Uhhh, I'm Confused!
must learn how to identify letters with their vocal gestures and sounds
before being able to become readers (phonemic awareness). Short vowels
are very hard for students to learn and are arguably some of the most
important correspondences for children to master. They appear often in
their readings and must be mastered before long vowels and irregular
correspondences are taught. By learning that short U says /u/, (u=/u/),
students will be able to read short U words with more accuracy and
those words will eventually become part of their sight vocabulary.
Students will learn how to identify the short U sound in words by
learning a visual and oral representation of the sound, practicing
printing the letter U, identifying the short U sound in spoken words
provided by the teacher after a word is modeled for them and will
practice how to identify the short U sound in written words by reading
a book together with a partner (each reading every other page), and
will practice finding the /u/ sound by completing a picture worksheet
in which they circle the pictures that represent words with the short
Enlarged picture of a person looking confused and saying 'Uhhhh'� and
'U says /u/'� on white butcher paper on the board, a poster taped to
board with the tongue twister, 'Uncle was upset when he was unable to
put his umbrella up'�, primary paper and pencil for each student, dry
erase board and markers for teacher to print u on board for modeling, a
baggie for each student with letterboxes and the letters they will need
(c, d, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, and u).We will complete the
following words in our class LBL: sun, cup, jug, pup, jump, drum,
truck, and plum, the book students will read in pairs, Bud the Sub, and
a picture worksheet in which students identify which of the following
words have the /u/ sound in them: bus, six, umbrella, music, cup, hat,
jump, pumpkin, sun, four, lollipop, plane, butterfly, one-hundred, fan,
unicycle, tooth, frog, truck, stapler, jellyfish, drum, fish, and
1) First, I will explain to the students that words are made up of
letters. These letters create different sounds and when put together,
create words. Learning the sound that each letter stands for is
important because they help us to become good readers. I will explain,
"One sound that can be found in words is /u/. The sound /u/ is made by
the letter U when it is a short vowel. Today we will be learning about
the letter U and how to recognize words in which the letter U makes the
/u/ sound (u=/u/). After we can recognize U as /u/ in spoken words, we
will learn how to read u=/u/ in written word through a book."
2) Next, I will say to students, "We can hear the /u/ sound in lots of
words. One way I remember the /u/ sound is when I get confused. See the
man in this picture? His name is Hugo. He is confused while he is
reading the paper and says "Uhh". Can everyone say that with me? (Wait
for students to do it with me,) "Uhh". Good! Sometimes when I get
confused or don't know the answer to a question, I say "Uhh..." Has
that every happened to any of you? (Wait for student response). Well
when that happens to me, I often put my finger to my head like this
(show them finger on temple) and say "Uhh". Can you do that with me?
(Practice saying 'uh' and putting our finger on our temple) Very good!
Now every time we hear /u/ in a word today I want us all to put our
finger on our head and say "Uhh". This will help us remember what U
sounds like as a short vowel. If you need help remembering the sound
the letter U makes, look at Hugo on the board and he will remind you."�
3) I will say to students, "Now, we are going to say the tongue twister
on this poster. (I will point to the poster taped on the board.) Every
time you hear /u/ I want you to put your finger on your temple and say
"Uhh" like we practiced, ok? I'll say it once first and then we will
say it together adding the /u/'s. The tongue twister is 'Uncle was
upset when he was unable to hang the umbrella up.' Now let's do it
together: Uncle (Uhh) was upset (Uhh) when he was unable (Uhh) to put
(Uhh) his umbrella (Uhh) up (Uhh). Very good!
4) I will say to students, "We found the /u/ sound in those words
because it was the first sound in the words. For example, we knew upset
had the /u/ sound in it because the first sound in the word was /u/.
Now lets try to find /u/ in words where it is not the first sound. I'll
show you how I find it in a word and then you will get to try one too.
I will see if I can find /u/ in the word hundred by saying it very
slowly and listening for the confused /u/ sound."� (I will write
and how I sound it out on the dry erase board with dry erase markers.)
"Hundred. Hhh-uuu-nn-d-r-ed. H-uuuuuuu-nd-red There it was! H-uuu, I
hear the confused /u/ sound right after the 'h' in the word hundred.
Now let's try a few together. I'm going to tell you two words and you
will raise your hand and tell me which word has the confused /u/ sound.
Can you hear /u/ in Walk or Run? Ugly or Pretty? Gross or Yucky? Car or
Truck? Bus or Van? Caterpillar or Butterfly? Pumpkin or Gourd? Skip or
Jump? Sucker or Lollipop? Fudge or Chocolate?
5) I will say to students, "Now that we know how to spot the sound /u/
in words, lets review how we recognize the letter U in words. Everyone
needs to get out one sheet of primary paper and a pencil. I am going to
show you how I write it on the board. Then I want you to try it. I make
a lowercase u by starting at the fence and going down to the sidewalk,
curving back up to the fence, and going straight back down to the
sidewalk (printing this as I say it on the board). So, we go down the
to ditch from the sidewalk, curve up, and go straight back down
(drawing it again.) Now I want you all to print your u's this way 10
times. I will walk around and help you."
6) I will then hand out a baggie to each student for our class LBL. I
will say to the students: "We are going to try to arrange our words by
their sounds and by the way our mouth moves and then we will be able to
see the /u/ sound in the word by itself. For example (writing on
board), bug. Bbbbbuuuuuuggggggg. B-u-g. I hear three sounds in that
word. (Draw 3
letterboxes on the board and draw each letter as I say it and make the
mouth moves in its box). B-, that's b. B-u-, then a u. B-u-g, and
lastly, a g. Now let's do some together. For this
word, make sure you have 3 boxes. Now everyone try the word sun."� I
will walk around and see that everyone is getting it and clarifying if
needed. I will continue this way for the rest of the words and tell
them the number of boxes needed each time. After the students have
spelled all the words, they will be given a list of the same words and
asked to read them.
7) I will then place the students in pairs and give them each a copy of
the book, Bud the Sub, which
focuses on short u words. I
will give the students a brief booktalk before placing them into pairs:
"Today, you will be reading Bud the
Sub with your
partners. Each of you will read every other page. I will walk around
and see if you need help. This book is about a sub named Bud and his
boss Gus. Gus gets in Bud the Sub and they head out to sea. But, all of
a sudden, Bud sees a tugboat that has crashed. Do you think Bud and Gus
will help the people in the tugboat? Do you think the boat might sink?
We will have to read to find
8) After reading the book in pairs with peer and teacher scaffolding as
needed, I will ask the students to return to their desks. I will hand
out a picture worksheet from enchanted learning. This worksheet has
picture representations of the words bus, six, umbrella, music, cup,
hat, jump, pumpkin, sun, four, lollipop, plane, butterfly, hundred,
fan, unicycle, tooth, frog, truck, stapler, jellyfish, drum, fish, and
numbers. We will decide as a class what word the pictures represent so
that there is no confusion. The students will complete the worksheet
individually and without help.
9) I will assess students on their individual picture worksheet because
this is the only activity they did without any help. This will show
their ability to detect the short u sound (/u/) in words and will show
me if they are ready to move on to a new correspondence or if they need
more work with u=/u/.
1) Enchanted Learning, Short U Theme Page,
2) Cushman, Sheila. Bud the Sub.
Educational Insights. Carson, CA: 1990
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