Rationale: In the journey towards becoming a skillful reader, students must understand that phonemes, (vocal gestures making up spoken words), are made up of graphemes, that can be made up of more than one letter. Two-letter graphemes are called digraphs. One of the most prevalent digraphs is /sh/. This digraph is a very strong sound and easily identifiable in spoken words. This lesson will focus on the /sh/ digraph and help students to be able to identify this digraph in spoken and written words. The children will learn to identify /sh/ sound through tongue ticklers, reading, writing, and practice through a worksheet.

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Materials:

1. Primary paper

2. Pencils

3. Tongue twister poster (Shy Sally says she shall sew six sheets for her sister Shelby)

4. The book Shelly’s shell shop

5. The matching worksheet where they fill in the missing sh.

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Procedure:

1. Introduce the lesson by reminding the class that words are made up of vocal gestures. Sometimes those vocal gestures can be made up of two letters that make one sound together. This is called a digraph. Today we are going to work on the phoneme /sh/. [Point to this phoneme written on the poster paper.] Think about what sound a librarian makes when she is trying to quiet students in the library. "Sh!" Say that with me: "Sh!" Good Job!

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2. Ask students: When I think of “sh” I think of putting my finger over my lips like this. [Put pointer finger over your lips and say: sh!]. Ask students what shape their mouth makes when they make the /sh/ sound. Every time we hear the “sh” sound, we are going to put our fingers over our lips like we are telling someone to be quiet.

 

3. Now I want you to read this poster with me: "Shy Sally says she will sew six sheets for her sister Shelby" Everyone say it once more with me. Now, we are all going to say it again, but this time we are going to draw out the /sh/ sound like we are telling someone to be quiet: "Shhhhy Sally says shhhhe shhhhhall sew six shhhhheets for her sister Shhhhhelby" Good. This time, let's say it breaking off of the “sh” sound from the word: /Sh/y /Sally says /sh/e/ sh/ all/ sew six /sh/eets/ for her sister /Sh/elby.

 

4. Now we are going to practice writing /sh/ on our papers. Please take out your lined paper and a pencil. We have already learned how to write s and h by themselves, but they do not say /sh/ unless they are right beside each other. Watch me before you write on your paper. [Model writing sh.] Now, I want everyone to write /sh/ on their paper. I am going to walk around and check. Once I have seen yours, I want you to write it 9 more times.

 

5. Now let's see if we can hear the /sh/ in some words. Do you hear the /sh/ in ship or sat? Shy or silly? Simple or shade? Salty or shatter?

 

6. Pass out decodable text “Shelly’s Shell Shop”. Have the students read the text independently. Walk around the room to check for student’s understanding of /sh/. Booktalk: “Shane Shrek wants to spend his cash at Shelly’s Shell Shop. However, Shane discovers that Shelly’s shop is closed. Now he has to find somewhere else to spend his money. You will have to read the book to find out what Shane does!

 

7. Assessment: Now that they have a better understanding of the /Sh/ digraph. Pass out worksheet. Now I am going to give you a worksheet that has a few letters missing! Can you guess which letters? S and H! Good Job! I want y’all to write the /sh/ digraph in the blank spaces and then match the word to the pictures on the side with line using your pencils.

 

References:

Solomon, Leah. “Shelby says, “Shh be quiet”” http://www.auburn.edu/~las0045/solomonbr.htm

“Shelly’s Shell shop” Reading A to Z book https://www.readinga-z.com/book/decodable.php?id=46

Brackin, Kimberly. Shelly's Shiny Sea Shells http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/brackinkbr.htm

Worksheet link https://www.education.com/download/worksheet/62616/sounding-out-digraph-sh.pdf