Segmenting Words Lesson Plan

Segmenting Words Lesson Plan for Interactive Whiteboard or Computer Lab

Overview

It is essential that children can listen to, and then segment words into the individual phonemes that they are constructed of. The ability to recognise the individual phonemes and their corresponding graphemes means that children will be able to spell effectively and accurately.
The software has a unique segmenting activity that supports the learning of this process in a fun and engaging way.
The segmenting activity presents CVCC / CCVC words by saying the word with a flashcard; please note the flash card can be hidden so that only the word is said. Below the word is a phoneme frame, with a random selection of graphemes and grapheme digraphs. The objective of the segmenting activity is for the student to select the correct phonemes by rolling their mouse over the graphemes to hear the phoneme, and then to decide whether that phoneme is within the word currently in play. Then, to simply drag and drop that grapheme/phoneme into the correct frame within the phoneme frame.
Each word successfully segmented into its individual phonemes means that Little Mo earns extra Z coins; essential for visiting Garden World to buy gardening products that will help her plants grow.
This lesson plan provides: ideas for lesson starters, how to use the software, extensions for the lessons and also a plenary activity. Resources are provided (e.g. alphabet cards).

Context of Lesson

Learn to spell words by: identifying the individual phonemes and their corresponding graphemes within CVCC and CCVC words.

Resources Required

Consonant Blends reading software, interactive whiteboard or computer suite, consonant alphabet and digraph flashcards, zebra puppet (needed for lesson starter 1), mini individual whiteboards with pens (or paper and pens), homework sheet

Learning Objectives

a. Word recognition: decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling)

Identify the constituent parts of two-syllable and three-syllable words to support the application of phonic knowledge and skills
Read and spell phonically decodable two-syllable and three-syllable words

b. Word Structure and Spelling:

Spell new words using phonics as the prime approach
Segment sounds into their constituent phonemes in order to spell them correctly
Spell with increasing accuracy and confidence, drawing on word recognition and knowledge of word structure, and spelling patterns including common inflections and use of double letters.

Using the Reading Game: Consonant Blend Lesson Starters

Lesson Starter Option 1:

Introduce Little Mo the zebra puppet; explain to the class that Little Mo is trying to count the number of phonemes in a word and they must help her listen for the individual phonemes.
Start segmenting with some simple CVC words, e.g. cat or hat. Teacher to say the word and then Little Mo to sound it out. On the teacher's one hand Little Mo is sounding the word out and on the other hand the teacher is counting the number of phonemes on their fingers, once the number of phonemes has been successfully counted then the word to be written on the whiteboard. Can the class segment the next word?
Continue the exercise, extending it to include CVCC / CCVC words with a mixture of Little Mo sounding out the words and the class. Don't worry if you're not an expert ventriloquist; the children will love your efforts.

Lesson Starter Option 2:

In order to correctly identify phonemes during the segmenting session it is a useful aid to do a simple recall memory exercise as a warm-up.
Children to sit in a circle, teacher to present a random selection of alphabet cards plus a mixture of digraphs one-by-one to each child in the circle. Child to say the phoneme corresponding to the alphabet/grapheme card, next child in the circle to say the next phoneme.

Lesson Starter Option 3:

It is also essential that children understand that learning how to segment words effectively means that they will be able to understand which graphemes to use when writing words.
Teacher to distribute mini-whiteboards and pens to the class. Teacher to say CVCC / CCVC words and class to sound them out, then writing the word on their mini-whiteboard. Teacher to ask some of the children to read out one of the words on their whiteboard.

Consonant Blends Reading Game: Main Activity

Load the interactive reading game on to the interactive whiteboard and select which CVCC / CCVC words are going to be used from the left hand navigation buttons. Please note: custom words can be selected from the SELECT WORDS option at the bottom of the left-hand navigation (follow the on-screen prompts to select words for the custom game).
Once the introduction screen of the game has loaded then explain to the class that they are going to help Little Mo in her secret garden: she's trying to segment CVCC / CCVC words so that she can earn Z coins (the local currency) to spend in her local Garden World, where she can buy things to help her plants grow.
Select the Start button and then choose the Segment option from the dialogue box.
Next ask the class which kinds of plants they would like to grow today? Choose from the Singing Sirens, the Greedy Gobblers or the Speedy Spinners!
The first CVCC / CCVC word appears on the screen with a phoneme frame and a selection of graphemes and grapheme digraphs. The CVCC / CCVC word is said as-well-as displayed on a flashcard (please note: for more advanced children then the flashcard can be hidden). Click the loud speaker icon or the CVCC / CCVC flashcard to hear the word again.
Teacher to ask the class what phonemes are used to make the CVCC / CCVC word on the screen in front of them. Play the word again and ask the children to listen really hard. Which is the first phoneme that they can hear.
Using the mouse, teacher to roll over the random selection of graphemes at the bottom of the screen. Rolling the mouse over the graphemes at the bottom of the screen plays the associated phoneme. Can the class hear the phoneme that begins the CVCC word (or ends the CCVC word)? Teacher can literally play the word then roll over the graphemes one-by-one; is it this one? Then move on to the next until the class decide that they have found the correct phoneme.
Then simply drag the grapheme/phoneme up to the phoneme frame.
Begin the selection process again. Can the class hear the next phoneme? Continue until the class decide that all phonemes have been added to the phoneme frame. Please note: that an empty cell of the phoneme frame may be left over if the CVCC / CCVC word contains a consonant digraph.
If an incorrect phoneme is dragged up to the phoneme frame then it can be undone by clicking the undo button.
Once the class have decided that they have added all the individual phonemes that make a word into the phoneme frame then teacher to play the CVCC / CCVC word once more and then roll over each grapheme/phoneme within the phoneme frame – can the class hear the word?
Click the Check Word button which will mark the CVCC / CCVC word automatically. Point out to the class that each time they segment a word into its individual phonemes then Little Mo earns extra Zs; point to the display in the top right of the screen.
Click the Next button to bring the next word on to the screen.
If using the game in a classroom setting then ask one of the children to come up to the interactive whiteboard to operate the clicking and dragging. Class to help the selected child choose the correct graphemes/phonemes for adding to the phoneme frame.
Once two words have been segmented then class have to choose whether Little Mo visits Garden World where she can spend some of the Zs to help her plants grow. Please note: if there is minimal saving then the best products cannot be bought, therefore giving the children a sense of saving means you can buy better things in the long run!
Continue the segmenting CVCC words reading game selecting different children to come to the interactive whiteboard to play the game with the help of the class.
If the lesson is in the computer suite then children to play the game in pairs, swapping control of the mouse for each word and visit to Garden World.
The plants will be fully grown once all the CVCC words have been successfully segmented.

Plenary 1:

Teacher to hand-out mini-whiteboards and pens to the class. Working with a partner, first child to think of a CVCC / CCVC word in the game and sound it out to their partner. Partner to write the word on their mini-whiteboard. Children to swap roles and repeat.

Plenary 2:

Teacher to hand-out mini-whiteboards and pens to the class. Teacher to read out a sentence which has a missing CVCC / CCVC word from the game in it, e.g. the - - - - had lost his crown! Children to say the word king, then write the word on their mini-whiteboards.

Plenary 3:

If in the computer suite, then children to use a word processor programme to write simple sentences using CVCC / CCVC words from the game. Children to work in pairs and read the sentence that they have typed to their partner; partner to sound out the CVCC / CCVC word from the game they have just heard in the sentence. Reverse roles and repeat.

Literacy Homework:

Using the homework sheet, children to segment the given words into the provided phoneme frames.

Popular consonant clusters covered by this lesson plan and our software include:

CVCC Words

ng words, including: ring, sing, bang, song, wing, hang, long, king, sung, rang, ding, dong, ping, pong, lung, sang, hung
ld words, including: gold, fold, cold, mold, bald, bold, held, hold, sold, told
nd words, including: band, bend, bond, fond, fund, hand, mend, pond, sand, wind
lk words, including: bulk, hulk, walk, milk, silk, talk
nk words, including: bank, wink, sink, pink, honk, bunk, sank, link, junk, rink,, sunk, tank
sk words, including: busk, disk, mask, risk, task
lp words, including: help, pulp, yelp, gulp
mp words, including: bump, damp, dump, hump, jump, lamp, limp, lump, pump, ramp
sp words, including: gasp, lisp, wasp
ft words, including: daft, gift, left, loft, raft, rift, soft
lt words, including: belt, bolt, felt, halt, salt, silt, tilt
nt words, including: bent, dent, font, hunt, mint, rent, sent, tent, vent, went
ss words, including: less, pass, loss, mass, kiss, boss, mess, toss, moss, hiss, Jess
ff words, including: buff, cuff, gaff, huff, luff, riff
sh words, including: fish, dish, wish, hush, rash, mash, cash, dash, lash, bash, push, rush
ch words, including: rich, much, such
ll words, including: bell, ball, bill, call, doll, dull, fall, fill, full, hall, hill, roll, sell, tell, will, wall
ck words, including: sock, back, tack, rock, pick, neck, luck, buck, deck, tick, dock, duck, hack, kick, lack, lick, muck, pack