Bud the Caveman Says “Uhhh”
Beginning Reading Lesson Design
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Rationale: In this lesson, students will learn about the short vowel correspondence u=/u/. In order for kids to be successful leaders they need to be able to recognize the spellings of words that map out word pronunciations. In this lesson students well learn to recognize the sound /u/, through a meaningful picture representation (caveman saying uh), spell and read words in a letter box lesson that contain the correspondence u=/u/ and they well practice reading with a decodable book. The goal of the lesson is to help kids read whole texts which will be obtained by practicing identifying, reading and spelling words with the letter U in it.
Materials:
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Image of the caveman with a U
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Plastic letters manipulatives for each student (Letters u,p, f, z, z, b, g, c, m, o, f, s, d, r, n, c, h will be used in the lesson)
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Cover up critters
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Letterboxes for each student
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Overhead projector
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Letters and letterboxes for teacher to model
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Decodable book- Fuzz and Buzz
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Poster board with the words- Up, Tub, fuzz, bug, rim, duck, hunt, dust and crunch
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Assessment worksheet- Bug poem
Procedures:
1. Say: Raise your hand if you think that you would like to become an expert reader. Yay, me too! Now in order to become an expert reader we nee to learn the code for the letter u. We have already learned the code for /a/, /e/, /i/, and /o/. Do you remember that icky sticky I sound? Well today we are going to learn about U. The short u sounds like “uhh” like a confused caveman scratching his head. (Show students the picture of the caveman and present the hand motion) Here is Bud the Caveman saying “uhh” because he is confused. Now can everyone try that with me saying /u/ like Bud.
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2. Say: Let’s test ourselves to see if we can hear the letter u in a couple of words. When we listen for the letter u we need to see if our lips open like we are confused. When you say the letter u your lips open and your tongue lies flat in your mouth. You try making the caveman “Uh” sound. Now I will show you how I can try to /u/ in some words. Let’s look in the word underwear. I start with uuuuuu- oh there it is right in the beginning! Nnn-ddd-eee-rrr-www-eee-aaa-rrr. I heard the u right in the beginning did you hear it. Now let me show you how to do it in another word. Let’s try in crust. Cccc-rrr-uuu- oh there it is! -sss-ttt. I notice that my tongue is lying flat in my mouth.
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3. Say: Now I am going to read a list of words slowly and I want you to raise your hand when you hear a word that has the caveman /u/ in it! Remember we want to listen for the confused caveman (Read drum, hut, pot, sun, mop, fun, day, tub).
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4. Say: Now we are going to take out out letter boxes and get our letters ready. Can you pull out the letters (u,p, f, z, z, b, g, c, m, o, f, s, d, r, n, c, h) so we can begin. Let me show you how to use your boxes. Each box that we set out will have a sound in it. Let me show you on the overhead how I would spell Drum. (Have 4 boxes set out and pile of letter of screen. Dddd--rrr—uuu--mmm. I know that I hear the caveman /u/ sound so I will put it in the 3rd box, the first sound I hear is dddddd. What letter says /d/? That’s right D. The next sound I hear is rrrr, so I put an R. So far I have drrruuuu- and the last letter is mmm.So I put the letter m. The letter m goes in the last letterbox. I know how to spell drum now yay!
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5. Say: Now it’s your turn to show off your spelling skills. Can you set out three boxes? We are going to spell the word BUG. Do you hear the caveman /u/ in BUG? Watch students spell bug and walk around making corrections. If student misspells the word, help them my pronouncing what they spell and saying we want to spell BUG. Continue this process with the words: Cub, fun, stub, dust, puff and crunch.
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6. Say: We can put away our letters and our letter boxes because now we are going to do some reading. We are going to read the words that you just spelled with your letter boxes. Remember that when we see the letter u we know that it makes the /u/ caveman sound. (Here the teacher can model reading TRUST with a coverup critter on the overhead. First cover up everything but the letter U and pronounce the/u/. Now reveal the T, R until you blend to get truuuu- and then reveal the s to get trussss- and then the final t- ttt-rr-uuu-ss-ttt. Trust. Oh the word is trust). Now lets read this list of words together using our coverup critter when we are stuck (Up, Tub, fuzz, bug, rim, duck, hunt, dust and crunch)
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7. Say: We are experts with the letter U now. Congratulations. Now it is time to read a book, Fuzz and the Buzz. Fuzz is a bear who loves exploring. One day he gets into some trouble with some bees and they begin to chase him. Silly Fuzz, let’s read to find out if he gets stung by the bees! Have students work with a partner switching off reading each page. Teacher will walk around the room and monitor reading and help when necessary. After both pairs have read- The teacher will re-read the story to the class pointing out /u/ periodically throughout the story and take breaks between the pages to engage the class with questions and comments.
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8. Say: That silly Fuzz got into trouble with those bees. Now I am going to pass out a worksheet. On it Is a poem about a buggy bump ball. I want you to read the poem and circle the words in the poem that have the caveman /u/ in them. Once you have circled all the word the next page has lines for you to write the words that have you in them. Work on this independently. Teacher will monitor class and check worksheet for understanding.
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Resources:
Book: Cushman, Sheila, and Patti Briles. Fuzz and the Buzz. Dominguez Hills, CA: Educational Insights, 1990. Print.
Assessment: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics/short-u-bugs-poem.pdf?up=1466611200
Lesson Design Adaptation: Brennan, Belle. (2015). Grunt like a caveman with u. http://isabellebrennan.wixsite.com/keylessonsinreading/beginning-reading
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