"Doc Says Open Up"
by Chandler Chauvin
Emergent Literacy Design


Rationale:  In order for children to learn to read and spell words, they need to understand that letters in written words stand for phonemes in spoken words.  Before children can learn certain correspondences, they have to recognize phonemes.  Short vowels can be hard to identify because the differences in sound and mouth shape are so subtle.  This lesson will help students identify /o/ (short o).  Students will learn to recognize /o/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation and a letter symbol. Students will also practice identifying /o/ in specific words.

 Materials: primary paper
                    chart with "Tom wants to hop on top of a hot pot."
                    Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
                    class set cards with letter o on them
                    picture page with spot, pot, trash, frog, rock, hat, block, tree, flower
                    drawing paper

Procedures:  1. Introduce the lesson by telling the students that writing is a "secret code".  You see, in our language, each letter of the alphabet has a sound that goes with it.  Our mouth moves in different ways so that the right sounds will come out to say words.  Today we are going to do some activities that will help us figure out how to make the sound that a short o makes, which is /o/.  Once we know how to make the sound with our mouths, we'll be able to spot /o/ in any word.

2. Ask students:  Have you ever been to the doctor for a check-up?  What does your doctor make you open your mouth and say when he is looking at your throat? Good, we open up and say ahhhh.  That's the sound that we're going to try to find in several different words today.  Now I want you to pretend that a doctor is here and see if you can say /o/.  Try to hear /o/ in the word pot. Let's say pot together real slow. Pppp-ahhhh-ttttt.  Good, that /o/ sound in pot is what we are looking for today.

3. Let's try a tongue twister (on chart).  "Tom wants to hop on top of a hot pot."  Everybody say it three times together.  Now say it again, but this time, try to stretch out the /o/ in the middle of each word.  "To-o-o-om likes to ho-o-o-op on to-o-o-op of a ho-o-ot  po-o-ot."  This time, I want you to say it again and separate /o/ from the beginning and endings of each word: “/t/ /o/ /m/ likes to /h/ /o/ /p/ on /t/ /o/ /p/ of a /h/ /o/ /t/ /p/ /o/ /t/.  Great job!

4. We can use letter o to spell /o/.  Let's try writing an o on our primary paper.  First, we start below the fence line and draw a circle that touches the sidewalk and comes back up to the fence.  I want you to write 7 o's and say /ah/ each time you write the letter.  I'm going to walk around and look at your o's.  When you see the letter o by itself in a word, that's our secret message to say /o/.

5. I will ask students the following questions: Do you hear /o/ in cold or hotmop or broomeven or odd?  lock or key?  Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move to say /o/ in some words.  If you hear /o/ in a word, hold up your o card.  If you do not hear /o/ in a word leave your card down.  (Say the following words one by one so that students have time to respond.  Check to make sure each student is responding correctly.)  Tom, likes, to, hop, on, top, of, a, hot, pot.

6. Read Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss and talk about the story.  Read the story again and tell the students to raise their o cards when they hear words with /o/ in them.  First, read a sentence and model raising your card when you hear /o/.  On the board, list the words from the book that have short o.  Have each student draw an octopus and write a message about it using invented spelling.  Display their work.

7. For assessment, give each student a picture page with different short o illustrations.  As a class, help students name each picture.  Ask each student to color the pictures whose names have /o/ in them.


Leslie O'Neal. Hop on Pop- Short 'o'

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For further information, email Chauvcl@auburn.edu