Kate and Jake Rake

A Beginning Reading Lesson

Anna Laws

 

Rationale: This lesson will teach children about the long vowel correspondence a_e = /A/. 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 a_e. They will learn a meaningful representation (Kate and Jake Rake), they will spell and read words that have this spelling in a Letterbox lesson, and they will read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a_e = /A/.

Materials: graphic image of Kate and Jake Rake; cover-up critter; letterboxes enough for the class; letterbox letters enough for the class: a, t, e, k, p, l, m, n, p; list of spelling words on paper to read: ate, take, plate, tame, male, lane; decodable text: Jane and Babe; assessment worksheet.

 

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 cat, 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 the saying, “Kate and Jake Rake” [show graphic image]. During the fall season, have your parents ever asked you to go outside and rake up all the fallen leaves? Kate and Jake’s parents are making them rake leaves as a chore: “Kate and Jake Rake.” [Make a hand gesture like you are raking leaves.] Now 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 of a word to tell me to say A. 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 signal e.

 

1. Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /A/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /A/ in words, I hear a say its name /A/ and my lips make a big and wide shape like this [Make vocal gesture for /A/]. I’ll show you first: lake. I heard a say its name and I felt my lips make a big, open shape [point to the outside of your lips]. There is a long A in lake. Now I’m going to see if it’s in the word rat. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and my lips didn’t make that big, open shape. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Kate and Jake Rake.” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in cake or candy? Face or head? Match or game? Lane or road? [Have children make a raking motion when they hear /A/ say its name].

 

1. Say: What if I want to spell the word grape? “I had a grape for a snack.” A grape is a purple little fruit that your mom probably really likes you to eat. To spell grape in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /g//r//A//p/. I need 4 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /p/ so I’m going to put an a in the 3rd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /g/, that’s easy; I need an g. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /g//r//A//p/. I think I heard /r/ so I’ll put a r right after the g. I have one empty box now after the a. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /g//r//A/p/. The missing one is /p/.

 

Now I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with stage on the top and model reading the word.] I’m going to start with the a_e; that part says /A/. Now I’m going to put the beginning letters with it: s-t-a_e, /stA/. Now I’ll put that chunk together with the last sound, /stA-g/. Oh, stage, like “I performed the play up on the stage.”

 

1. Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll start out easy with two boxes for ate. For example, “I ate all of the grapes.” 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 e at the end, outside the boxes. Here’s the word: take, “I take my backpack to school everyday.”  [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the piece of paper: t – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with four boxes: plate; “I helped my mom wash the plate.”  [Have a volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front white board for children to check their work.] [Repeat this step for each new word, giving sentences for each: tame, pat, male, lane.]

 

1. Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’m going to model how to use a cover-up critter. First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. Then I see there’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. I’m going to use a cover-up critter to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /p/// = /pl/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /plA/. Now all I need is the end, /n/ = /plAn/. Plane; that’s it. Like I flew on the air plane to see my grandma. [Display poster with ate, take, plate, tame, male, lane, the extra words race and babe, and the pseudoword dade. Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

 

1. Say: You’ve done a great job reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called Jane and Babe. This story is about a big lion who lives at the zoo. His name is Babe. Jane is a zookeeper who takes care of Babe. Let’s pair up and take turns reading Jane and Babe to see all of the fun activities that they do together! [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 Jane and Babe aloud together, and stops between page turns to discuss the plot.]

 

1. Say: Before we finish up with our lesson about one way to spell /A/ = a_e, I want to see how you can solve some reading problems. On this worksheet, there are three pictures of objects. Your job is to pick the one where you hear the /A/ sound and then write that word to the left of the picture using your best handwriting. Remember, we are practicing a_e= /A/. Just try your best and always remember the correspondence we have been working on today. Reread your answers to see if they make sense. [Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.]

 

Resources:

Katie Osborn, Jake Takes Blake and Kate to the Lake: http://keo0015.wixsite.com/miss-katies-lessons/about_us

Phonics Readers. Jane and Babe. Carson, CA. Educational Insights.1990

Assessment worksheet: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Phonics-Printables-Long-Vowel-a_e-Freebie-977739

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