The Letter A – Day 1: “Meet the letter A”

I. Aim/Objective
SWBAT use technology that is introduced, including the blog, links, videos, vokis, and
Scribd documents.
SWBAT identify the letter A, as well as some of the sounds it makes, and identify
words that use the letter A.

II. Learning Standards

NYS: Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and
understanding.
NYS: Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.
ESL: Standard 1: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for information
and understanding.
ESL: Standard 4: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for classroom
and social interaction.
ISTE: Standard 2: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and
work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and
contribute to the learning of others.
ISTE: Standard 6: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology
concepts, systems, and operations.

III. Prior Knowledge/Motivation

Students are familiar with basic web browser commands, such as opening a browser,
entering a web address, moving forward and backward between pages, and following
links.
Students have varying degrees of exposure to spoken and written English language,
and most of them know at least some of their sight words.
Students are in the first grade, and have experience living both in the United States
and overseas.

IV. Materials
Internet-capable computers (one per child)
Paper
Pens or pencils
Printer

V. Procedure
Students the class by building excitement: Ask students if anyone has ever watched
a movie, and then ask if anyone has ever watched a movie online. Ask if anyone has
ever had a teacher talk, then ask if anyone has ever had a computer talk.
Once the students are ready, introduce them to the unit’s main blog post and explain
that this will be a four-day unit on the letter A. Now is a good time to review moving
forward and backward on a web browser, as well as using links.
When students are ready, let them begin. They will navigate through the blog, step
by step, to access instructions and content and to share their ideas with their
classmates.

VI. Practice
Students will navigate the blog and employ the features of their own. They will also
generate words with the letter A in them and share them with their classmates online.
Students will learn how to print out their own writing practice worksheets, which they
will take home and complete.
VII. Performance-based Assessment of Student Learning
The teacher will make informal assessments as he or she moves about the room,
observing students for ease or difficulty of using internet-based tools, following
directions, and completing tasks.
The Letter A – Day 2: “Exploring the Letter A”

I. Aim/Objective
SWBAT use technology that is introduced, including the blog, links, videos, vokis, and
Scribd documents.
SWBAT produce and identify short and long A sounds, and identify words that use
those sounds.

II. Learning Standards

NYS: Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and
understanding.
NYS: Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.
ESL: Standard 1: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for information
and understanding.
ESL: Standard 4: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for classroom
and social interaction.
ISTE: Standard 2: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and
work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and
contribute to the learning of others.
ISTE: Standard 6: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology
concepts, systems, and operations.

III. Prior Knowledge/Motivation

Students are familiar with basic web browser commands, such as opening a browser,
entering a web address, moving forward and backward between pages, and following
links. They have been recently acquainted with internet tools like voki, Scribd, and
YouTube, and they have each printed documents.
Students have varying degrees of exposure to spoken and written English language,
and most of them know at least some of their sight words.
Students are in the first grade, and have experience living both in the United States
and overseas.

IV. Materials
Internet-capable computers (one per child)
Paper
Pens or pencils
Printer

V. Procedure
Start by discussing the previous lesson. Ask students what their favorite part was,
and what the hardest part was. Go over any challenging tasks that they identify
together as a group. Then let the students begin the next lesson, “Day 2: Exploring
the Letter A.”

VI. Practice
Students will navigate the blog and employ the features of their own. Students will
work both independently and cooperatively to think about the shape of the letter A,
the short and long A sounds, and some words that those sounds are used in. When
students come to the end of the lesson, they will print out their own writing practice
worksheets to take home and complete.

VII. Performance-based Assessment of Student Learning

The teacher will make informal assessments as he or she moves about the room,
observing students for ease or difficulty of using internet-based tools, following
directions, and completing tasks. In addition, the teacher will also look for an ability
to produce and identify both long and short A sounds.
The Letter A – Day 3: “Having Fun with the Letter A”

I. Aim/Objective
SWBAT use technology that is introduced, including the blog, links, videos, vokis,
Scribd documents, and SlideShare slide shows.
SWBAT produce and identify short and long A sounds, and identify words that use
those sounds.

II. Learning Standards

NYS: Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and
understanding.
ESL: Standard 1: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for information
and understanding.
ISTE: Standard 2: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and
work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and
contribute to the learning of others.
ISTE: Standard 6: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology
concepts, systems, and operations.

III. Prior Knowledge/Motivation

Students are familiar with basic web browser commands, such as opening a browser,
entering a web address, moving forward and backward between pages, and following
links. They have been recently acquainted with internet tools like voki, Scribd, and
YouTube, and they have each printed documents.
Students have varying degrees of exposure to spoken and written English language,
and most of them know at least some of their sight words.
Students are in the first grade, and have experience living both in the United States
and overseas.

IV. Materials
Internet-capable computers (one per child)
Blank white paper
Pens or pencils
Printer
Crayons and/or markers

V. Procedure
Start by discussing the previous lesson and going over any challenging tasks that the
group identifies as difficult. Then let the students begin the next lesson, “Day 3:
Having Fun with the Letter A.”

VI. Practice
Students will navigate the blog and employ the features of their own. Students will
use a variety of internet-based tools to explore the letter A, and will also employ their
own creativity to begin a poster that they will use in the next session to present a
word to the class.

VII. Performance-based Assessment of Student Learning

The teacher will make informal assessments as he or she moves about the room,
observing students for ease or difficulty of using internet-based tools, following
directions, and completing tasks. In addition, the teacher will also look for an ability
to produce and identify both long and short A sounds.
The Letter A – Day 4: “Sharing What We Learned About the Letter A”

I. Aim/Objective
SWBAT give a short presentation on the word they created a poster for.
SWBAT produce and identify short and long A sounds, and identify words that use
those sounds.

II. Learning Standards

NYS: Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and
understanding.
NYS: Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and
evaluation.
ESL: Standard 1: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for information
and understanding.
ESL: Standard 4: Students will listen, speak, read, and write in English for classroom
and social interaction.

III. Prior Knowledge/Motivation

Students are now familiar with the letter A and two of the sounds that it makes, the
long A sound and the short A sound.
Students can make words that use the letter A and can identify the A sound in them
as being a long A sound or a short A sound.
Students have varying degrees of exposure to spoken and written English language,
and most of them know at least some of their sight words.
Students are in the first grade, and have experience living both in the United States
and overseas.

IV. Materials
Students’ word posters (the homework from Day 3)
Teacher’s word poster (to model with)

V. Procedure
Start by explaining to students what you want them to do: introduce the word, tell if it
uses a long S sound or a short A sound, make that sound, and explain how the
picture represents the word.
Then, hold up a sample poster and model a presentation so students can see how it
is done. Afterwards, ask for a volunteer who seems confident to start the
presentations.

VI. Practice
Each student presents his or her own word poster.

VII. Performance-based Assessment of Student Learning

The teacher will use a rubric to assess students’ posters.