Chaining | EL Education Curriculum

You are here

Home › Our Curriculum › ELA Grade K › ELA GK:S4 › ELA GK:S4:C20 ›

ELA GK:S4:C20:L104

Chaining

In this Lesson

You are here:

Download Materials

Daily Learning Targets

  • Opening A: I can add or change a phoneme (sound) in a one-syllable spoken word to make a new word. (RF.K.2)
    • I can listen to a CVC word and pronounce the initial phoneme (sound) in the word.
    • I can listen to a CVC word and pronounce the final phoneme (sound) in the word.
    • I can listen to a CVC word and pronounce the middle vowel phoneme (sound) in the word.
    • I can change the initial or final sound in a spoken word and say the new word.
  • Work Time A: I can read and spell CVC words with the phonemes (sounds) /a/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /k/, /r/, /h/, /s/, and /v/.
    • I can say the sound that each consonant letter makes in words.
    • I can identify the short sound for each vowel.
    • I can identify the one letter that is different in two similarly spelled words.
    • I can identify the one sound that is different in two similarly spelled words.
    • I can read two words that are spelled with some of the same letters.

Ongoing Assessment

  • Observe students during Opening A. Determine whether they can isolate sounds in words and substitute the initial and final sounds as directed in CVC words and say a new word.
  • Observe students during Work Time A. Determine whether they can read and spell CVC word containing the /a/ phoneme (sound).
  • Record students' progress on the Snapshot Assessment.

Agenda

Agenda

1. Opening (5 minutes)

A. Phonemic Blending and Segmentation: Phoneme Substitution

2. Work Time (10 minutes)

A. Chaining: "Sam," "ham," "ram," "ran," "van," "ban," "bam"

3. Closing and Assessment (2 minutes)

A. Reflecting on Learning

4. Differentiated Small Group Instruction and Rotations (40-45 minutes)

In Advance

  • Prepare the Snapshot Assessment (optional; one per student).
  • Gather materials for differentiated small group instruction (see Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher).

Vocabulary

Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T)

  • segment, blend, substitute, decode (L)

Materials

  • Sound board (drawn on the board, or enlarged and laminated for teacher use)
  • Sound boards (laminated or in a clear plastic sleeve; one per student)
  • Whiteboard markers (one per student)
  • Whiteboard erasers (one per student)
  • Articulatory Gestures Chart
  • Snapshot Assessment (optional; one per student)

Opening

OpeningMeeting Students' Needs

A. Phonemic Blending and Segmentation

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"):

"Now let's read each word sound by sound. Tap the sounds out to see what is found. When we say the sounds, we will tap. We'll know the beginning, middle, and end in a snap."

  • Begin the Phonemic Blending and Segmentation instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: "Did you know that we can make new words by switching one of the letter sounds with a different letter sound? So if we start with a word we know, we can make some new words just by changing one letter sound. Let's start with the word 'pan.'"

2. Teacher says: "pan," and students repeat.

3. Teacher says: "I know the first sound in the word 'pan' is ..." (Wait for students to reply with /p/.) "Right! The first sound in 'pan' is /p/. What if I replace the /p/ with the sound /k/? I would say /k/ /an/: 'can.' Now let's play together!"

4. Teacher says: "can," and students repeat.

5. Teacher asks:

"What is the last sound in 'can'? Let's tap it out." (/n/)

6. Teacher says: "Right! Now let's change the /n/ sound to /m/."

7. Teacher asks:

"What word do we have now?"

8. Teacher and students tap out together: "/k/-/a/...?" ("cam")

9. Teacher repeats the process outlined in steps 2-8 with the words "ram," "ran," and "fan."

10. Consider extending this to change the medial vowel sound if students are ready. Suggested spoken words to use: "fin," "fun."
  • Use the Articulatory Gestures Chart as needed to support students' ability to differentiate sounds.
  • Consider modeling the position of each phoneme using a large sound board (drawn on board or laminated and displayed). This provides support for students who need help visualizing the position of the phoneme being changed relative to the other two in the word.
  • Alternatively, consider modeling the position of each phoneme using the finger- or arm-tapping technique. Example:
    • When saying "pan" in step 3, tap each phoneme and identify that the /p/ (the index finger) is in first position, /a/ is in the middle position, and /n/ is in the final position. Hold up the index finger and explain that this is the only sound that will change; the other two (/an/) will remain the same. Tap /k/ with the index finger and continue with /an/ by running the thumb under the middle and ring fingers in turn, explaining that the other two sounds did not change. This is another way to support students who need help visualizing the position of the phoneme being changed. Blend the sounds together to pronounce the new word: "can."

Work Time

Work TimeMeeting Students' Needs

A. Chaining: "Sam," "ham," "ram," "ran," "van," "ban," "bam", "yam"

  • (Suggested transition song, sung to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"):

"Now let's use some letters to make a word like 'can.' Replace the 'c' with the letter 'd' and now we have 'Dan.' We can do it at the beginning, the middle, or the end. Then we'll read the new word. Remember to blend!"

  • Begin the Chaining instructional practice:

1. Teacher says: "Today we are going to use letters and sound boards to help us make and read words!"

2. Teacher displays sound board.

3. Teacher says: "I am going to say a word, and we will tap out the sounds we hear. For example, if I say the word 'Sam,' we will tap /s/ /a/ /m/." (Students tap with teacher: /s/ /a/ /m/.)

4. Teacher asks:

"How many sounds do we hear in 'Sam'?" (three)

5. Teacher says: "We will use a sound board to help us match letters to the sounds we hear. The sound board has three boxes."

6. Teacher asks:

"Who thinks they know why there are three boxes?" (word has three sounds)

7. Teacher says: "Right! So we will place the letter for each sound in a box. I can say each sound as I tap on the sound boxes":

      • /s/ (Teacher taps on first box.)
      • /a/ (Teacher taps on middle box.)
      • /m/ (Teacher taps on final box.)

8. Teacher says: "So as we say 'Sam,' I'll write the letter 's' into the first box. That shows us that the first sound in 'Sam' is made by letter 's.' I'll use a capital 'S' because the word is a name."

9. Repeat step 8 with middle letter/sound (drawing students' attention to the fact that it is a vowel) and final letter/sound.

10. Teacher says: "Great! Now we have our letters to match the sounds we hear in 'Sam.' Let's slide our fingers under the word as we say each sound then read the word: /s/ /a/ /m/, 'Sam.' Now you will get to make new words with your own sound boards and letters."

11. Teacher distributes sound boards, whiteboard markers, and whiteboard erasers.

12. Teacher invites students to write the word "Sam" on their sound boards, emphasizing proper letter formation.

13. Teacher guides students to slide their fingers under each letter, blending each sound to say "Sam."

14. Teacher writes the word "Sam" on the board to begin a list of chained words.

15. Teacher says: "Now we're going to make a new word just by changing the letter for one sound! Let's replace /s/ with /h/."

16. Teacher asks:

"What letter do we need to erase?" ("s")

"What letter do we need to replace it with?" ("h")

17. Teacher and students erase the "s" and replace it with "h."

18. Teacher invites students to read the new word by running their fingers under each box, making each sound and blending them to say "ham."

19. Repeat steps 14-18, replacing the sounds/letters as needed to make the following suggested words as time allows: "ram," "ran," "van," "ban," "bam," "yam."

20. Teacher says: "Wow! Look at all the words we made today! Let's read them together."
  • Support students as needed to distinguish similar sounds using the Articulatory Gestures chart.
  • The initial sounds used in this lesson are stop consonants, meaning there is a stop of airflow following the sound.
  • Remind students of the thumb-tapping technique used in previous lessons: Tap the first phoneme by using the index thumb, then move to middle finger and thumb for the middle sound, and to the ring finger and thumb for the final sound.
  • After students slide their fingers under the letters to blend and say each new word, consider asking them to identify the vowel in the word and the sound it makes.
  • Many students will begin to see the rimes "an" and "am" as consolidated units. This means that when decoding words that contain them, they will read them as /an/ and /am/ instead of saying each sound separately and distinctly. This is an important move toward more complete graphophonemic mapping and as much as possible should be encouraged and modeled as students are ready. This can be done by sliding a finger under the first box, pronouncing that sound, and then sliding the finger under the other two boxes while pronouncing the rime as a whole.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingMeeting Students' Needs

A. Reflecting on Learning

  • Emphasize that successful learners think about what they've learned and why it's important. Consider using a metaphor, such as a baseball player learning to keep his or her eye on the ball to know exactly when to hit it.
  • Ask:

"How can we figure out the final sound in the word 'ham'?" (We can tap it out on our fingers/arms.)

"How might this help us with reading and writing?" (Responses will vary.)
  • For students who need additional support organizing their ideas: Provide sentence frames. Example:
    • "When I say the words 'man' and 'pan,' I hear _____."

Differentiated Small Groups: Work with Teacher

Suggested Plan: Teacher works with the Pre-Alphabetic and Partial Alphabetic groups. At this point in the year, the teacher may be ready to meet with three rather than just two groups per day. If so, the teacher should work with students in the Full and Consolidated Alphabetic phases at least once per week. The teacher may choose to guide students through the suggested independent activity or refer to the possible practice activities.

Note: Groups not working with the teacher at a given time should be engaged in purposeful independent rotation work. Refer to the Independent and Small Group Work Guidance document (see K-2 Skills Resource Manual) for more details.

Pre-Alphabetic:

  • Practice activity: Word Slides.
    • Students work with teacher to make and decode new words by changing just the initial letter in a word. Suggested words: ham, jam, ram.
  • Teacher says "am" and models thumb-tapping to segment the sounds and identify the two letters.
  • Teacher shows the Word Slide displaying "am."
  • Teacher asks students to identify the letter that would make "-am" to "bam." Students identify the letter using the Keyword Letter Card as needed.
  • Teacher shows students how to slide letters to reveal "b," making the word "bam."
  • Repeat this process to make and read the remaining suggested words on the Word Slide.
  • Consider having students practice letter formation by writing the words on lined paper.
    • Repeat Word Slides with "-an" words.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Keyword Letter Cards
    • Word Slide (one per student)
    • Letter writing paper and writing utensil (optional; one per student)

Partial Alphabetic:

  • Practice activity: Word Slides.
    • Students work with teacher to make and decode new words by changing just the initial letter in a word. Suggested words: ham, jam, ram.
  • Teacher says "am" and models thumb-tapping to segment the sounds and identify the two letters.
  • Teacher shows the Word Slide displaying "am."
  • Teacher asks students to identify the letter that would make "-am" to "bam." Students identify the letter using the Keyword Letter Cards.
  • Teacher shows students how to slide letters to reveal "b," making the word "bam."
  • Repeat this process to make and read the remaining suggested words on the Word Slide.
  • Consider having students practice letter formation by writing the words on lined paper.
    • Repeat Word Slides with "-an" words.
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Keyword Letter Cards
    • Word Slide (one per student)
    • Letter writing paper and writing utensil (optional; one per student)

Full and Consolidated Alphabetic:

  • Independent Practice activity: Word Slides.
    • Students make and decode new words by changing just the initial letter in a word.
  • Teacher says "am" and models thumb-tapping to segment the sounds and identify the two letters.
  • Teacher shows the "Word Slide" displaying "am."
  • Teacher shows students how to slide letters to reveal "b," making the word "bam."
  • Students repeat this process to make, read, and record the remaining suggested words on the Word Slide.
  • Consider having students try each consonant in the first position. This will result in decodable "nonsense words" such as "nam."
  • Consider having students practice letter formation by writing the words on lined paper or writing sentences or a story using some of the words they made.
    • Repeat Word Slides with "-an" words.
  • Conference with students about Accountable Independent Reading.
  • Choose a lesson from the K-2 Differentiation Packets to extend the students' learning. (Refer to the students' assessment data and the Assessment Conversion chart to determine an appropriate lesson or group of lessons.)
  • Additional Supporting Materials:
    • Word Slides (one per student)
    • Additional writing paper and writing utensils (one per student)

Copyright © 2013-2024 by EL Education, New York, NY.

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up

Help us improve our curriculum.

Tell us what’s going well, share your concerns and feedback.

Terms of use. To learn more about EL Education, visit eleducation.org

Leave feedback