Crying Baby "Aaaaa!"


A Beginning Reading Lesson

Caitlin Roebuck




          This lesson will help students understand the short vowel A and the / a / phoneme. It will provide a starting point for students to become proficient in spelling and decoding, two major skills of effective reading. In this lesson, students will apply the a = / a / correspondence through learning a representation and tongue tickler, spelling and reading words with the correspondence, and reading a decodable story based on the / a / phoneme.



1.) 1 small picture of a crying baby

2.) 1 poster with the tongue tickler, Alan the alligator acted antsy at the animal store, written on it

3.) Class set of Elkonin boxes

4.) Letter manipulatives a, t, r, g, m, d, c, b, s, n, k, p for each student

5.) Smartboard, Elmo, or overhead for teacher to model LBL

6.) 1 Elkonin box for teacher to model LBL

7.) Letter manipulatives s, t, r, a, p for teacher

8.) White board and marker for teacher

9.) Copy of the LBL words: 2- [at], 3--[rag, mad], 4--[crab, snack], 5--[strap]

  10.) Class set of A Cat Nap books (publication info listed with references)

  11.) Assessment worksheets (example attached)



Begin the lesson by saying, "Boys and girls, today we are going to focus on learning about a new vowel sound, the short vowel a. This vowel sound will be our starting point in learning how to spell and decode new words that contain our vowel's phoneme. This will be a very important step in learning how to be a skilled reader." Show students the picture of the crying baby. "When using the short vowel a sound, I want you to act like you are a crying baby. You would say 'Aaaaa!' and rub your eyes with your fists. Can you hear the / a / sound in 'Aaaaa?' Now everyone rub your eyes and say 'Aaaaa!' with me. Good! I can hear that / a / sound."

 "Remember that there are 5 short vowel sounds: a = / a /, e = / e /, i = / i /, o = / o /, and u = / u /. We are going to focus on a = / a / correspondence today. Now listen closely as I make the / a / sound." Model making the sound for the students. "When I make this sound, the back of my tongue slightly touches the roof of my mouth while the front of my tongue stays on the bottom of my mouth. Let's all try saying 'Aaaaa' together again. Good! Now let's try to say our challenging tongue tickler." Bring out the tongue tickler poster. "I'll read it aloud first and then we'll repeat it together. 'Alan the alligator acted antsy at the animal store.' Alright now let's say it three times as a class and stretch out the a's on the third time." Repeat the tongue tickler together 3 times. "Can you feel/hear the / a / sound your mouth is making?"

"We are going to be using Letterboxes for our lesson today, but I want to begin by showing you how to use them." Using a smartboard, Elmo, or overhead, set up the Elkonin box and letter manipulatives to model the LBL concept for the students. "For example, spelling the word, strap. 'I put the guitar strap on my shoulder.' In this sentence, strap means a piece of fabric used to hold up an object. To begin to spell strap, I will need to stretch out the word to see how many phoneme it has . . . / s // t // r // a // p /. I hear 5 sounds, so I will need 5 boxes. Then, I will say the word again to see how I will spell it out. 'Strap'. . . I hear a / s / so I'll put the s in the first box. Then, I hear a t and an r. I hear the 'Aaaaa!' sound, so an a is next, and I finish it up with the p fitting into the last box." Put those letter manipulatives aside. "Now I will show you how to read a challenging word with our a = / a / correspondence." Write the word snack on the white board. "I'm going to start with the vowel sound in the word, which is our 'Aaaaa!' sound. Then, I will add the first sounds of the word s-n-a. Then, I will add the last part and blend the word together to get s-n-a-ck, snack."

"Now it's your turn. Get out your letterboxes and your letters. Open your boxes to have 2 boxes ready. Now spell the word at, like 'I was at the mall on Friday.' What should go in the first and the second boxes?" Call on students to share what they have. "Now add another box so you have 3 boxes ready. Spell the word, rag, as in 'I washed my car with a dirty rag.' What will go in the first, middle, and last boxes?" Call on students to answer. Continue with the LBL for the words 3--[mad], 4--[crab, snack], 5--[strap].

"Now let's practice reading the words that you spelled with your Letterboxes." Put the copy of the words on the Elmo/overhead but make sure that only 1 word shows at a time. "We are going to read the words aloud as a class." Read them together in unison. Then, have the students practice reading the words in partners. (They will switch off reading the words until they have both read all of the words on the list.)

Next, the class will individually read the story, A Cat Nap. Pass out the story to each student and say, "We will be reading A Cat Nap individually. This story is about a cat named Tab who likes to nap a lot. He decides to take a nap in his owner's bag, but the owner leaves with the bag. What will happen to Tab? You will have to read it to find out." While the students are reading, walk around the room to help answer questions and to keep the students on task. When students finish reading on their own, reread the story as a class, stretching out the short a sound and having students rub their eyes when they hear the a = / a / sound.

For an assessment, pass out a worksheet in which students will have to choose the correct word with the a = / a / correspondence in it. Introduce the assessment by saying, "Let's see what you have learned about the short vowel a and the / a / phoneme. On the worksheet you will have three words, but you will circle the one that has the a = / a / correspondence."



·        Murray, Geri. "Oh, I Didn't Know!"


·        Wheeler, Mary Kathryn. "Cry Like a Baby, Waaaa!"


·        Jackson, Hannah. "AAAAAAHH! You Scared Me!!"



·        Cushman, Sheila. A Cat Nap, Carson, CA: Educational Insights, 1990.
























Assessment Worksheet


Choose the word that contains the 'Aaaaa!' sound from the short vowel a.



1.      Bill                                bass                               bunt                              





2.      Hat                      her                                 hill





3.      Net                                nap                                nut





4.      Fast                     fell                                  find





5.      pen   s                           pots                               pants


















Assessment Worksheet: Answer Sheet





1.      Bill                                bass                               bunt                              





2.      Hat                      her                                 hill





3.      Net                                nap                                nut





4.      Fast                     fell                                  find





5.      pen   s                           pots                               pants


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