top of page
We Are Baking a Cake! 
​
 Breanna Jackson
Cake.gif

Rationale: 

 

This lesson teaches 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, they will spell and read words containing this spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence a_e = /A/.

Materials: 

Graphic image of a birthday cake; cover-up critter; whiteboard or smartboard Elkonin boxes for modeling and individual Elkonin boxes for each student; letter manipulatives for each child and magnetic or smartboard letters for teacher: a, b, c,e,k,l,p,s,t,o,v. list of spelling words on poster or whiteboard to read: bat, vase, sale, cap, pot, cake, cape; decodable text: The Race for Cake and assessment worksheet.

 

Procedures:

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 bat, 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 baking a cake. Do you like to bake desserts? Let’s bake a cake!

2.    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 little shape like I am slightly smiling. [Make vocal gesture for /A/.] I’ll show you first: bake. I heard a say its name and I felt my lips make a little smile. There is a long A in bake. Now I’m going to see if it’s in look. Hmm, I didn’t hear a say its name and my lips didn’t make that slight smile. Now you try. If you hear /A/ say, “Yay!.” If you don’t hear /A/ say, “That’s not it.” Is it in lake, page, cane, or safe? 

3.    Say: 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 end of the word to tell me to say A’s name. [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 silent e signal. What if I want to spell the word name? “What is your name? Each of you have a first and last name. To spell name in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /n//A//m/. I need 3 boxes. I heard that /A/ just before the /m/ so I’m going to put an a in the 2nd box and the silent e signal outside the last box. The word starts with /n/, that’s easy; I need an n. Now it gets a little tricky so I’m going to say it slowly, /n/ /A/ /m/. I think I heard /a/ so I’ll put an a right after the n. I have one empty box now. [Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /n/ /a/ /m/.] The missing one is /m/ = m.

4.    Say: Now I’m going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. You’ll need three letterboxes for the first 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: wake, I had to wake up early this morning.; wake. What should go in the first box? [Respond to children’s answers.] What about the second box? Did you remember silent e? [Allow children to spell words.] Time to check your work. Watch how I spell it in my letterboxes on the board: w – a – k – e and see if you’ve spelled it the same way. Try another with three boxes: fame; That celebrity has a lot of fame. [Have volunteer spell it in the letterbox on the front board for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word.] Next word. Listen to see if this word has /A/ in it before you spell it: cat; There is a cat outside. Did you hear a silent e? Why not? Right, because we do not hear a say its name. We spell it with our short vowel a. Now let’s try 4 phonemes: crate; The dog was in a crate. One more then we’re done with spelling,and this time you will need five boxes; scrape; We had to scrape gum off his shoe. Remember to stretch it out to get this word.

5.    Say: Now I am going to let you read the words you’ve spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. [Display poster with trade on the top and model reading the word.] First, I see there’s a silent e on the end; that’s my signal that the vowel will say its name. There’s the vowel a. It must say /A/. I’m going to use a cover-up to get the first part. [Uncover and blend sequentially before the vowel, then blend with the vowel.] /t/ + /r/ = /tr/. Now I’m going to blend that with /A/ = /trA/. Now all I need is the end, /d/ = /trAd/. Trade; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. [Have children read words in unison. Afterwards, call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn.]

6.    Say: You’ve done a great job and reading words with our new spelling for /A/: a_e. Now we are going to read a book called The Race for Cake. This story is about  Ben and Jess. They were swimming when they smelled their mom baking a cake! They ran with their dog Lad, to get the cake. However, along the way, something unexpected happens.  Will they still be able to eat the cake? We must read to find out. Let’s pair up and read this book. [Students get in pairs to read book. I will walk around and observe the students. After individual paired reading, the class rereads The Race for Cake aloud together, and stop between pages to discuss the plot].

7.    Say: That was a fun story. They must have been sad they could not get any cake, but I am sure Lad is very happy. Before we finish our lesson, I want to hand out a worksheet. There is a word box that you will use to finish the sentences using long A words.  [Gather worksheets for assessment and student progress.]

 

References: 

Murray, G. (2006) The Race for Cake. Reading Genie.

https://www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Murray/e/B07VH5LHWG?ref_=pe_1724030_132998060

Murray, G. Oh, I Didn’t Know. https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1237469/files?preview=156025907

Assessment worksheet https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-silent-e/missing-letters-silent-e.pdf?up=1466611200

​

Click here to return to the Developments index. 

bottom of page