“Picking /a/…/a/…Apples”



By Morgan Curry 



Students need to be able to recognize letters and know the sounds that those letters make in order to read and understand words. This lesson focuses on short a (a = /a/). Students will learn to recognize a and that a = /a/.



-         primary paper

-         pencil

-         book: “A Cat Nap” (Phonics Readers)

-         sentence strip with “Anna asks for apples” written in large bold letters



  1. Explain that our mouth makes different formations or movements in order to make different sounds
  2. have students say /a/ a few times so that they become familiar with the movement their mouth makes when saying short a (a = /a/)
  3. Display the sentence strip and read “Anna asks for apples” for them, then have them read it with you
  4. Have students say the sentence stretching out the /a/. “Aaaannaaa aaaasks for aaaapples.”
  5. Have students identify what words they here /a/ in. Do you hear /a/ in mat or mit? Bat or bug? Strap or stuck? Pass or hut? Etc.
  6. Pass out pencils and primary paper. Now teach the students to make an “a”. “Start at the fence, circle down to the sidewalk, come back up and touch the fence, and move straight back down to the side walk.” Have them practice this a few times.
  7.  Read the book “A Cat Nap”. After reading the book once read it again but this time stop at the end of each sentence and have the students identify the words they heard that have the a = /a/ sound in them.
  8. For further assessment have the students identify different objects in the classroom that have the a = /a/ sound in their name.




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