#1 AUTHOR

By: Lisa Garner Jolly (administrator@alex.state.al.us)

Alabama Learning Exchange, Alabama

Website-

http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=13192

#2 TITLE   

Let’s Learn About Vowels

#3 GRADE LEVEL AND MICHIGAN CURRICULM FRAMEWORK (MCF)

Language Arts, Elementary

This lesson is specifically designed for kindergarten to first grade

MCF BENCHMARKS:

Strand One:  Reading: Word Recognition and Word Study

Phonemic Awareness

R.WS.00.01 Demonstrates phonemic awareness by the wide range of sound manipulation competencies including sound blending and deletion.

R.WS.00.02 Recognizes that words are composed of sounds blended together and carry meaning.

Phonics

R.WS.00.03 Understand the alphabetic principle, that sounds in words are expressed by the letters of the alphabet.

Reading Attitude

R.AT.00.01 Become enthusiastic about reading and learning how to read.

Strand Two: Writing

Spelling

W.SP.00.01 In the context of writing, correctly spell a small number (about 18) of
frequently encountered and personally meaningful words.

Strand Four: Listening and Viewing

Conventions

L.CN.00.01 Understand and follow one- and two-step directions.

#4 RATIONALE

While long and short vowels are not difficult to teach or learn, they often times present difficulties for those students who struggle with letter recognition and sound manipulation. Incompetencies with sound blending and deletion may result in the inability to read, write and speak. ” Let’s Learn about Vowels” is designed to help students master these sometimes difficult tasks.  After completing this lesson, students will become one step closer to perfected speech, writing and reading skills. This will allow them to continue their education with self confidence and gain an understanding about of the importance of speech throughout their life.

  With this lesson, I hope to accomplish my goal of helping students overcome obstacles and master new skills while modeling the importance of never giving up.  Though my lesson plan includes only one finished product, students are provided with the opportunity to gain experience by using the various types of games, videos, and practice guides included in the lesson. I believe that my lesson plan on vowels will encourage high order level thinking skills while appropriately challenging and stimulating their young minds.

#5 PREREQUISITE SKILLS

The skills that students need to be actively involved in “Lets Learn about Vowels” lesson include:

Letter recognition

 (Some or all letters of the alphabet)

Introduction to vowels

               Sound manipulation-blending and deletio

(Does NOT have to be a mastered skill)

Basic skills to operate a computer

    (Turning the computer on and off, accessing the internet, Microsoft word, Clipart)

    Some knowledge regarding the make up of words

(Sounds)

                                       Ability to read and write

                                             (Per GLCE’s)

                                      Listening Skills

                                       Drawing Skills

                                        Printing Skills

                               #6 ANTICIPATORY SET (FOCUS

            While students are entering the classroom on the day that the lesson on vowels is to occur, the teacher will be singing "A, E, I, O, U" to the tune of "BINGO." Teachers should feel free to borrow additional instruments from the music instructor to enhance the song. As students are putting away their belongings, the teacher should walk around the classroom and encourage the students to sing along! Once everyone is seated, tell the class they will be learning about long and short vowels today but first they are going to practice writing them. Distribute the "Practice Vowels" worksheet and have students begin to practice their printing skills. By using this worksheet, students will be more apt to remember their vowels because they are printing them repetitively. (Worksheet following this page)

                                   PRACTICE VOWELS WORKSHEET

(From Anticipatory Set)

 Name: ___________________________          

Date: _____________________________

Directions: Practice printing each vowel five times on the lines provided below.

     ____________________________________________________________

A      - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

            ____________________________________________________________

                                   ___________________________________________________________________________________

a            - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

                 __________________________________________________________________________________

     _____________________________________________________________

E          - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

                  _________________________________________________________________________________

                                               __________________________________________________________________________________

e               - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  - -

                  _________________________________________________________________________________

             _____________________________________________________________

I           - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

              __________________________________________________________________________

     _____________________________________________________________

i           - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

              __________________________________________________________________________

            _____________________________________________________________

O     - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

              __________________________________________________________________________

            _____________________________________________________________

o       - - - -  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

              __________________________________________________________________________

                        _____________________________________________________________

U      - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

              __________________________________________________________________________

            _____________________________________________________________

u         - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

              __________________________________________________________________________

#7 LESSON PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

PURPOSE

            The purpose of this lesson is for students to learn their vowels, including      sound manipulation, deletion, and letter recognition.

GOALS

• Students will be able to identify the five (5) vowels: A, E, I, O, U

• Students will be able to recognize vowels in various words and be able to manipulate long and short vowel sounds

OBJECTIVES

• Given a computer with word processing and clipart software, the learner will be able to locate three pictures in clipart in which the word of each object contains one of the vowel sounds. This should be done for EACH individual long and short vowel sound with 25 (pictures) out of 30 (pictures) accuracy.

• Given various art supplies, students will create a vowel book using their clipart pictures and supporting words. The vowels should be placed in alphabetical order with 100% accuracy while the clipart pictures and supporting words match the vowel sound with 83% accuracy.

 #8 INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT

            In order for students to be successful, the teacher must do their share of importing information to the students. Teachers will need to review and or possibly teach the concept. Vowels are defined as A, E, I, O, U, they can be long or short.  Vowels are speech sounds that exist in the English language and make up the central part of a syllable. Vowels are produced when air from the lungs passes through the mouth with minimal obstruction and without audible friction. Each vowel produces a different sound as it travels through the mouth (answers.com).

            It is important for the teacher to demonstrate each vowel sound several of times so that the students can learn how to produce each sound.  Presenting the video clips within this lesson will also help the students manipulate long and short vowel sounds. While discussing vowels, the teacher should briefly touch base on consonants and syllables. However, one should not get too involved with those concepts as they may become confusing for other students. Simply discuss that consonants include every letter in the alphabet EXCEPT for the five vowels and that syllables are units of language that consist of one or more sounds.

            Along with reviewing and or teaching the concept, teachers should also be prepared to review basic computer skills depending on how advanced their students are with technology. There is also a possibility that not all of the students will be able to print clearly.  As a result, students may not be able to complete the "Practice Vowels" worksheet to the best of their ability, interfering with their opportunity to gain the knowledge and experience that this lesson plan has to offer. I recommend doing this lesson after the teacher has an understanding of where each student stands.

#9 MODELING (SHOW ME)

            "Class, after the lesson on vowels, you will create your very own vowel book. Using Microsoft Word and Clipart, each of you will find three pictures of various objects that contains one vowel sound in the name of that object. This is to be done for each long and short vowel sound.  As a result you will have 3 pictures that contain the long "A" sound, 3 pictures that contain the short "a" sound, 3 pictures that contain the long "E" sound, 3 pictures that contain the short "e" sound", etc.

"For example, let's look at my vowel book…"

Long A:     Sail                    Short a:     Apple

Long E:   Bee                   Short e:       Bed

Long I:    Nine                    Short i:    Igloo

Long O:   Bone                    Short o:   Lock

Long U:         Glue                   Short u:      Puck

#10 CHECKING FOR UNDERSTANDING (CFU)

In order to discover if students understand the concept of vowels, it is important for teachers to carry through with guided group practices.  The teacher should place approximately ten words of his or her choice on the board that demonstrate various vowel sounds. Ask or elect student volunteers to go up to the board and circle all of the vowels in each word. After the student has circled the vowel or vowels, the remainder of the class will demonstrate that particular sound.

While the class is manipulating the vowel sounds, teachers should ask stimulating questions such as “is this a long or short vowel sound? How would the word sound if you did the opposite version of that vowel (short or long)? How would a word sound if the vowel was accidently deleted during pronunciation etc?”  This is to be done for each word written on the board and then repeated with new words that contain the opposite form of vowel sounds (if the first set of words were short vowel sounds, then the second set will have long vowel sounds). The teacher can use the same questions as before for the second round of words.

As a result, students are repetitively learning both long and short vowel sounds for each word that was placed on the board (warning: you may have a student that will catch on to my trick of continuously asking the opposite form of the same question, just smile and wink). This activity can be repeated as many as times until the teacher feels confident that the students understand the concept.

            Another way to check for understanding is by assessing each student’s vowel book for accuracy (per rubric) and or by asking questions while they present their books.  For an example, I would ask “can you make up a sentence that involves one of the words in your book and pronounce it with the opposite vowel sound to see if your classmates can guess your object?”  Asking each student this question will allow the teacher to determine if the student is capable of manipulating different sounds (regardless if the “new” word makes sense or not) and if the class is capable of determining the correct vowel sound by using the context clues from the sentence.

# 11 GUIDED PRACTICE (FOLLOW ME)

“How many of you know what vowels are? Who thinks they can tell me? Today, we are going to learn about vowels and create our very own vowel book! Let’s begin with the basics. There are five main vowels in the alphabet, A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y, however, we will not be focusing on that today. Today, and over the course of the week,  we are going to practice manipulating out vowel sounds, view interactive PowerPoint’s, watch video clips, play interactive games, and get messy creating our own book!! Be sure to get creative with your book because we will be presenting them and we’ll even try to trick our friends!”

“First I will demonstrate the five vowel sounds, long and short and then we can play money see monkey do! Can you guys repeat after me…? (Teacher demonstrates vowel sounds, long and short). Very good, now let’s go to the board. Who can provide me with their favorite object? Great! Let’s write this down. Now watch as I identify the vowel sound, circle it, and then pronounce it (repeat several of times). Let’s take a look at my vowel book (included in lesson plan under modeling). Listen to my voice while I demonstrate these sounds and watch my finger as I point to them. Good job, now let’s do it together!”

#12 CLOSURE

            For the closing of “Let’s Learn about Vowels,” students will present their vowel books to their classmates and teacher while manipulating all vowel sounds in each picture. This activity will allow the teacher to see what his or her students learned or did not learn throughout the lesson on vowels. After all of the student presentations, the teacher will review all of the vowel sounds again and then encourage his or her class to sing “A, E, I, O, U” to the tune of “BINGO” one more time!

 #13 INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

For independent practice, each student will be given class time (or lab time) to visit the following websites to practice their vowel sounds. Each website is equipped with games and activities that allow students to interactively participate and identify various vowel sounds.

•         http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/play.htm?f  (*) 

•         http://languageartsgames.4you4free.com/vowels_consonants.html (*)

•         http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/Readquarium/Phonics_and_Phonemes/Short_Vowels 

•         http:// languagearts.pppst.com/vowels. html  

(*)=teacher evaluated website

#14 TECHNOLOGY

Software/Hardware needed to complete this lesson:

•         Computers equipped with internet access

•         Microsoft Word (2003 or 2007 version)

•         Microsoft Clip Art

•         Multimedia Software

•         PowerPoint Viewer

Students can visit the following websites to practice their vowel sounds. Each site is equipped with various types of games, video clips, and other interactive activities. Enjoy!

•         http://www.starfall.com/n/level-a/learn-to-read/play.htm?f  (*)

•         http://languageartsgames.4you4free.com/vowels_consonants.html (*)

•         http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/Readquarium/Phonics_and_Phonemes/Short_Vowels   

•         http:// languagearts.pppst.com/vowels. html  

The following websites need to be visited in order to complete this lesson: 

•         http://jb054.k12.sd.us/ppt/Short%20Vowels.ppt#258,1,Slide

•         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPK0osuBq5g&feature=PlayList&p=D1DDFC8D6A59D476&index=3

•         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YZC2MsS0VY

The main type of technology needed for this lesson plan is a computer with internet access and Microsoft Word /Clipart. The purpose of having the internet inter-twined into the lesson on vowels will allow each student to practice individually, view interactive PowerPoint’s, and watch brief video clips. I believe by having the students take part in various hands on learning activities in which they are able to control their rate of learning, will enhance the lesson and help maintain their interest.  Throughout the course of the lesson, students will have access to computers located in the school’s computer lab (two one hour sessions) as well as the teacher’s classroom.

      By doing this lesson, not only will students learn about vowels, but they will also gain knowledge in computer operations. I believe that student’s will learn how to maneuver around various websites (teacher approved) without being taken to another site, learn the skills that may be required to play games (i.e. holding the shift and control key to move an object), keyboard skills, as well as basic functions of the computer; signing on and off, booting, restarting, and shutting off the computer and etc.

      Since the technology I chose to incorporate into this lesson is basic (simple), no additional resources are needed other than the teacher. The teacher must be ready and willing to help those students who do not have much computer experience. Such help and or questions will be demonstrated by the teacher on an individual basis and need.  However, if the teacher is lacking computer and or software knowledge, they will need to read and review all software manuals.

#15

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

Below are the items that will be needed in order to complete this lesson

•         Computer with internet access (used to view video clips, PowerPoint’s, games)

•          Microsoft Word (2003 or 2007 version) (used to generate vowel book)

•         Microsoft Clip Art  (used to generate vowel book)

•         Multimedia Software (used to view interactive games and websites)

•         PowerPoint Viewer (used to view PowerPoint)

•         Various art supplies

•         Practice Vowel Worksheet (attached under #6 of this lesson)

•         Video Clips (live on YouTube)

•         PowerPoint Presentations (http:// languagearts.pppst.com/vowels. html)

•         Teacher made vowel book (located under # 9 of this lesson)

#16 TIME FRAME

            The approximate time needed to complete the actual lesson on vowels is one day, however, teachers should allow one week for the entire course of the lesson so that students can get the full effect and take their time producing their vowel book, presenting, and exploring the websites that provides various types of practice games.

 # 17 ACTIVITES AND PROCEDURES

1. Teacher encourages her students to join him/her on the carpet by singing "AEIOU" to the tune of "BINGO". Students should preferably sit by or near a computer and or projector.

 2. Teacher will introduce long and short vowels to students by explaining what vowels are (a, e, i, o,u) and by demonstrating the sounds they make. Teacher will also help the students identify the differences between long and short vowel sounds.

 3. After the class discussion, the teacher will show internet clips and PowerPoint presentations that demonstrate long and short vowel sounds.

 4. After the internet clips and PowerPoint presentations, the teacher will have students verbally practice long and short vowel sounds by demonstrating the sound first and then having the students repeat and identify the vowel sound he or she made.

 5. Once the teacher feels comfortable that the class understands and demonstrates long and short vowel sounds accurately, he or she will place ten words (teacher choice) on the board and have volunteers come to the board and circle all of the vowels in the word. The rest of the class will then demonstrate the sound of the vowels circled.

 6. After practicing vowel sounds, the class will go to the computer lab. Computers must be equipped with Microsoft Word Processor.

 7. Each student will create a vowel book using clip art.

 8. Students are to find three pictures on clipart for EACH long and short vowel sound and paste them on a word document.

 9. After each student has found their pictures and pasted them on a word document (each vowel sound will have its own page with the three pictures of their choice) they will type the name of their object and identify the vowels in the word by highlighting them in a different color.

 10. When finished, students will print their pages and put their vowel book together using various art supplies of their choice.

 11. Throughout the week, each student will present their vowel book to the class. On the last day of presentations, provide students with the opportunity to visit various websites (teacher approved, examples included at the end of this lesson) where they can practice long and short vowel sounds by playing fun games!

Formative Assessment: This lesson plan will be assessed by reviewing the finished product; vowel book. See attached rubric.

Summative Assessment: This lesson plan is assessed in the beginning of the lesson when the teacher surveys his or her class to see if they are able to identify the five vowels, their sounds and whether or not they can manipulate each sound correctly.

#18 PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

            “Let’s Learn About Vowels” will be assessed by using the following rubric:

*I will know that my instruction was successful if the students seemed to be engaged in the topic and weren’t consumed by other distractions (i.e. Friends, talking, sleeping). I will know if my designed lesson plan objectives were met by evaluating their vowel books and presentations per the above rubric.

 #19 FOLLOW- UP/EXTENSION ACTIVITY

            As a follow up to “Let’s Learn about Vowels” teachers can have his or her students go on a scavenger hunt and locate vowel containing words within their immediate environment. Once the student has located a fair amount of vowels, they can prepare a poem about the locations they discovered their vowel containing words in. The “extension” comes in when students are expected to locate other vowel sounds such as “ou” “ea” “ie.” etc.

 # 21 References

 Briggs, Dick. “Long Vowel Sounds.” YouTube. 23 Oct. 2006.  9 June 2009

                <https://www.youtube.com/‌watch?v=5YZC2MsS0VY>.

Dell, Diana. Game Quarium. 23 Apr. 2002.  10 June 2009

<http://www.gamequarium.org/‌dir/‌Readquarium/‌Phonics_and_Phonemes/‌Short_Vowels/‌

Jolly, Lisa Garner. “Long and Short Vowel Sounds.” Alabama Learning Exchange. 9 June 2009 

http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=13192       

LearningUpgrade.com. “Literacy Skills.”YouTube.24Oct.2006.  10 June 2009 <https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wPK0osuBq5g&feature=PlayList&p=D1DDFC8D6A59D476&index=3>.

Michigan Department of Education. “Benchmarks/‌GLCEs.” Michigan.Gov. 9 June 2009 <http://www.michigan.gov/‌documents/‌K_ELA Intro_Ltrweb_135221_7.pdf>.

MrDonn.Org.“Vowels and Consonants.” Language Arts.10 June 2009 <http://languagearts.pppst.com/‌vowels.html>.

Starfall Education. “Learn to Read.” Starfall. 2007.  9 June 2009

<http://www.starfall.com/‌n/‌level-a/‌learn-to-read/‌play.htm?f>.