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Chugging Down the Tracks with Choo Choo Train

Beginning Reading Design

Beth Buckelew

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Rationale: This lesson will teach students the consonant digraph correspondence ch =/ch/. In order for students to be able to read this correspondence, children have to be able to learn to recognize spellings that map out different word pronunciations. In this lesson, children will learn, recognize, and spell a variety of words with the correspondence ch. By showing students a representation of how a train goes choo choo, they will be able to read and spell words that contain /ch/. They will also apply their phoneme awareness with /ch/ by phonic cue reading.

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Materials:

  • Pencils and primary paper

  • Crayons

  • Tongue twister chart on the board

  • Computer to watch ch video on YouTube

  • Assessment worksheets

  • Letterboxes and letters for the teacher to demonstrate on the board

  • Letterboxes and letter manipulatives for each student

  • Word cards: CHOP, CHAT, WATCH, LUNCH, CHAMP

  • Wordlist: boat, chase, train, chew, fetch, dinner, lunch, match, old, trash

  • Decodable book to read

  • Picture of a train (representing ch)

 

Procedure:

  1. Teacher: Today we will be learning about the letters and what sound they make together! All letters make sounds by themselves, which is something that we have learned before. Do you all remember the sound that a c makes? Can you remember the sound that an h makes, too? We know the /c/ sound and we know the /h/ sound, so what do you think would happen when we put the two together? Sometimes when we put two letters together, they only make one sound instead of making two sounds like they usually do when they are apart. When we put the c and the h together, it makes the same sound as a choo choo train when it is going down the railroad track. It sounds like this, “/ch/, /ch/, /ch/, /ch/, /ch/.” Let’s practice moving our lips by making the sound that a train makes, so we are going to /ch/-/ch/-chug down the tracks by going /ch/-/ch-/ch/- choo choo!

  2. Show ch video on YouTube

  3. Now, we are going to pretend that we are on a train and we are going down the tracks. We are going to get our horn ready and move our arm in a circle, and then we are going to say “choo choo!” We are able to make the ch sound by touching the tip of our tongue to the roof of our mouth, just behind our front teeth. This blocks the passage of air for a short time before we release it through our mouth. Our lips also pucker up a little bit whenever we say words with the /ch/ sound. Let’s practice with a few words and every time you hear a word with the sound, I want you to stretch the word out! “Chip. /ch/-/ch/- chip!” “Chat. /ch/-/ch/- chat!” “Bat…” I did not hear the ‘choo choo’ sound in bat and I did not feel my tongue touch the roof of my mouth, so now we know that ch is not in the word bat!

  4. We are now going to look at some words and we are going to find out if they have the /ch/ sound or not! First, let’s look at the word chop. Mom is going to chop onions for dinner. /Ch/-/o/-/p/. Since we hear three sounds, we need three boxes. Whichever sound we hear first is what letter(s) that goes in the first box, so what sound do we hear first? (student’s response) What letter should we put in the second box? And finally, what letter goes in the last box? Great job! Now let’s try another word with three boxes: chat. I chat with my sister before school. This time you are all going to work with your table or you can work individually, but I will walk around to check your answers to see if y’all are on the right track. After everyone is done, I will pick someone to come to the board to show the class how you spelled the word (student goes to the board to demonstrate their work). Now we are going to use a word that has 4 boxes: watch. The kids will watch the movie (teacher walks around the classroom to monitor students’ work and give feedback if necessary—another student goes to the board to demonstrate their spelling). Let’s try another word with four boxes: lunch. My dad packed an apple for lunch today (same procedure). One more word for y’all to try, champ. My p.e. teacher said I was the champ of gotcha (students continue the same process as we did with the other words).

  5. Let’s try a tongue tickler! [chart is on the board] Here’s our tickler, “Witches watched children cheer at church.” Now let’s all say it three times together. [sentence is repeated 3x by students and teacher] now this time when we say it, we are going to stretch out the ch in all of the words. If you listen closely, you can hear /ch/ at the beginning, the middle, and at the end of some of the words in this sentence. “Witccchhhhes watccchhhed ccchhhidlren ccchhheer at ccchhhurccchhh.” And for this last try, we are going to break it off the word, “Wit/ch/es wat/ch/ed /ch/ildren /ch/eer at /ch/ur/ch/.”

  6. Okay, now I need everyone to get a pencil and a piece of paper out for this next activity. We are going to practice writing ch out on paper since we know how it sounds in different words now. Since the c comes before the h, we are going to start writing the c first. We are going to start on the middle line, the fence, and make a half-circle till we get to the bottom, the sidewalk. Now let’s go on to the h! We are going to start at the top line, the rooftop, then draw a straight line till we are at the sidewalk. When you make it to the sidewalk, we are going to bounce back up to the fence and then curve it back down to the sidewalk. You are all doing such a great job! Let’s practice a few more times to make sure that we are all champs at writing ch.

  7. I am going to go through a list of words, and I want you all to tell me which word has the /ch/ sound in it. As I am reading the words, remember to listen for the ‘choo choo’ in one of the words. [throw or catch? lunch or dinner? chart or cat? sing or chip? cheer or dance?]

  8. Y’all did such a good job on that last activity! Now I want you all to put your listening hears on because we are about to read a book called “Chips for the Chicks!” In this book, it is lunch time and mom let’s Ben and Jess have a picnic. Oh, no! Lad wants some lunch, too. Do you think Lad will get to eat? Let's find out what happens on the picnic with Ben, Jess, and Lad!

  9. Did y’all like that story? It was such a fun story! Now that we have had a lot of practice with spelling and listening to words with the /ch/ sound, we are going to move onto another activity where you will tell me if the word has the /ch/ sound in it or not. If the word makes sound then I want you all to move your hand in the circular motion and say “choo choo,” but if the word doesn’t make the sound then I want you to make a big X with your arms. [boat...chase...train...chew...fetch...dinner...lunch...match...old...trash]

  10. You all did so good today! I think you guys are ready to work individually and see if you can pick out which words start or end with ch (pass out assessment worksheet to students and place crayons at each table).

 

References:

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