Daily Lesson Plan -- Lesson 11

Vowels (a, e)

Subject: English | Class: Nursery | Series: Leeds

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Overview

This lesson introduces the vowels "a" and "e". On page 13 learners meet the talking letters "a" and "e", who say: "Hi! I am a vowel. I produce two sounds -- short sound and long sound." Learners blend three sounds to make short-vowel words such as c + a + t = cat and m + e + n = men. On page 14 (Phonic Drill) they hear and say short and long "a" and "e" words. All work is oral: the teacher says the sounds, the learners blend and repeat. Learners are not expected to read the words on their own.

Learning Outcomes

• Know that "a" and "e" are vowels
• Say the short sound of "a" (as in cat) and of "e" (as in hen)
• Blend three sounds to say a short-vowel word, for example c + a + t = cat
• Hear the difference between a short sound and a long sound

Key Vocabulary

• Short "a": cat, bag, fan, hat, can, jam, van
• Short "e": men, net, wet, web, pen, red, hen
• Phonic Drill, short "a": cat, rat, bat, hat, mat, bad, mad, lad, sad, pad
• Phonic Drill, long "a": bake, cake, make, fake, name, same, fame, tame, came
• Phonic Drill, short "e": led, red, wed, fed, beg, peg, keg, leg, den, hen
• Phonic Drill, long "e": pea, sea, flea, tea, peel, reel, feel, free

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Day 1: Vowel "a" (30 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 13 (top half)
• Letter cards: c, a, t, b, g, f, n, h, j, m, v

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Point to the yellow "A" on page 13 and read its speech bubble aloud: "Hi! I am 'a'. I am a vowel. I produce two sounds -- short sound and long sound."
• Say the short sound /a/ with an open mouth. Learners copy you three times

Blend the Sounds (15 minutes)

• Read the heading: "Short 'a' vowel sounds are:"
• Hold up three letter cards for c, a, t. Say each sound slowly: /c/ ... /a/ ... /t/, then push the cards together and say "cat"
• Learners say the three sounds with you, then the whole word
• Work through every row on the page in the same way:
  • c + a + t = cat
  • b + a + g = bag
  • f + a + n = fan
  • h + a + t = hat
  • c + a + n = can
  • j + a + m = jam
  • v + a + n = van
• After each word, learners point to its picture on the page

Robot Talk (7 minutes)

• Say a word in a slow robot voice: "/h/ ... /a/ ... /t/"
• Learners blend it and shout the word: "hat!"
• Use only words from the page: cat, bag, fan, hat, can, jam, van

Wrap-Up (3 minutes)

• Ask: "Which sound is in the middle of cat, bag and fan?" Learners say /a/
• Say together: "a is a vowel"

Differentiation

• Support: Blend only the first three words (cat, bag, fan) and point to the pictures together
• Extension: Let confident learners be the robot and say the three sounds for the class to blend

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Day 2: Vowel "e" (30 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 13 (bottom half)
• Letter cards: m, e, n, t, w, b, p, r, d, h

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Revise yesterday: robot-talk "c ... a ... t" and "v ... a ... n"
• Point to the "E" on page 13 and read its speech bubble aloud: "Hi! I am 'e'. I am a vowel. I produce two sounds -- short sound and long sound."
• Say the short sound /e/. Learners copy you three times

Blend the Sounds (15 minutes)

• Read the heading: "Short 'e' vowel sounds are:"
• Blend each row with letter cards, slowly, then together:
  • m + e + n = men
  • n + e + t = net
  • w + e + t = wet
  • w + e + b = web
  • p + e + n = pen
  • r + e + d = red
  • h + e + n = hen
• Use the words themselves, not the pictures, to check meaning: "Show me something red." "Where is a pen?"

Teacher Note (5 minutes)

• Share the book's Teacher Note in simple words: "Generally, three-letter words have a short vowel sound."
• Say pairs of words from both rows (cat, men; hat, hen) and let learners hear the short /a/ and short /e/ in the middle

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Play "a or e?": say a word from page 13, learners show one finger for /a/ and two fingers for /e/ (for example: fan, pen, jam, red, van, hen)

Differentiation

• Support: Blend only men, pen and hen, which all end in "n"
• Extension: Ask confident learners to say the middle sound of each word on their own

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Day 3: Phonic Drill (30 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 14
• Clapping hands and a quiet voice

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Robot-talk two words from Day 1 and two from Day 2
• Ask: "What are a and e?" Learners say "vowels"

Short and Long "a" (10 minutes)

• Read the line: "Let's read all short and long 'a' sounds."
• Say the short sounds row by row; learners echo each word:
  • cat, rat, bat, hat, mat
  • bad, mad, lad, sad, pad
• Say the long sounds row by row; learners echo each word, stretching the "a":
  • bake, cake, make, fake
  • name, same, fame, tame, came
• Contrast one pair slowly: "mat ... make". Ask: "Short or long?"

Short and Long "e" (10 minutes)

• Read the line: "Let's read all short and long 'e' sounds."
• Short sounds; learners echo:
  • led, red, wed, fed, beg
  • peg, keg, leg, den, hen
• Long sounds; learners echo, stretching the "e":
  • pea, sea, flea, tea, peel
  • reel, feel, free
• Contrast one pair slowly: "red ... reel". Ask: "Short or long?"

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Play "Short or Long?": say a word from page 14. Learners crouch small for a short sound and stretch up tall for a long sound

Differentiation

• Support: Use only the first row of each box and model every word twice
• Extension: Let confident learners lead the echo for one row

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Teaching Tips (from textbook)

• "Tell the students that generally three-letter words have short vowel sound."
• The Phonic Drill on page 14 has three misprinted words: "jake" (long "a" row), "seel" and "gree" (long "e" row). Skip these three words when you drill
• The pictures beside the short "e" rows on page 13 do not line up with their words. Teach those rows from the words, not the pictures