My Best Lesson

Description:

The lesson I chose was phonics. Kindergarten reads from heggerty and in the fourth
quarter students are learning for the first time the long vowels and substituting consonant
letters at the end of a word. This lesson was conducted the day after I taught phonics long
vowels in Week 29 after finding glitches in students’ understanding of adding or
substituting consonants at the end of a word. In the beginning of the semester, students
could automatically replace beginning sounds but this time, starting mid April, students
are still giving me the beginning sound of a word versus being required to give me the
end sound of a word. To continue the lesson, I have collaborated with my mentor to try
the manipulatives that our curriculum coaches have trained us to use based off of the
program LETRS. In the lesson, I (teacher), took a whiteboard slate, expo marker, and
unifix cubes. I set my board up by making lines to represent the syllables to encourage
students to tap out the sounds. In addition to auditory learning, I also added visual
learning by adding the given letters to its lines to give the students consistency as well as
reminding students that they only have to change one sound.

One situation that happened during the lesson was the struggle to substitute the end
sounds of a word when the students are already accustomed to substituting the beginning
sound. It was a struggle of rewiring their brains. As you can tell from the video, students
were given beginning and ending sounds but as they blend the words they are switching
the sounds.

The students have consistently been practicing the adding beginning sounds to a word
since the first quarter. Even so, my mentor has told me it was a struggle introducing the
students to the new concept as it requires consistent practice. They know how to
rollercoaster (isolating sounds), choppers (blending sounds), tapping fingers (segmenting
sounds) to help them hear the sounds.

Analysis:

Prior to this lesson, it was on the same topic in which I struggled to teach the students that we are
now focusing on the end sounds versus the beginning. Students were insisting that they were
blending correctly to which I was questioning myself if I were mirroring my hands correctly to
match the students’ perspectives. I was not hearing the anticipated answer and many frequent
times of switching beginning and end sounds.
The next day, I have decided to use manipulatives so that students can physically see me
changing the sound. I even wrote the sounds underneath the segment lines to help me keep track
of which sound constantly changes [end sound]. Research shows that writing the sounds
underneath the segments will help students see the word and sound out as they go. However, the
goal of this lesson is just for the students to decode the word orally.
In this current lesson, students have made improvements in learning how to delete the end sound.
Students seem to understand the concept as I physically cover the end sound with my hand.
Some improvements we need to work on is the skill of adding the end sound to a given word.
For example, me [ long e] + t = met. A couple students are starting to decode but it is not the
majority of the class just yet.
At [5:51] of my video, you hear a student say to me(teacher) “You messed it up!” in which I gave
them the word “me-” “add k” [to the end] in which the students responded with “keem”. Then I
had to model for the students of how I would sound out the sounds and having them blend for
me.

Some ways my teaching methods were effective were using tangible manipulatives to teach
phonics. I used whiteboards, markers, blocks to model the segments. I added the letters for my
own preference as well. It was easier to visualize the words so that the students and I are on the
same page.

Based on what happened in this lesson, my next steps would be to keep the set up I used with the
blocks. To practice adding the end sound, I would model for the students of how I would sound
out the sounds then gradually handing over the responsibilities to the students. I would explicitly
tap it out for myself as well as tap out the sounds with the students. Some students in the video
were self-directed and managed to tap out the sounds. For upcoming lessons revolving around
this concept, I would explicitly teach the skill of tapping out the sounds and making it a habit for
the students to tap out all sounds regardless of if we are changing the beginning, middle, or end
sound. Another concept I need to explicitly teach is having the students identify which segment
line is a beginning, middle, end. I would also have the students practice these concepts
themselves by having all of us get whiteboards, markers, and cubes so that I could have the
students circle which sound we are changing (beginning, middle, or end)

________ ________ _______

B M E

Reflection:

My overall impression of the lesson was that the experience wasn’t as smooth as I had hoped it
would be. There was the lack of knowledge I had in those moments of where I needed to pivot.
Looking back at my video, I need to do more explicit teaching of segmenting the sounds. I feel
that having the visuals immensely helped and I would encourage myself to keep the letters
under the segment lines until students can visually see and read what letter they are changing. I
think I would also have students identify beginning,middle, end sound by doing the
rollercoaster motions with them and really emphasizing that we are changing the end sound
and having them mirror the end sound motion with me. Rollercoaster hand motion is a visual
strategy to teach segmenting and is something that the students are already familiar with and
know how to use.

Teaching Video: https://youtu.be/bzA3tmVYesM

 LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Name: Date: Apr 12, 2024

Melani Cauilan
Lesson Title:
Week 29 Day 2 Phonics Long Vowels
Grade Level: K Standard(s):
K. RF. 2 Phonological Awareness
Subject: Phonics
Learning Objectives(s):
❏ I can say the sounds and blend to read words.
❏ I can say the word and tap out the sounds.
❏ I can write the sounds to make words.
Differentiation Strategies: Content, Process, Product
Content: segmenting, isolating, deleting, adding sounds
Process: tapping out sounds, manipulatives, whiteboard & marker
Product: oral response via heggerty, written response via sentence dictation worksheet

What lesson(s)/learning activities came prior to this lesson?

Prior Learning activity: Decoding Beginning Sounds
Current learning activity: Week 29 Day 1 Phonics Long Vowels; decoding end sounds

Teaching Targets (timing, activity types, purpose, kinds of grouping)

Whole Class
1. Heggerty
2. Sentence Dictation Worksheet
Time: (the Teaching Strategy - the Purpose - the why Method - the how (whole
increments what group, small groups, partners,
of time individual, etc.)
depend on
the age of
students)
1min Heggerty Segmenting sounds Whole Group
Choppers
1 min Choppers Blending sounds Whole Group

5 min Cubes adding end sounds Whole Group

Hand motions for focus
Whiteboard segment students/whole class
lines
 Practice adding end
sounds
5 min Cubes substituting end Whole Group
Whiteboard segment sounds
lines
15 min Sentence Dictation Tapping out sounds Whole Group Individually
Worksheet Sounding out

Materials/Handouts: Tangible items Extensions: Ways to reinforce academic skills, etc.

used to implement the lesson
1. Whiteboard 1. Tapping out sounds
2. Expo marker 2. Manipulatives
3. Slides
4. Doc cam
5. Manipulatives cubes
Resources: What you used to prepare
to teach the lesson
1. Heggerty Book