Auburn University
Oliver the Yawning Octopus
Beginning Reading Lesson
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Rationale: This lesson teaches full alphabetic sequential children about the short vowel correspondence o=/o/. In order to read, children must be able to recognize and decode spellings that map word pronunciations. In this lesson, the students will learn to read and spell words containing the letter o, which creates the phoneme /o/. In order to discover the phoneme /o/, they will learn a meaningful representation (yawning) and a tickler tale (Oliver the yawning octopus offered his friend olives). They will be able to spell words in a Letterbox lesson and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence o=/o/.
Materials:
Sound analogy picture (optional)
Letterboxes
Letter tiles (b, c, e, g, h, l, n, o, p, s, t)
Projector or board and markers/chalk
Coverup critters
“Doc in the Fog” books
Assessment worksheet
Procedures:
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“Today we are going to learn a new sound. We have already learned a=/a/, e=/e/, and i=/i/. The new sound is /o/. It sounds like someone is yawning.” Show sound analogy picture (optional). Model it by making a yawning hand gesture of moving hand to mouth while making sound. “Everybody say /o/ and pretend you are yawning. Good. We are going to learn how to read and spell words with the /o/ sound. This sound is made with the letter o.”
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“First, we have to be able to hear the /o/ sound. When I hear the /o/ sound, my mouth is opened in a big circle and I am making the yawning sound. Let me show you. I am going to say the word dog-doooooog. Do you hear my yawning sound? So there is a short o in dog. Now let me see if it is in the word dad. /d/ /a/ /d/. I didn’t hear a yawn. Did you? So, there is no short o in the word dad. Let’s learn a short tickler tale. ‘There was an octopus named Oliver. Oliver had a jar of olives. He was very tired, and couldn’t stop yawning. He was too tired to eat his olives. So, he offered them to his friend. Oliver the yawning octopus offered his friend olives.’ Say it with me, and whenever you hear the /o/ sound, do your yawning movement. ‘Ooooooliver the yawwwwwning oooooooctopus oooooooffered him oooooolives.’ Great job!”
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“Now let’s look how to spell the /o/ sound. That is spelled with the letter o. You write an o as a little circle.” Write letter o on board. “Take out your letterboxes please. Let’s say that I want to spell the word log. There is a bird sitting on the log. Let’s sound it out- /l/ /o/ /g/. I hear three sounds, so I am going to need three boxes. The first sound is /l/. That is the letter l. The next sound is /o/. That is our new sound, the letter o. Now I have /g/. That is spelled with a g. So, l-o-g spells log.” Put letters in box with projector as you are explaining this. If you do not have a projector, you can draw the boxes and letters on the board.
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“Now I am going to have you spell some words in your letterboxes. We will start out with two boxes. The first word is on. Now everybody, try to spell that in your letterboxes.” Give students time to spell it. Then model for students. “Our first sound is /o/. That sounds like a yawn, so it must be an o. Next, I hear /n/, which is spelled with the letter n. Good job everybody. Our next word will need three boxes. The word is cot. I do not have a bed, so I am going to sleep on a cot.” Give students time to spell. You can walk around to check their answers. “Now I will show you how to spell it. /c/ is spelled with a c in this case. Now /o/. That is our new sound, so we will spell it with an o. Last, I hear the /t/. That is spelled with a t. Next is the word wig. The woman is wearing a wig.” Allow students to try this one on their own, and then call for a volunteer to come to the board. “Now try to spell the word shop.” Give students a chance to do this one on their own then take a volunteer again. “This work was tricky because of the /sh/ sound. Now let’s do four letterboxes. Our next word is best. I will take a volunteer again.” Give students time to spell word and then choose volunteer. “This word does not have an o because we do not make the yawning sound. Our last word is plot. There is a plot of land for sell.” Give students chance to spell it, and then take volunteer. Again, help them through the problem if they get it wrong.
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“Now we are going to read the words we have spelled. Let me show you how to read an example. I’ll read the word cot. First, I see a c. That makes the /k/ sound.” Use coverup critter as you are sounding out each phoneme. “Then, I see an o. That is our new letter, so it wounds like a yawn. So we have /k/ /o/. That says /ko/. Next I see the letter t, which says /t/. So I have /ko/ and /t/. Let me blend that. /kot/. Oh, that spells the word cot. Let’s all try reading these words.” Have students read list of words out one at a time until every student has attempted one word. Include psuedowords in the list, such as zock, blop, bost, etc.
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“I think you all are getting the hang of it. Let’s try reading a book for o=/o/. We are going to read a story called “Doc in the Fog.” Doc is a wizard who can touch things and make them something else. He can touch a mop, and it becomes a doll. But what happens if he touches something he is not supposed to touch? We will have to read to find out. We are going to get in groups to read the book. Everyone get in groups of two and take turns reading pages.” Walk around and monitor the students as they are reading their pages.
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“Wasn’t that a good story?” Does anybody want to tell me what it was about?” Allow students to summarize what happened. “Now I am going to see how well you can read words with the /o/ sound.” Call students up and give them their assessment.
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Assessment: Choose 10 words off of this list of short /o/ words. Have the student read those 3 words.
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Resources:
Sound Analogy Picture:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/phonlet.html
Book:
Cushman, S. (1990). Doc in the Fog. Carson, California: Educational Insights
Assessment:https: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_E0fDKYLQKAcVh6d0RYTTdjOEU/view
Other useful lesson: https://hed0022.wixsite.com/haleydellaccio/beginning-reading
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