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OO says the Spooky Ghost

 

A Beginning Reading Design

By Elizabeth Escalera

 

 

Rationale: This lesson teaches children about the vowel correspondence oo = /U/. In this lesson, students will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing spellings with oo. Students will learn a meaningful representation (ghost saying oooo), they will spell and read words containing the oo spelling in a letterbox lesson, and read a book that is decodable and centers on the correspondence oo = /U/.

 

Materials: Graphic image of a ghost, whiteboard Elkonin boxes for modeling, individual Elkonin boxes for every student; letter manipulatives for students and magnetic letters for teacher: z, o (2), b, t, m, n, r, f, p, l ,s, c, m, and words on poster to read: zoo, boot, moon, roof, pool, scoop, broom, spoon, broom; decodable text: A Hoot and assessment worksheet

 

Procedures:

  1. Say: We have to continue cracking the secret code that tells us how to pronounce words in order for us to become expert readers. We have already learned how to read words with short vowel u, like run, and today we are going to get to learn about long vowel U and the double oo signal that is used to make U say /U/. When I say /U/ I imagine a spooky ghost floating around and saying “oooooo” [show graphic image of ghost].

 

  1. Say: Before we learn how to spell /U/, we are going to listen for /U/ in some words. Whenever I say /U/ my lips push forward, and my mouth makes a small round opening shape like this. [Make vocal gesture for /U/]. I am going to show you first: school. I heard oo say its name /U/ and I felt my mouth make a small circle opening as my lips pushed forward [show pursed lips with circle opening]. There is a long U in school. Now, I am going to see if it’s in the word duck. Hmmm, I didn’t hear my spooky ghost sound oooo and my lips didn’t push forward to make our little circle opening. Now I am going to list a few words. If you hear /U/, pretend you’re a spooky ghost [oooo]. If you don’t hear /U/ say, “Nope.” Is it in roof? Tug? Food? Tools? Turn? Zoom? [Have children make swaying side to side motions to pretend they are ghosts.]

 

  1. Say: Okay, now that we know what /U/ sounds like, we are going to look at a spelling of /U/. One way to spell /U/ is with double o’s. [write oo on the board]. What if I want to spell the word spoon? “I eat my soup with a big spoon.” To spell the word spoon in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes the word has. I am going to stretch the word out and count the phonemes. /s/p/oo/n. Okay, well I heard my /U/ before the last sound /n/, so I am going to place my oo in the third box. I also know that my word starts with /s/ so I think I am going to put the letter s in the first box. Hmmm, it’s getting trickier, I’ll say the word again and listen for what comes after s now. /s/p/oo/n. Hey, I heard my popping popcorn letter p! I’m going to put a p in the second box after our letter s. Okay, so I have one last box. [point to letter boxes while stretching out word] /s/p/oo/n/. /n/=n My last letter missing in the word spoon is n.

 

  1. Now you are going to practice spelling some words in letterboxes. Everyone starts out with an easy two boxes for the word zoo. I bet you all have so much fun going to see all of the animals at the zoo. Okay class, what should go in the first box? [respond to student’s answers] What goes in the second box? Remember that we put both of our oo’s in one box to make the phoneme /U/. I will be walking around the class to check everyone’s spelling. [walk around and make sure students are correctly placing zoo in letterboxes] For the next word, you need 3 letterboxes. The word is moon. I love looking up at night and seeing the big moon. Moon. [Allow children to spell word] Okay let’s check to see if you got it correct. [model word moon on board] m-oo-n. Let’s try another word with three boxes. Make sure you are listening to see if the word has /U/ in it. Here is the word: much. How much homework did you do last night? Much [allow students time to spell word] Did you need our double o’s to spell this word? No, this word is spelled with a u because the word much is spelled with our short vowel u. Now, the last word that we are going to spell will need 4 boxes. It might be tough but take your time and stretch the word out. The word is stood. I stood up to go to the bathroom. Stood. [check students’ progress] [have a volunteer spell word on board].

 

  1. In a second you all will read the words that we just spelled, but before we do that, I am going to model how to read a tough word. [Display word spoon on the board]. First, I see my 2 o’s together, so I know that the vowel will say /U/. I’m going to use my coverup to help me get the beginning sound of this word. [Uncover and blend sequentially before oo (the vowel).]  /s//p/ = /sp/. Now I am going to blend /sp/ with my double oo’s that make the /U/ sound = /spoo//. All I have left is my n and I know that makes the /n/ sound. Okay, now I will put it all together. [slowly] spoon. I got it, spoon! Now it’s your turn, let’s all read some words together. [children read in unison, have children take turn reading words one by one].

  2. You guys did an awesome job with our new spelling /U/ for oo. Now we are going to read a story called The Hoot. This story is about a boy who wakes up in the middle of the night and hears a strange noise. You will have to read to find out what is making the spooky noise! I am going to pair everyone up and I want you to take turns reading sentences of the story. [pair students up and have them take turns. Afterwards, read the story out loud to the whole class and engage in excited discussions about what the mystery sound may be].

 

  1. That story was so exciting! The boy was so lucky to have seen an owl that close. Have you guys ever seen any owls? [allow a few students to answer and share experiences] Awesome! Now, I am going to hand out some worksheets. While working on the worksheet, I want you to read every word carefully and decide if you hear the /U/ sound or not. Make sure that you connect every picture to the right word. When you are finished, raise your hand and I will come by and check your paper.

 

Miss Hadaway's Lesson Plan's, The Ghost says Boo:

https://tlh0045.wixsite.com/mysite/beginning-reading

 

The Hoot: https://www.readingelephant.com/2020/04/25/oo-phonics-stories-a-hoot-redwood-trees-more/

 

Assessment Worksheet: https://www.education.com/download/worksheet/62297/phonics-fun-oo-words.pdf

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