📚 Decoding Digraphs: A Grade 1 Teacher's Guide
This lesson plan focuses on introducing and reinforcing the digraphs 'sh', 'ch', 'th', 'wh', and 'ck' to first-grade students. The goal is to help students recognize these digraphs in words and accurately pronounce them, improving their reading and spelling skills. Let's dive in!
🎯 Objectives
- 👂🏼 Students will be able to aurally discriminate between words with and without the target digraphs.
- 📖 Students will be able to identify the digraphs 'sh', 'ch', 'th', 'wh', and 'ck' in written words.
- ✍🏽 Students will be able to produce words containing the target digraphs both orally and in writing.
- 🗣️ Students will be able to read sentences containing words with the target digraphs fluently.
🖍️ Materials
- 🖨️ Printable worksheets (included below) featuring words and pictures with 'sh', 'ch', 'th', 'wh', and 'ck'.
- ✂️ Scissors
- 🖍️ Crayons or colored pencils
- glue sticks
- whiteboard or chart paper
- markers
☀️ Warm-up (5 minutes)
- 🗣️ Sound Sort: Say a word and have students identify the initial sound. For example, "Ship... /sh/!" "Chair... /ch/!"
- 🖐🏽 Action Words: Use actions to represent each sound: 'sh' (quiet gesture), 'ch' (chopping motion), 'th' (tongue between teeth), 'wh' (blowing out a candle), 'ck' (clicking fingers).
✏️ Main Instruction
Part 1: Introduction (10 minutes)
- ✍🏾 Introduce each digraph separately, writing it on the board and explaining the sound it makes.
- 🗣️ Provide several examples of words containing the digraph (e.g., sh: ship, ch: chair, th: think, wh: whale, ck: clock).
- 🖼️ Show pictures representing these words to aid comprehension.
Part 2: Activity: Digraph Sorting (15 minutes)
- ✂️ Students cut out word cards (printable worksheet) featuring words with the target digraphs.
- сортира Students sort the word cards into columns labeled with the correct digraph (sh, ch, th, wh, ck).
- 🤝 After sorting, students can work in pairs to read the words aloud to each other.
Part 3: Activity: Picture Matching (15 minutes)
- 🖼️ Students match picture cards (printable worksheet) to the corresponding word cards with digraphs.
- ✍️ Students write the word represented by the picture below it, practicing spelling and digraph recognition.
Part 4: Activity: Sentence Building (10 minutes)
- 🧩 Provide sentence strips with missing words containing the target digraphs (printable worksheet).
- ✍️ Students fill in the blanks with appropriate words from a word bank to complete the sentences.
- 🗣️ Have students read the completed sentences aloud.
📝 Assessment
Informal Assessment:
- 👀 Observe students’ participation in activities and their ability to correctly identify and pronounce the digraphs in words.
- 👂 Listen to students read words and sentences aloud, noting any difficulties with pronunciation or blending.
Formal Assessment:
- ✍️ Worksheet Review: Collect the completed worksheets and assess students’ ability to sort words, match pictures, and complete sentences correctly.
- 🗣️ Individual Reading: Have each student read a short passage containing several words with the target digraphs and assess their fluency and accuracy.