Teaching the Short 'u' Sound: Full Lesson

Fadia Olrich: Good morning, everybody.

Narrator: Today, teacher Fadia Olrich will teach the short /ŭ/ sound to our kindergartners. She begins this phonics lesson with a listening game to help her students hear all the sounds and words.

Fadia Olrich: So we've been working on blending sounds together to make words, right?

Students: Yes.

Fadia Olrich: Yeah. So we've been using different strategies like the Stretching-Out Strategy, right? So let's practice real quick. So like the word bat ... repeat ...

Ms. Olrich and students: bat ... /b/, /ă/, /t/ ... "bat ....

Fadia Olrich: And we've also done the Tap-It-Out Strategy. Let's try that. Let's try the word bat again. Say Bat, bat ...

Ms. Olrich and students: bat ... /b/, /ă/, /t/ ...  bat ....

Fadia Olrich: Well, guess what? We're going to learn a whole other strategy as well. This is the Rollercoaster Strategy. Isn't that cool?

Students: Yeah.

Fadia Olrich: So the rollercoaster strategy helps us figure out the sounds and words, especially the middle vowel sound. So watch this first word. This word is "met." Say met ...

Students: met ...

Fadia Olrich: So watch what I do. I'm going to start at the bottom of the rollercoaster ...

Ms. Olrich and students: /m/, /ĕ/, /t/ ... met ...

Fadia Olrich: Good. Let's do the word hat. You ready? Repeat after me, hat ...

Students: hat ...

Fadia Olrich: All right. Finger at the bottom of the rollercoaster ...

Ms. Olrich and students: /h/, /ă/, /t/, hat ...

Fadia Olrich: Good. All right. So the next thing we're going to do is we're going to practice our letters and letter sounds, okay? All right. What letter is this?

Students: 't' ...

Fadia Olrich: 't' says /t/ ...

Narrator:  Now Ms. Ulrich runs through these letter flashcards to help her students build automaticity with naming letters and sounds.

Fadia Olrich: 'i' says /ĭ/ ... Good job, friends.

Ms. Olrich and students: 'm' says /m/ ...

Narrator: Next, Ms. Ulrich will provide direct, explicit instruction in the short 'u' vowel sound, including how to make the sound.

Fadia Olrich: This is letter 'u'. Can you say you 'u'?

Ms. Olrich and students: 'u' ...

Fadia Olrich: And 'u' says /ŭ/ for umbrella. Can you say umbrella?

Students: umbrella ...

Fadia Olrich: Do you hear the /ŭ/ sound, in umbrella?

Students: Yes ...

Fadia Olrich: Yes. So what we're going to do is I'm going to give you a mirror and we're going to practice making the /ŭ/ sound with our mirrors. Sound good?

Students: Yeah.

Fadia Olrich: Okay. Go ahead and open up your mirror. You can do one quick smile, cheese. Very good. Look at those beautiful smiles. Look at your mirror. And I want you to find your mouth. You see your mouth in your mirror? Look very carefully. You got it? All right. So say the /ŭ/ sound.

Students: /ŭ/ ...

Fadia Olrich: Now look at your mouth. Is it open or is it closed?

Students: Open ...

Fadia Olrich: Yep. Kaeylina?

Kaeylina: Open.

Fadia Olrich: It's open. All right. Try it again. Say, /ŭ/ ...

Students: /ŭ/ ...

Fadia Olrich: Good. Now your tongue is at the bottom of your mouth. It's relaxed and it's touching the bottom of your teeth, right? Now, touch your throat and say /ŭ/ ...

Students: /ŭ/ ...

Fadia Olrich: Did you feel a vibration when you made the ah sound?

Students: Yes ...

Fadia Olrich: Yes, so it's a voiced sound, right? All right. Ready? Look at your mirror. All right, say up ...

Students: up ..

Fadia Olrich: upstairs ...

Students: upstairs ...

Fadia Olrich: unfair ...

Students: unfair ...

Fadia Olrich: And now we're going to say words that have the /ŭ/ sound in the middle of the word. Okay? So look at your mirror. Say hum ...

Students: hum ...

Fadia Olrich: Now look at your mouth ... /h/ /ŭ/, /m/. You see the /ŭ/ sound that you're making, and you hear it? All right. Good. Now try your rollercoaster. Ready? Start at the bottom. Let's write through the word hum again. Ready?

Ms. Olrich and students: /h/, /ŭ/, /m/ ... hum ...

Fadia Olrich: Let's try bug. Ready?

Ms. Olrich and students: /b/, /ŭ/, /g/ ... bug ...

Fadia Olrich: Do you hear ...

Narrator: Ms. Ulrich ends today's lesson by having the children blend sounds together to read words with the short 'u' sound.

Fadia Olrich: So now we're going to read some words that have the /ŭ/ sound in them to practice because you guys are rock stars with the /ŭ/ sound, aren't you?

Students: Yeah.

Fadia Olrich: So again, you says, /ŭ/ ...

Students: /ŭ/ ...

Fadia Olrich: All right. So let's practice this word. Ready?

Ms. Olrich and students: /h/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... hut ...

Fadia Olrich: Let's try another word. So remember, this can be real or a nonsense word. So let's see. What letter is this?

Ms. Olrich and students: 'd' ...

Fadia Olrich: And 'd' says /d/ ... ready?

Ms. Olrich and students: /d/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... dut ...

Fadia Olrich: Is that a real or nonsense word?

Ms. Olrich and students: Nonsense word ...

Fadia Olrich: All right, let's try this word. What letter is this? 'g' ...

Students: 'g' ...

Fadia Olrich: And 'g' says /g/ ... Ready?

Ms. Olrich and students: /g/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... gut ...

Narrator: The structure of this short /ŭ/ phonics lesson, starting with sounds, moving to letters, and ending with reading words helps children develop the skills they need to become strong readers.

Ms. Olrich and students: /c/, /ŭ/, /t/ ... cut ...

Fadia Olrich: You are awesome. Yay. All right. Good job, friends. Yay!

Narrator: Enjoyed this video? Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel @RUTeaching. For more information, please visit ReadingUniverse.org. Special thanks to the Toledo Federation of Teachers, Riverside Elementary School, and Toledo Public Schools in Toledo, Ohio. Reading Universe is made possible by generous support from Jim & Donna Barksdale, the American Federation of Teachers, The Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, and three anonymous donors. Reading Universe is a service of WETA, Washington, D.C., The Barksdale Reading Institute, and First Book.