Ch, Ch, Ch, Choo Choo

  Beginning Reading Design



By Megan Ledbetter



            This lesson will help children identify and understand phonemes in words. This is the next step in learning to read and pronounce words. When learning how to pronounce diagraphs decoding will come easier. Students will learn to read, spell and hear words with the /ch/ vocal gesture.





1. Today we are going to talk about the two letters ch. I will write c and h on the whiteboard. I point to the c and ask what is this letter? Right c! Now what is this letter? (pointing to the h) Good job it is a h. Well do you think we could put the two letters together to make one sound? Yes we can. Because "ch" makes the /ch/sound like a choo choo.


2. Everybody say /ch/ with me, /ch/, /ch/, /ch/. Good Job! Now when we say /ch/ I want you to put your fist in the air and pull down like a train blowing its whistle.


3. Now we are going to practice saying words with the "ch" sound. Place poster of tongue twister on the board in front of the class. When you hear the ch sound blow your whistle. I will read it first Chubby chuck has chubby cheeks. Then I will read it and exaggerate the ch sound like Ch-ch-chubby ch-ch-chuck has ch-ch-chubby ch-ch-cheeks. Okay now everyone is going to say it together. Good job!


4. Now I am going to ask some questions about /ch/. Be sure to raise your hand if you know the answer. Do you hear the /ch/ in chair or bear? Vanilla or chocolate? Chip or dip?


5. Now we are going to practice spelling and reading words with the /ch/ sound. Everyone take out your letterboxes and titles. Look up at the board so I can show you how to spell the words with letterboxes. I will use the overhead to show the letterboxes on the board. For example, chip. We should have three letterbox squares opened up. Only three. What sound does the c and h make together? Right /ch/. So c and h letter titles go together in the first letterbox. The second sound is a vowel, /i/. That goes in the second letterbox. What is the last sound we hear in the word chip? Right the /p/ sound so that is place in the last letterbox. Are there any questions?


6. Now I want you to practice spelling a few words with your letter titles and letterboxes. I am going to say a word and make a sentence and you are going to spell it. The teacher will walk around and observe to see how the students are doing in between saying the words and telling them a sentence. The students will spell the words chat(3), such(3), chin(3), chant(4), and chest(4).


7. Now we will read the words that we have just spelled in our letterboxes. Okay I will hold up a word on flash cards and I want you to read them aloud. The words on the flash cards are chat, such, chin, torch, chant and chest.


8. I will pass out the book, Chips for Chicks by Geri Murray, to all of the students. Each student will have a copy. In this book, Jess and Ben watch some chicks hatch and then mom feeds them lunch. Ben and Jen have some chips for lunch and there dog Lad takes the bag of chips. The chips drop, so what happens when the chips hit the ground? You have to read to find out. So now the students will choose a partner and read the book to each other. One student will read the page and the other student will read it right after. They will continue this till they finish the book. I will walk around and make sure the students are reading properly and are taking turns the correct way.


9. Now I will hand out pencils, glue and scissors. I will assess the students by passing out a worksheet on /ch/words. The worksheet is two separate papers. One is the pictures that have to be cut out and the other has the words and square for the picture to be glued. The point of the assessment is to match the picture with the word and to trace the word which begins or ends in /ch/.



The Reading Genie website (


The Writing Wizard website ( 


Murray, Geri. Chips for Chicks.

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