Skill Building

Lesson Plans for SAMMY STUFFIT level N

Building Skills

Phonics
Short u phonogram (or rime)
Explain to children that a phonogram is a letter (or series of letters) that stands for a sound, syllable, or series of sounds without reference to meaning. For example, the phonogram (or rime) -uff contains three letters and stands for the short u sound and the f. It can be found in words like stuff, puff, scuff, etc. Phonograms are often referred to as word families, for example: The words face, space, and replace belong to the same word family because they all contain the ending -ace. The ending -ace is a phonogram (or rime). Help children to brainstorm a list of phonograms or rimes for the short u phonogram and write them on the chalkboard or chart paper. Next try a different short u phonogram, such as -un or -ug. When children feel confident with the information, introduce the short u -ough (rough, tough, slough) phonogram. Continue with other phonograms, such as the short i or short o.

Help children to understand that words contain recognizable chunks. Recognizing these word parts or patterns as they read is an important step in developing reading fluency.

Word Work
Grammar

Explain that some words can be used as both nouns and verbs—for example, "Sammy stuffed his stuff in drawers."
Provide helpful definitions for the words stuff and stuffed and give examples of how each can be used as a noun and a verb. Write the information on the chalkboard or chart paper:
Noun. The material or ingredients something is made of—what kind of stuff is in this soup?
Noun. Personal belongings—I put my stuff in my backpack.
Noun. Useless or worthless things, junk—The garage is full of old stuff.
Verb. To fill something tightly—Sammy stuffed the barges with his stuff.
Have children work in pairs to reread the story and look at how the words stuff and stuffed are used as nouns and as verbs. When they have completed the Word Work, ask them to share what they found.
Next, ask children to think of other words that could be used in the same way, such as study or stream. Help them to use the words as nouns and as verbs.

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