Procedure:

1. Say: In order to become expert readers we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read short vowel words with a, like tap, and today we are going to learn about long A and the silent /e/ signal that is used to make A say its name, /A/. When I say /A/ I think of our 16th president Abe Lincoln saying, "Let's bake a cake" [show graphic image].

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2. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of a_e=/A/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear  /A/ and my mouth opens wide and shows my a little teeth like this. [Make vocal gesture for/A/.] I’ll show you first: fake. I heard /A/ say its name and I felt a little of my teeth show [explain to stir like Abe baking a cake when you hear /A/]. This means there's /A/ in fake. Let's try some together if you hear a_e says /A/, then stir your mixing bowl, if you don't keep your hands in your lap. Now let's see if we can hear it in back? Do you hear the long A? [give students time to think]. Let's all say it together... I don't hear it, what about pave? [give students time to think]. Good job it does have the long A in it! Let's review some words, if we hear our long A we're gonna mix our bowl, and if we don't we're gonna keep our hands down. Let's begin: Lake, Pack, Tame, Bat, Brave, Safe. [ have students use directions above to determine if there is a long A in word].

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3. Say: Now that we know what it sounds like, let’s look at the spelling of /A/ that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /A/ is with the letter a and a signal e at the end of the word to tell me to say A’s name.[Write a_e on the board.] This blank line here means there is a consonant after a,and at the end of the word there is a little silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word take?“I take a lot of food from the restaurant.” Take means removing something in this sentence. To spell take in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /t//A//k/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /k/ so I’m going to put an a in the 2nd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /t/, that’s easy; I need a t. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /t//A//k/.   I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /t//A//k/.] The missing one is /k/= k.

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4.Say: Now that I've modeled how to spell in letter boxes, I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ape. An ape is a large hairy animal like a gorilla, “When we went to the zoo, the ape was in the cage banging on his chest.” AAA-ppp- silent e. What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers]. What goes in the second box? What about silent e, did you remember to put it outside the boxes? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room.[Observe progress.]You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word.Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /A/ and don’t forget to put the signal silent eat the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: game, The boy scored 3 points at the soccer game.; game. ggg-AAA-mmm-silent e. [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: g –a –m –e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: late; I'm going to be late if I don't leave soon. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /A/ in it before you spell it: pack; don't pack too many clothes in your suitcase. Did you need a silent e? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear A say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. [volunteer spells it on the front board.] Did you remember to spell /k/ with a ck? Now let’s try 4 phonemes: plane; the pilot flew the plane fast. 

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5. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word.[Display poster with scrape on the top and model reading the word.] First I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. I’m going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /s//c/ = /sc/ + /r/ = /scr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /scrA/. Now all I need is the end, /p/ = /scrAp/. Scrape; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together.[Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

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6. Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for a_e=/A/. Now we are going to read a book called Late Kate. This book is about a girl named Kate who does not like being late. Kate is racing to the first base at a baseball game and has to stop to fix her shoelace. Will she make it to the base or be late? Let's read to find out. [Children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Late Kate aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

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7. Say: That was a fun story. Did Kate make it to the base? Right, he had to tie her shoe and she was late.

What did Kate try to bake? Right, a cake. Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, we have some pictures that don't have words saying what they are. Your job is to look in the box of word choices, and decide which a_e word fits best each picture. First try reading all the words in the box, then choose the word that fits best in the space. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

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References:

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Barchers, S (2012). "Late Kate." https://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/estore/files/samples/15124s.pdf

Reading Genie: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/brockel.html.

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Assessment Worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-long-short-a/long-a-words.pdf

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Reference: Hannah Peralo, Shake with Grace and Jake. https://hperalo18.wixsite.com/lessonplandesignctrd/beginning-reading

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Awakenings- https://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/awakenings/