Mrs. Daniel

Arrr, Ahoy Matey!

Learn /ar/ with Pirate Arlo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Beginning Reading Lesson

By Leslie Daniel

 

 

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the R-controlled vowel correspondence ar = /ar/. In order to successfully decode words, children must learn these vowel correspondences. This lesson will teach children to identify, spell, and read words that include ar. They will learn a symbolization for the correspondence (the pirate says “arrr”), they will complete a letterbox lesson (spelling and reading words using this correspondence), and read a book that will give them practice with ar = /ar/.

 

Materials: Image of a pirate, cover-up critter, whiteboard with Elkonin boxes for modeling, individual Elkonin boxes (6) for each student, magnetic letters for teacher to model, letter tiles for each child: a, c, h, k, m, p, r, s, t, list of words on poster, glue sticks, decodable book: Barb’s Sharp Car, and assessment worksheet.

 

Procedures:

1. Say: If you want to be a great reader, you have to learn how the sounds that make up words so that you can decode them. You already know how to read the short and long vowels, like /a/ in tap and /A/ in tape, so today we are going to learn about the “bossy r” and his friend, short a- together they say “arrrr.” When I say /ar/, I think of a pirate saying, “arrrr, ahoy matey!” [show the picture of the pirate].

 

2. Say: The first thing I want us to do is listen to some words and see if we hear /ar/. We just want to listen to see if we can hear the pirate growling “arrrr” in the words. Let me show you: bark. I heard the pirate growl “arrr” in bark, so ar is in bark. Now, I will check the word shack to see if I hear the pirate growling “arrr.” Ssshhhaaaaaccckkk. No, I didn’t hear the pirate in shack. Now it’s your turn. If you hear /ar/ make a little pirate hook with your fingers [mimic the gesture for the students] and say “ahoy!” If you don’t hear /ar/ say, “Not today, matey!” Do you hear /ar/ in farm, tack, cane, barn, mark, cross? Now, repeat this after me: “Arnold and Artie are in the dark barn.” When you hear the /arrr/, show me your pirate hook. “Arrrr-nold and Arrrr-tie arrre in the d-arrrr-k b-arrrr-n.”

 

3. Say: Now, we are going to look at the spelling of /ar/ that we will learn today. You spell /ar/ with the letters a and r. We are going to learn a song about “bossy r” and his friend, short a, so that you can remember how to spell /ar/.

 

Song: “When a vowel is followed by an R,

            When a vowel is followed by an R,

            Bossy R turns around

            Just to change the vowel sound

            When a vowel is followed by an R.

            When an A is followed by an R,

            When an A is followed by an R,

            Bossy R turns around and it

            Makes a pirate sound.

            A and R together say “ARRRR.”

 

4. Say: Now that you know the song, let’s apply what we learned to spell some words. What if I wanted to spell ? “The firework shot a spark out at me.” In this sentence, a is a burning piece of firework. To spell in letterboxes, I have to first know how many phonemes are in the word. To figure this out, I will stretch out the word and count how many different sounds there are: /s/ /p/ /ar/ /k/. So, I need four boxes to spell . I can hear the pirate growling right there in the middle /arrr/, so I know that I need to put an and an in the third box. The very first sound I hear is /s/; says /s/ so I’m going to put an in the first box. Let’s listen for the next sound; /ssss/ /ppppp/. The next sound that I hear is /p/, so that means I need a in the second box. Next comes my /arrrr/. What do we have so far? /sssss/ /ppppp/ /arrrr/ /k/. I hear /k/. says /k/, so we need a k in the last box.​

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5. Say: I want you to spell some words in letterboxes now. We will start out easy with car; you only need two boxes for that. A car is something that you drive around, “My mom drove her car to the store.” What should go in the fist box? [Respond to student’s answers]. What goes in the second box? I’m going to check your work as I walk around the classroom. [Walk around to observe students.] Okay, for the next word we need to add another box so that you have three. Listen for the sound that starts the word so that you’ll know what letter to put in the first box. Then find the /ar/. Are you ready? The word is star -- I saw a sparkling star up in the sky; star. [Give students a chance to spell the word.] Okay, now let’s check your work. I’m going to spell it in my letterboxes on the board: s – t – a – r and see if you spelled it the same way. Let’s try another one that uses three boxes: harm, You can harm animals if you throw your trash on the ground. [Get a volunteer to spell it in the letterboxes on the board and allow the students to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Listen to the next word to see where you hear the /ar/ sound. Here’s the next word: scar, I have a scar on my knee. Did you find the /ar/? [Let a volunteer spell it on the board.] Did anybody get confused on the c? Maybe you put a k instead? In this word, we use a c to make the /k/ sound. Why don’t we try 4 phonemes now? Spell charm for me, A four leaf clover is considered to be a lucky charm. Now, let’s try one more word and then we will move on. The last word is stark, There is a stark difference between dogs and cats. Stark means harsh, blunt, or strong. [Check progress and have student model on the model].

 

6. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words that you have spelled. I will show you how to read a tough word first. [Display the word list poster and point to spark at the top]. [Cover up the vowel correspondence]. First, I can see my short a followed by the bossy r, so I know that there will be a growling pirate in the middle of the word “arrr.” I will use a coverup critter to figure out the first part of the word. [Cover the remainder of the word and show the beginning letters]. /ssss/ /p/ = /s/ /p/. Now, I will blend those sounds with our /ar/. /s/ /p/ /ar/ = /spar/. There’s one sound on the end of the word, /k/. /spar/ + /k/= /spark/. Spark. My word is spark! Now, it’s your turn. I want you to read the words together first. [Have the children read the words together and then call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

 

7. Say: You all have worked so hard! You did great learning these new words for ar = /ar/. Now, we are going to read a fun story called Barb’s Sharp Car. Have you ever gotten something new that you really, really loved? [Give kids a second to answer and then bring attention back to the book]. Barb got a new blue car that she loved very, very much. Other people liked to look at Barb’s car too. Barb loved her car so much that she got the army to watch her car. One day, Barb decided that she wanted to take her car for a verrrrry long drive. She mapped out her plan and got her things ready to leave in the morning. What all do you think Barb will see while she drives? Let’s read to find out where she goes! [Children will split up into pairs and alternate reading the pages to each other while the teacher walks around to monitor the progress. After individual paired reading, the class will reread Barb’s Sharp Car aloud together. We will stop between page turns to discuss the plot.]

 

8. Say: That was a good story! Barb sure does love her new blue car. Before we finish up our lesson on ar = /ar/, I want to see if you can read some words good enough to match them with their pictures. On this worksheet, there are words for you to read. First, try reading all of the words and then go back and read them one by one. Once you have read the word, you will find the picture that goes with that word and glue it into the box. Check your answers before you glue the picture down to make sure you have the right picture in the box. [Collect worksheets to evaluate each student’s progress.]

 

 

 

​References:

Braun, Hannah. “Bossy R Song”:

https://www.theclassroomkey.com/2016/08/bossy-r-video.html

 

Knight, Katie. Barb’s Sharp Car: https://www.readinga-z.com/book.php?id=1116

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