Sample Lesson for Teaching the Consonant Digraph for /sh/
Lesson Focus
Procedure
Please note:
1. Create awareness of target sound in
the initial position.
Shane likes to share. He shares his
shells and shoes with his sister.
What does Shane like to do?
The words Shane, share, shells, and
shoes begin with the same sound: the
/sh/ sound. Watch my mouth: /sh/ (You
say /sh/).
Show children the large sh card.
This is sh. The sh stands for the /sh/
sound in Shane, share, shells, and
shoes. Each time I touch the letters sh,
say /sh/. (Touch sh several times)
This procedure activates phonemic
awareness by focusing attention on the
target sound.
Students will now need their own sh
cards.
If the word I say begins with the /sh/
sound, hold up your sh card and say
/sh/. If it doesn’t begin with the /sh/
sound, shake your head no. (Examples:
show, smell, shake, stop, shower)
Every morning, I _______ my teeth.
(brush)
Explain that brush ends with the letters
sh, and when they are together that
stands for the /sh/ sound. Say some
more words that end with the letters sh,
and have the students repeat them.
(Examples: rash, wash, dish)
I’ll say some words. If the word ends
with the /sh/ sound, hold up your sh
card. If it doesn’t end with the /sh/
sound, put your sh card behind your
back. (Examples: wish, grass, splash,
salt, squish )
This step provides additional practice
in identifying the /sh/ digraph at the
beginning of words and saying the
sound in the presence of the letter m.
Students will need their Word Pockets.
If the word begins with /sh/, put your
sh card at the beginning of the Word
Pocket. If the word ends with /sh/, put
your sh card at the end of the Word
Pocket. (Examples: fish, shake, ship,
flush, shark )
In addition to providing practice, the
requirement that they place their letters
at the beginning or end of their Word
Pockets connects with phonemic
position with the visual position.
2. Connect the printed letters with the
sound the letters represent.
3. Discriminate among words that start
with /sh/ and those that do not.
4. Develop phonemic awareness of
target sound sh the final position.
5. Distinguish words that end in /sh/
from words that do not.
6. Compare words that have /sh/ in the
initial and final positions.
The point of the whole lesson is to
connect printed letters with its sound,
which happens in this step. However,
this doesn’t provide enough practice to
solidify the learning. Thus, it is
important to proceed to the next step.
This step, which moves the targeted
letters to the final position, helps
children learn that given letters often
represent the same sound in other
positions in words.
In this step students identify /sh/ at the
end of words and say /sh/ in the
presence of the letters sh.
This step is similar to step 3 except that
the focus is on the final position.
Zimmerman, B. S., Padak, N. D., & Rasinski, T. V. (2008). Evidence-Based Instruction in Reading: A Professional
Development Guide to Phonics. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Resource provided by AEA 267 © 2010 — Permission granted to educational organizations to copy and use
http://www.aea267.k12.ia.us/
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