Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the short vowel correspondence u = /u/. In order to be able to read, children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling u. They will learn meaningful representation (Gus’ saying “uhhh” after his pup pops his chewing gum bubble), they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a Letterbox lesson , and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence u = /u/.

 

 

 

Materials: Image of little boy, Gus, saying “uhhh” after his pup pops the chewing gum bubble he made; cover-up critter; whiteboard; Elkonin boxes (LBL boxes to count phonemes) for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives (letter tiles) for each child and magnetic letters for teachers: p, o, d, c, k, s, t, m, h, i, a, r; list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: pop (review), rug, pup, run, cup, hat (review), nut, mud, sun; decodable text: Fuzz and Buzz; and assessment worksheet.

 

 

 

Procedures:

 

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 other vowels, like short o (hot), and today we are going to learn about short u and “uh” that is used to make u say its name, /u/. When I say /u/ I think of someone who is upset and says “uhhh” and raises both hands with palms up and moves hands in a manner that shows frustration. Let me tell you a story about a little boy named Gus. Story: There was a little boy named Gus who loved gum! One day he was throwing a ball outside with his pup. He threw the ball and the pup chased it! Gus blew a chewing gum bubble with his mouth. His pup saw the bubble that was shaped just like his ball and the pup jumped up and popped Gus’ bubble. Gus was so upset! He said “Uhhh Pup!” [show the image and be sure to act out the hand gesture when saying “uhhh”].

 

Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /u/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /u/ in words, I hear u say its name /u/ and my mouth is relaxed and my tongue is flat at the bottom of my mouth [Make vocal gesture for /u/]. I’ll show you first: stop. I heard u say its name and I felt my mouth relax and my tongue lay at the bottom of my mouth [point to mouth shape and tongue position.] There is a short u in gum. Now I’m going to see if it’s in mad. Let me think, ummm, nope. I didn’t hear u say its name and my mouth did not relax and my tongue did not lie down. Now you try. If you hear /u/ say, “That is it!” If you don’t hear /u/ say, “Nope, that’s not it.” Is it in cat? Is it in pup? Is it in hat? Is it in run? Is it in hug? [Have children make hand gesture and mouth movement when they hear /u/]

 

Say: Now let’s look at the spelling of /u/  that we’ll learn today. One way to spell /u/ is with the letter u. [Write u on the board.] What if I want to spell the word dug? “My pup dug a hole in the yard!” Dug in this sentence means that the pup made a hole in the grass outside. To spell dug in the letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word, so I stretch it out and count: /d/ /u/ /g/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /u/ just before the /g/ in the 3rd box. The word starts with /d/, this is easy! You got this!; [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /d/ /u/ /g/.]  Now I’m going to model reading a tough word (vowel-first body-coda blending: show brush written on the board). When I see a tough word like this, I am going to find the vowel first (underline u). Here it is! Let’s rewrite it underneath. I know that this letter, u, says /u/. Now let’s add it together with the beginning sound of this word. I see the letter b and the letter r. This one is kind of tricky because these two separate letters work together to make one sound. I know that the letter b says /b/ and the letter r says /r/ so together they say /b//r/. Let’s add it to our vowel now. /b//r/ /u/; /bru/ (slowly), /bru/ (full speed). So we know the first half of our word says /bru/! I see the letters sh (write down underneath with the newly written word). I know that these letters together say /sh/. Now let’s add it to the rest of the word! /b//r/ /u/ /sh/; /brush/ (slowly); /brush/ (full speed). This word says brush! Let’s brush the puppy’s hair! The word brush in this sentence means to untangle the puppy’s hair.

 

Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for the word up. “Look up at the sky to see the clouds” What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers.] What goes in the second box? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room. [Observe progress.] You’ll need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen to the beginning sound that goes in the first box. Then listen for /u/. Here’s the word: mug, I drank hot chocolate out of a mug; mug. [Allow children to spell words.] Now I am going to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: m – u – g and check to see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: run; I went on a run with my mom. [Take a volunteer to spell the word on the board for the class to check their work and do this for the remaining words] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /u/ in it before you spell it: sad;The little girl was sad when her mom said she could not eat dessert before dinner. Did you need a short u? Why not? Right, we are reviewing our short vowel a = /a/ from a few weeks ago with this word, not using u= /u/. We spell it with our short vowel a. [Volunteer spells it on the front board.] Now let’s try 4 phonemes: duck; I saw a cute duck at the pond. One more then we are done with spelling, and this time you need five boxes: truck; My dad drives a truck. Remember to stretch it out!

 

Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read the last tough word. [Display poster with truck on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s an u in the middle of the word; that’s my signal that the vowel will say “uuuhhh”. 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.] /t//r/ = /tr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /u/ = /tru/. Now all I need is the end, /c/ + /k/ = /truck/. Truck; 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.]

 

Say: You’ve done a great job spelling and reading words with our new spelling for u = /u/. Now we are going to read a book called Fuzz and Buzz. This is a story about Fuzz who tries to get some nuts from a tree. Some bees in the tree start to chase Fuzz. Will he get away from the bees? How will he escape? Let’s pair up and take turns reading Fuzz and Buzz to find out if Fuzz can escape the bees. (children pair up and take turns reading alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads Fuzz and Buzz aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss what is happening with the story.)

 

Say: That was a great story. Before we finish up with our lesson about a way to spell /u/ = u, I want to see how you can solve a reading problem. On this worksheet, students will match pictures to their correct u words. Then, they will come up with words on their own that have a short u in them.

 

​References:

Open Wide at the Doctor’s Office https://ast0028.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading

By Anne Scott Turner

Worksheet for assessment: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/free-short-u-worksheets/

Fuzz and Buzz found on canvas page under “Decodable Books”