OnTrack Reading

Explain to your students that you are going to spend ten minutes of class time for the next twenty classes or so describing a method of analyzing multisyllable words that will help them read unfamiliar words they encounter in their textbook or other curriculum reading. Note: There are ten mini-lessons, each budgeting ten minutes of class time, but the times are untested, and you will probably take as much as twice as long to get through them than the ten minutes indicated, especially the first time.

How you decide to divide up your class and/or select the students who will be receiving this instruction is up to you.

Write on the board: Main Rule: Stop each Chunk after the Vowel Sound and use the First Vowel Sound.

Time elapsed: 5 minutes or less

The remaining time in this lesson will be devoted to explaining the term vowel sound used in the Main Rule.

Ask the students what a vowel sound is.

Then, depending upon their answers, which are almost certain to be vague, incomplete or incorrect, explain to them that vowel sounds give words their volume.

Ask them if they know what volume means here.

Explain that it’s the same as volume on the television, and that vowel sounds make words loud.

Demonstrate this concept by discussing the word fish. Get agreement that fish has three sounds, a /f/, an /i/ and a /sh/ sound and then get agreement that the /i/ sound is the vowel sound in fish. Now, tell everyone that you are all going to yell fish without the vowel sound, /i/, as loud as you can. First, point out that this means you are all going to be yelling fsh (just /f/+/sh/, no /i/ sound.)

As you do this, you’ll notice that you can all yell fsh as loud as you want and you’ll not be raising any ruckus that will draw attention from others in the school.

Now, tell them you’re going to put the little /i/ sound back in and you’re all going to yell fish at the top of your lungs. It’s pretty obvious what the result will be, so use your classroom management skills to keep things under control at this point. Most kids are afraid to let loose in a one-on-one situation, but I suspect full class behavior will differ.

Make the point that it was that little /i/ sound, the vowel sound that put all the volume into fish, and summarize with the original concept, Vowel sounds give words their volume.

Summarize by telling the students that there are nineteen vowel sounds that you will be covering and challenge them to come up with fifteen of them on their own before the next class.

Time elapsed: 10 minutes or less.

Next mini-lesson: First Vowel Sounds

Return to the Table of Contents, or to the OnTrack Reading Home Page.