Name: Blending Letter Sounds

Date: November 17, 2010

Grade Level/Subject: 1st/Reading

Prerequisite Knowledge: Prior knowledge about Where Does the Rabbit Hop; prior knowledge of facts
about ants

Approximate Time: 40 minutes

Student Objectives/Student Outcomes: Students will blend word parts to say words. Students will read
words with l-blends.

Illinois State Standards:

As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:

1. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

2. Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
3. Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
a. Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including
consonant blends.
4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Materials/Resources/Technology:
 Large lined paper
 Marker
 Where Does the Rabbit Hop? by Cass Hollander
 The Ant’s Journey by Janie Spaht Gill

Implementation:

Time
10 minutes Opening of lesson:
Ask the students to share what they remember from reading Where Does the
Rabbit Hop? on the previous day. Reread the story.

Tell the students: “We are going to brainstorm a list of words that begin with
different letter blends.”

25 minutes Procedures:
Write the letter l on the board. Tell them that l can blend with other
consonants to make a new sound. Point to the words plant (p. 4), cold (p. 6),
flow (p. 7), blue (p. 10), and place (p. 12) as you read each word. Point to the
two letters in each l-blend, asking children to first make the individual sounds,
and then to blend the letter sounds together. Together, brainstorm and list on
the board other words that begin with pl, fl, or bl.
 Tell the students: “Great job brainstorming different words!” Explain to the
students: “Boys and girls, you will be working on word work activities this
afternoon as I work with one of the reading groups.” Send quiet groups of
students back to their desks. Choose one behaved student from each table
group to get their word work drawer. Call Ethan, Griffin, Ainsley, and Devan
to the back table.

Read aloud the title of the book and the author’s name, and invite children to
examine the cover. Ask: What do you see in the picture? Where does the story
take place? What is the ant doing?

Activate prior knowledge by asking children what they know about ants. Ask:
How big are they? Where do you usually find them? How do they move? Have
children discuss what an ant’s journey might be like. Ask: Where do you think
the ant shown on the cover is going? What do you think it might see? How
might it see things differently than you would?

Point out the word journey on the cover. Explain that another word for
journey is trip, and that a journey is “a long trip,” not a short one. Have
children share their experiences of going on a journey with family members.

Have children read the book. Afterwards, prompt for overall understanding.
Possible prompts include the following:
 What kind of places does the ant journey to in the story?
 What kind of things does the ant find on its journey?

Point out the word ant on page 3. Write ant on the board and circle the letters
nt. Explain that the letters nt at the end of the word are blended together and
stand for the sounds /nt/. Have children say ant and /nt/. Tell children to listen
as you say some words, and raise a finger each time they hear you say a word
that ends with /nt/. Say the words mint, land, rent, pink, tint, hunt, dent, and
help.

If time allows, introduce words with the final blend nd in the same way. Point
out the word end on page 18. Say the words send, mind, fast, wand, wept,
bind, hand, and milk.

Accommodation for special needs:

For students who may have behavioral difficulties, make sure you frequently
engage them in discussion to help refocus their attention.

5 minutes Summary/Closing:
Tell the students: “Great job today guys!” Have them nicely and quietly place
their word work worksheets in their yellow folders. Ask one student from
each table group to share a word that begins with pl, fl, or bl before calling
 students in number order to line up for specials.

Student Assessment:
The primary form of assessment for this lesson will be an ongoing informal
assessment completed by checking for understanding after reading the book
as well as through observation. Also, asking individual students for words
that begin with pl, fl, or bl before they move onto the next activity is another
form of assessment for this lesson.

Post Lesson Reflection:

Student Interest

Student Motivation

Teacher Knowledge

Teacher Organization

Teacher Articulation

Student Understanding

Other