Daily Lesson Plan -- Lesson 5

Short Sound "a"

Subject: English | Class: Prep | Series: Skillford

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Overview

In this lesson children learn the short sound "a". Your mouth opens wide and the short "a" pops straight out. Children say each sound, then push the sounds together into one word, using four word families: ad, am, an and at. They read four sentences and then complete the activity on page 9.

Learning Objectives

• Say the short "a" sound
• Read the word families ad, am, an and at
• Push sounds together into words like "bad", "jam", "can" and "cat"
• Read short sentences with short "a" words
• Circle the right letter and tick the word that matches the picture

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Day 1: Short "a" Word Families (35 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 8, picture cards for "mat", "cat" and "fan", letter blocks

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Open your mouth wide and say the short "a" sound. Children copy.

Main Activity (20 minutes)

• Read: "Your mouth opens wide and the short 'a' pops straight out."
• Read the rule box: "Say each sound, then push them together into one word."
• Read the four word families, saying each sound and then the whole word:
  • ad: bad, had, mad, sad
  • am: dam, jam, ram, yam
  • an: ban, can, fan, man
  • at: cat, fat, mat, rat
• Read the four sentences at the foot of the page:
  • A fat cat is on the hat.
  • A man is in the van.
  • Sam is mad.
  • A cat has a yam.

Wrap-Up (10 minutes)

• STEAM (Engineering): Build "cat" with letter blocks, swap the "c" for a "b" to make "bat", and read every new word
• STEAM (Maths): Put down a counter for every short "a" word you can say in one minute, then count them

Differentiation

• Support: Practise one family at a time, such as "at": cat, fat, mat, rat
• Extension: Children make new words by changing the first letter in a family

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Day 2: Activity Time (35 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 9, pencils

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Say a family, such as "an". Children call out words from it: ban, can, fan, man.

Main Activity (20 minutes)

• Activity 1: "Read both letters and circle the one that makes the word. The first one has been done for you."
  • The pictures show a can, a fan, a man and a van
  • The first is done: the "c" is circled to make "can"
  • Children circle the right letter for the others: f (fan), m (man), v (van)
• Activity 2: "Tick the word that matches the picture, then write it. The first one has been done for you."
  • yak (done), dam, jam, tap
  • Children tick the matching word in each row and write it on the lines

Wrap-Up (10 minutes)

• Hold up the picture cards for "mat", "cat" and "fan". Say each word, then children say it back and point at the "a".

Differentiation

• Support: Say each picture name aloud before circling or ticking
• Extension: Children say a short sentence for each word they wrote

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Teaching Tips

• Say each word, then have children say it back to you
• Point at the "a" every time and hold the short sound a moment longer than the rest
• Finish by reading the four sentences at the foot of page 8 together