Title: Exploring Trigraphs - Phonics Lesson for 5 and 6-year-olds
Objective: To introduce and reinforce the concept of trigraphs (three letters that make one sound) to young learners, enabling them to recognize and read words containing trigraphs.
Materials: - Whiteboard or chart paper - Markers - Flashcards with words containing trigraphs (e.g., “night,” “sigh,” “chop,” “shrimp,” “thump,” “whale,” etc.) - Letter cards (s, h, r, i, n, g, t, p, w, a, e, l, o, u, c)
Introduction (5 minutes): 1. Gather the students in a circle and introduce the concept of trigraphs by explaining that sometimes three letters come together to make one sound. 2. Show examples of trigraphs on the whiteboard or chart paper (e.g., “igh,” “sh,” “ch,” “th,” “wh,” etc.). 3. Ask the students if they can think of any words that have these special letter combinations.
Phonics Activity (15 minutes): 1. Distribute the flashcards with words containing trigraphs to each student. 2. Ask the students to take turns reading the words aloud, emphasizing the trigraph sound. 3. Encourage the students to identify the trigraph in each word and share it with the group. 4. As a group, discuss the meaning of each word and provide simple definitions if necessary. 5. Repeat the activity, allowing each student to have multiple turns.
Word Building (10 minutes): 1. Introduce the letter cards to the students. 2. Explain that they will now have the opportunity to build words using the trigraphs they have learned. 3. Place the letter cards face down on a table or the floor. 4. Ask each student to take turns flipping over a letter card and placing it in the middle. 5. Encourage the student to think of a word that contains the trigraph formed by the letter card and two other letters. 6. If the student successfully creates a word, they can keep the letter card. If not, the card is returned to the pile. 7. Continue until all the letter cards have been used or until time runs out. 8. Celebrate the words created by the students and reinforce the trigraph sounds.
Wrap-up (5 minutes): 1. Review the trigraphs learned during the lesson, emphasizing the sound each trigraph makes. 2. Encourage the students to practice reading and identifying trigraphs in their everyday reading. 3. Provide each student with a small set of flashcards containing trigraph words to take home for further practice. 4. Conclude the lesson by praising the students’ efforts and enthusiasm in learning about trigraphs.
Note: Adjust the duration of each activity based on the attention span and engagement level of the students.