4. Videos: See Glued Sounds Instruction in the Classroom

In a lesson about the glued sounds /an/ and /am/, Ashton Smith, a kindergarten teacher at Hope-Hill Elementary School in Atlanta, explains that when followed by an 'n' or an 'm', the letter ‘a’ sounds a bit different. She offers various opportunities to practice the sounds in words like fan and bam, setting students up to read the words correctly in phrases and sentences.

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Ashton Smith: Touch the sky. Touch toes. Touch toes. Ah, I got you.

Narrator: Today, Ashton Smith will be teaching her kindergartners about the glued sounds /an/ and /am/ found in words like fan and bam. Some call these welded sounds.

Ashton Smith: All right. For today's word game, I'm going to give you the beginning sound and the rime and you're going to put the word together ... /h/, /am/ ...

Students: ham ...

Narrator: They begin with a listening game using words that contain the sounds they're focusing on.

Ashton Smith: Ready?

Narrator: Ms. Smith and paraprofessional Diamond Jones Jones model hand motions to help students with the exercise.

Ashton Smith: /r/, /amp/ ...

Students: ramp ...

Ashton Smith: All right, we're going to do our deck ...

Narrator: Next, they'll review skills they've already been taught -- short vowels and digraphs.

Ashton Smith: All right, here we go. You ready? Let's go ...

Ms. Smith and students: /ĭ/ ...

Ashton Smith: Very good.

Narrator: Until now, these students have mostly read the letter 'a' with its short sound, enclosed syllable words like bat.

Ms. Smith and students: /ă/ ...

Narrator:

But when 'a' is followed by an 'n' or an 'm', it sounds a little different. Ms. Smith will now explicitly teach them this new phonics pattern.

Ashton Smith: So we know the 'a' says ...

Ms. Smith and students: /ă/ ...

Ashton Smith: Eyes on me ... We know the 'a' says ...

Ms. Smith and students: /ă/ ...

Ashton Smith: All right, we know that 'm' says ...

Ms. Smith and students: /m/ ...

Ashton Smith: And 'n' says ...

Ms. Smith and students: /n/ ...

Ashton Smith: But when we see 'a', 'm' in a word together, our 'a' doesn't say /ă/ ... the 'm' kind of makes it say a funny sound. So when we read it together, it's going to be a chunk, it's going to be glued together. But let me tell you why. Are you ready? Make the 'm' sound for me.

Ms. Smith and students: /m/ ...

Ashton Smith: Now pinch your nose. It stops, right? So because 'm' comes from up here, then it makes our 'a' say something funny. That's why it's a glued sound. So give me the 'n' sound ...

Ms. Smith and students: /n/ ...

Narrator: Since the sounds for 'n' and 'm' actually come out of your nose, we call them nasal sounds. They distort the sound the letter 'a' usually makes.

Ashton Smith: That's why when we read it together, it sounds a little bit funny, It doesn't say /ă/. Okay, so we're going to call this a glued sound. They're glued together. So, 'a', 'n', /an/, van ... like in van. Okay, so lemme hear you say 'a', 'n', van, /an/ ...

Students: 'a', 'n', van, /an/ ...

And so when you see 'a' and 'n' together in a word, it's a chunk, is glued together and you're just going to read it ... /an/. And so we're not going to say each sound when we read it. Okay? So let's try it again ... 'a', 'n', van, /an/ ...

Ms. Smith and students: 'a', 'n', van, /an/ ...

Ashton Smith: Very good. Now guess what? There's another one.

Students: /am/ ... /am/ ...

Ashton Smith: /am/ ... So when we see 'a', 'm' together in a word, we're not going to say /ă/, /m/ ... we're going to take the glued sound or the chunk and we're going to read it together. Okay? So let's try ... 'a', 'm', ham /am/ ...

Students: a', 'm', ham /am/ ...

Ashton Smith: All right, because we learned /an/ is a glued sound and /am/ is a glued sound, we're going to practice reading them fluently with our ...

Narrator: In order to become fluent readers, students must practice reading words accurately, first in isolation then in phrases and sentences.

Ashton Smith: Ready, 'a', 'n', /an/ ... your turn ...

Students: 'a', 'n', /an/ ...

Narrator: The students activate multiple senses as they trace the letters and say the sounds. They do this three times to get in plenty of practice.

Ashton Smith: Very good. All right, let's move to /am/. Ready? 'a', 'm', /am/ ...

Students: 'a', 'm', /am/ ...

Ashton Smith: One more time ...

Narrator: Watch as Ms. Smith scaffolds this next activity. She starts by guiding her students through reading the first row together.

Ashton Smith: Perfect. Finger on the first word. Is it /an/ or /am/?

Students: /an/ ....

Ashton Smith: /an/ ... So when we read it, we're going to say /an/ ... I want to see you read it with me. Ready?

Ms. Smith and students: /f/, /an/ ...

Ashton Smith: What's our word?

Students: fan ...

Ashton Smith: fan" ... Very good. Let's trace that word. Underline that word. Ready?

Ms. Smith and students: fan ...

Ashton Smith: All right, let's move to the next one. Put your finger on the next word. We're going to practice this row together because you're going to do it by yourself next. Do we have /an/ or /am/?

Students: /an/ ...

Ashton Smith: /an/ ... All right, let's read it together. Ready?

Ms. Smith and students: man ...

Ashton Smith: Next word. I want to see if you can read it before I get it. Ready?

Ms. Smith and students: pan ...

Ashton Smith: pan ... Now, this one's tricky. Are you ready? Look. Where is our /an/ sound? Is it the beginning or the end?

Ms. Smith and students: Beginning ...

Ashton Smith: What's our word?

Ms. Smith and students: ant ...

Ashton Smith: You guys are so smart. So smart. Here's what I want you guys to do. Put your finger on this next line, and I'm going to come around ... Ms. Jones and I are going to listen. We're going to see if you can read these words fluently. And that means not like a ...

Students: robot ...

Ashton Smith: Not like a robot. All right, put your finger on this roller right here.

Narrator: Now, Ms. Smith asks her students to read the words independently. As needed, she and Ms. Jones are there to help the students with accuracy.

Ms. Smith and Ms. Jones: Yeah. Let's say our first sound again ... /c/, /am/, p/, camp ... /c/, /am/, /p/, ... now put it together.

Ashton Smith: All right. You guys did a great job practicing by yourself. So now we're going to read 'em all together, but I want you to read 'em with me so I'm not going to read it first. We're all going to read it together. Okay? Are you ready? Go ...

Ms. Smith and students: fan, man, pan, ant, sand ...

Narrator: Notice how many opportunities Ms. Smith gives her students to read the words accurately. It is this repetition that sets the students up to read the words correctly in phrases and sentences.

Ashton Smith: All right, guys, I want you to put your finger on this box right here. This is a phrase we're going to practice reading a phrase and a phrase just means it's a little part of a sentence. It's not a whole sentence. Okay? So I'm going to read the phrase and I'm going to show you how to read it fluently. And then I want you to read the phrase, okay? If you heard that, give me a thumbs up. All right. Put your finger on the first box. All right. I'm going to read it first and then I want you to read it. Ready? "A big fan" ...

Students: "A big fan" ...

Ashton Smith: Oh, I love how you read that. Let's try it one more time. "A big fan" ...

Students: "A big fan" ...

Ashton Smith: Put your finger on the second box. Ready? "Clap my hands" ...

Students: "Clap my hands" ...

Ashton Smith: Let me see you underline or touch each word as you read it. Ready? "Clap my hands." All right, last one. Fingers on the last box. Now this is going to be my favorite one, so I need everybody following along. You ready? "Jam to the band."

Students: "Jam to the band" ...

Ashton Smith: Let's try it again. "Jam to the band" ...

Students: "Jam to the band" ...

Ashton Smith: What does it mean if you're jamming to the band? Everybody stand up. Show me what it means. "Jam to the band" ... Lemme see who's playing an instrument. Who's got a guitar? Who's going to sing? Who's going to be my singer?

Narrator: Ms. Smith's students are going to be running across words with glued sounds more and more in stories and books. Words like ran and ham and yes, jam and band. Thanks to all of these opportunities to practice, they'll be ready.

Ashton Smith: Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, the Hastings/Quillen Fund, an advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the AFT, The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and anonymous donors. Special thanks to Hope-Hill Elementary, Reading Is Essential for All People, and Atlanta Public Schools. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. Reading Universe is a service of WETA Washington, D.C., the Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.

Ashton Smith: My name is Ashton Smith, and this is Reading Universe.