Second graders in William O. Schaefer Elementary School teacher Sara Vero’s class are working on becoming word builders!
As part of a recent phonics lesson, students were presented with an exciting employment opportunity with the “BLC Construction and Demolition Company,” which specializes in the building and breaking of words. “In this lesson, students received a letter from the BLC Construction Company informing them that they not only got the job they applied for, but that they’ve also been selected to be a special task force in vowels. Their first assignment is a big one. Students were asked to create a vowel manual as a tool to help with spelling long vowel sounds,” said Vero.
To kick off the lesson, Vero worked with students to help them identify some of the most common spellings for the long vowel A sounds and created word sorts with each of those spellings. After students shared examples of words that included that vowel sound, they worked with a partner to read poems that contained words with the long vowel A. Students identified the words containing the vowel sound, wrote them in their vowel manual and then the class gathered on the rug to share out the words they found with their partners.