before continuing.
"Your throat vibrates when you use your voice to make a sound. It stops vibrating when you stop using your voice."
- Show the textured letter m.
"We spell the sound /mmmmm/ with this shape."
"Practice tracing the letter that spells /mmmm/ with your finger."
- Help the child trace the letter m with the index finger of his writing hand. Encourage the child to say "/mmmm/" while tracing the letter. Trace it correctly three or four times.
"Another sound we will use is /aaaaa/. Say /aaaaa/."
- Pronounce the vowel as in "hat" or "bat."
"Is my mouth open or closed when I say /aaaaaa/?"
"Do you use your voice when you say /aaaa/?"
"Put your hand on your throat and see if you can feel it."
- Show the textured letter a.
"We spell the sound /aaaa/ with this letter."
"Practice tracing the letter that spells /aaaaa/ with your finger."
- Help the child trace the letter a with the index finger of his writing hand. Encourage the child to say "/aaaa/" while tracing the letter. Trace it correctly three or four times.
- Help the child complete a worksheet with letters a and m to trace. (See note)
Note on the worksheet I mentioned: You can literally just grab a piece of paper, write a big a and m on it, and ask the child to trace the letters with his finger or go over it with a marker or crayon. Or you can download something.
—————–
LESSON 2
Word building exercise with a and m
/s/ spelled s as in sock
/o/ spelled o as in sock
——————
"Last time you learned how to spell two sounds."
- Show the textured letter a.
"Read this card. What sound does this shape spell?"
- Show the textured letter m.
"Read this card. What sound does this shape spell?"
"We are going to use these letters to build a word that has two sounds in it."
"We are going to build the word am on your work mat."
"What is the first sound you hear in the word am?" (/a/)
"Find the letter that spells the sound /a/."
- Allow time for the child to find the letter a. Place the card on the work mat.
"What sound comes after the sound /a/ in the word am?"
- Prompt and assist the child to listen for the sound until the answer /m/ is elicited.
"Find the letter that spells the sound /m/."
- Place the letter card m on the work mat to form a m.
- Read the word am indicating each letter as its sound is vocalized: "/aaaaaaa/ /mmmmm/."
- Give the child a worksheet with a m on it and help the child to trace and say "am."
"Now you're going to learn two new sounds and the shapes that spell them."
"The first sound is this: /sssss/. Say /ssssss/."
"Are my lips closed or open when I say /sssss/?"
"Can you feel where you put your tongue to say /sssss/?"
"Put your hand on your throat to feel it. Do you use your voice to make the sound /sssss/?"
"You do not use your voice to make the sound /ssss/, so your throat does not vibrate. You only use your breath."
- Show the textured letter s.
"We spell the sound /sssss/ with this shape."
"Practice tracing the letter that spells /ssss/ with your finger."
- Help the child trace the letter s with the index finger of his writing hand. Encourage the child to say "/ssss/" while tracing the letter. Trace it correctly three or four times.
"Another sound we will use is /o/. Say /o/."
- Pronounce the vowel as in "hot" or "bot." Extend it so it's more like "ahhhhh."
"Is my mouth open or closed when I say /o/?"
"Do you use your voice when you say /o/?"
"Put your hand on your throat and see if you can feel it."
- Show the textured letter o.
"We spell the sound /o/ with this letter."
"Practice tracing the letter that spells /o/ with your finger."
- Help the child trace the letter o with the index finger of his writing hand. Encourage the child to say "/o/" while tracing the letter. Trace it correctly three or four times.
- Help the child complete a worksheet with letters o and s to trace.
+ + +
So, that's the pattern for my first couple of lessons. In lesson 3 we review the four sounds learned, and introduce /k/ spelled c and /t/ spelled t. The next lesson has a simple flashcard game and the exercise of reading am, mat, and sac. I'll write those out in a later post.
bearing blog 