Grade 1: Lesson Plan ‘Long Vowel Sounds’ (lesson 3 of 3)
Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
Established Goals
Learning Objectives
1. Recognize long vowel sounds by reading and listening to a story that highlights select
words
2. Identify words with long vowel sounds
Enduring
Students will understand that…
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Essential Questions
Short vowel sounds are different to long
vowel sounds
The vowel sound in a word changes when
another vowel is added
Words that have ‘silent e’ at the end do not
say the /e/ sound; it is silent
Students will be able to….
1. Construct a story by actively choosing words from a selection of same vowel sounds
2. Use picture clues to aid comprehension
3. Match words with the same vowel sounds
Stage 2: Determine Evidence for Assessing Learning
Performance Tasks: formative
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Were students able to identify the long
vowel sound for the word choices on each
storybook page?
Did they successfully identify other words
with the same short vowel sound?
Were students able to identify the long
vowel sounds for objects in Concentration?
Could they match words with the same
long vowel sounds?
Other Evidence: one-to-one
To further assess knowledge of long vowel
sound-spellings:
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Create a contrast word sheet (e.g., cut/cute,
rod/road, red/read).
Individually, test students as they read the
words on the sheet. Note sound-spellings
they struggle with by marking a photocopy
of the sheet as each student reads. Provide
additional instruction on the soundspellings students struggle with.
Stage 3: Build Learning Plan
Materials required….
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Book: ‘Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain’
Bookmark ‘When Two Vowels Go Walking’ on Youtube in Electronic Whiteboard
Bookmark ‘Emily Elizabeth Goes to School’ on computers
Bookmark ‘Concentration’ game.
Bookmark ‘Google Form – Assessment’ on computers
List of Assessment words for assessing individual reading skills and pronunciation.
Learning Activities
Directions Review what has been previously learned about long vowel sounds by playing familiar jingle ‘Between the
Lions: "When Two Vowels Go Walking" from video on Youtube
Step 1: Select a book to read to the class that features words with long vowel sounds. Choose a book from
one of the Clifford phonics collections or classics such as Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain,
Clifford's Puppy Days, The Bike Lesson, New Shoes for Sylvia, or The Troll Music. Ask children to
listen for long vowel sounds in words and to tap their heads when they hear one.
Step 2: Explain to students how slight differences in a word spelling can affect its vowel sound.
Demonstrate this point by asking the students for short vowel words and by listing them on the
whiteboard; words such as rat, cub and bit. Explain that when we add a ‘silent e’ at the end of the
word, we change the vowel sound in that word from a short vowel to a long vowel. So rat becomes
rate, cub becomes cube and bit becomes bite. Write the each new word opposite its short vowel
partner word so there are pairs of words. The ‘silent e’ is just that, we don’t pronounce it but it
causes the vowel before it to be changed to its long sound. The vowel sound /a/ changes from /a/ as
in apple to /a/ as in ape. When saying these long vowel sounds, show the stretching action with
fingers to denote an elastic being stretched.
Step 3: Have volunteers read each word pair, noting the different vowel sounds each word in the pair
makes. Guide them to recognize that just one added letter changed the vowel sound from short to
long. Point out that sometimes the letter is added to the end, like the e in bite. And other times, it's
a letter in the middle like a in read. Repeat the vowel sounds in each pair and identify them as
having a short or long vowel sound.
Step 4:Take students to the first page of Emily Elizabeth Goes to School. Read the first two sentences and
model for students how to click the speaker icon next to them to hear them read aloud.
Step 5: Students can click to hear the third sentence read aloud. Explain to students that they need to
choose one of the three words in the circles to put into the story. They can click each word to hear
the choices and see an illustration. Have students identify the vowels in each word choice and the
vowel sound these letters make. Did they recognize that all three words have the ea spelling
pattern? Were they able to identify the long /e/ sound? What other words produce the long /e/
sound? Record their responses on the whiteboard. Discuss other letter combinations that can
produce the same sound, such as ee in feed.
Step 6: Repeat the same process with the following story pages. Help students recognize that all three
word choices on a page have the same long vowel sound, but that the words have different spelling
patterns (e.g., silent e at the end of space and ai in the middle of rain and snails). For each
storybook page, compare and contrast the spelling patterns in the word choices. Keep a list of all
the word choices students have in the storybook as well as any new words they suggested with
similar spelling patterns.
Step 7: Review the list of words created earlier. Remind them of the jingle from ‘When two vowels go
walking…’
Step 8: Working in pairs, have students go to the game Concentration. Students can click the speaker icon
to hear the instructions. If necessary, model how to play the game by clicking the cards to make a
match of words with the same long vowel sound.
Step 9: As they play the game, encourage students to identify the spelling patterns of the words that have
the same vowel sounds. Have them think of other words that have those sounds and how they are
spelled.
Assess Students
Were students able to identify the long vowel sound for the word choices on each storybook page?
Did they successfully identify other words with the same short vowel sound?
Were students able to identify the long vowel sounds for objects in Concentration?
Could they match words with the same long vowel sounds?
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To further assess knowledge of long vowel sound-spellings:
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Ask students to open the bookmarked (Google) Assessment form and complete. Model how they
should answer a question.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1RFwKtj6fP4eXj_x_sZ_6XLtoappCe00wIt3_R4zakIw/viewform
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Use the summary of the assessment to quickly provide feedback to class and individuals who have
struggled with it.
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Create a list of the words from the Assessment and have children read each word individually oneto-one to chek for long vowel pronunciation.
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Individually, test students as they read the words on the sheet. Note sound-spellings they struggle
with by marking a photocopy of the sheet as each student reads. Provide additional instruction on
the sound-spellings students struggle with.
Plenary
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Ask students to reflect on their own learning throughout the lesson; what tools worked best for
them, what challenges they encountered.