“A” Was Once an Apple Pie

Phoneme Awareness Procedure 1. Read aloud or share an online version of “A” Was Once an Apple Pie, and draw attention to the silly language play on each page . Have children join in the language play by generating their own words to add to the story . 2. Construct a group book for a few letters of the alphabet . Have children choose a letter, identify its sound, and name an object that begins with the sound . 3. Model using the author’s pattern to create a page for your book . An example for the letters d and t are shown on the next page . 4. Record children’s ideas on large pieces of paper, one letter per page, and compile the papers into a book . Before binding the book, allow children to illustrate the pages if they would like to do so . Or, have children find pictures of objects in magazines to cut out and glue to the pages of the book . Differentiate or Extend ▲ To assist children in finding objects that can represent different letters of the alphabet, prepare a box of picture cards or objects, including at least one object for each letter of the alphabet, and allow children to look through the box for ideas . (“What starts with /d/? Oh! I see a toy dog!”) Note: X at the beginning of words usually represents the /z/ sound . Children are taught that the letter x represents /ks/ . Teachers should be thoughtful about how to use this letter in this activity and select an object that matches what children have learned about letter-sound correspondences . “A” Was Once an Apple Pie Objective Students will substitute initial phonemes in words and match phonemes to letters . Overview After reading this alphabet book in which the author uses nonsensical rhymes, the teacher invites children to generate new words by substituting phonemes and then create their own alphabet book . Materials “A” Was Once an Apple Pie by Edward Lear (2005); large and small sheets of paper; markers or crayons; glue; box filled with a variety of picture cards or objects (optional); magazines or other sources of pictures (optional) (pictures are available in the Digital Resources) School-Home Connection Use smaller sheets of paper for your group book, and make a photocopy for each child . Children may ask family members to read their book . sample sample 156

Phoneme Awareness

Sample Page Letter Sample Page

“D” was once a little dog. Doggy Zoggy Poggy Coggy Cutey Doggy Little dog t

“T” was once a tasty treat. Treaty Featy Peaty Weaty Tiny treat Tasty treat d “A” Was Once an Apple Pie (cont.) sample