Say: In order to become expert readers we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. We have already learned to read other short vowel words with a, e, and i, like rat hen and pig, and today we are going to learn about short o and the sound it makes /o/. When I say /o/ I think of going to the doctor and the doctor saying stick your tongue out and say ahh! (show image). 

Say: Before we learn about the spelling of /o/, we need to listen for it in some words. When I listen for /o/ in words, I hear o say its’ name /o/ and my mouth opens wide like I’m at the doctor, I feel my tongue press against the bottom of my mouth, and feel air blow out. There is a short o in the word pot. Now I’m going to see if it’s in the word pan. Hmm, I didn’t hear o say its name and my mouth was not open like I was at the doctor. Now you try. If you hear /o/ say “Ahh!” If you don’t hear /o/ say “That’s not it.” Is it in cat, bed, rock, lick, not, dock? (Have children act like they are opening their mouth wide at the doctor and sticking their tongue out when they hear /o/ say its name) 

Say: Now let’s look for o=/o/ when it is in a word. (Write o on the board) What if I want to spell the word job? “She did a good job.” To spell job in letterboxes, first I need to know how many phonemes I have in the word so I stretch it out and count: /j/  /o/ /b/. I need 3 boxes. I heard the /o/ sound just before the /b/ so I’m going to put an o in the second box. The word starts with /j/, that’s easy I need a j. I have one empty box now. Let’s stretch it out to find what letter we are missing (Point to letters in boxes when stretching out the word: /j/ /o/ /b/) The missing one is /b/ which is the letter b. 

Now I am going to have you spell some words in letterboxes. We are going to start out easy with just two letterboxes for the word ox. The black ox has mud on its feet. What should go in the first box? (Respond to children’s answers) What goes in the second box? I’ll check your spelling while I walk around the room (observe progress). You will need three letterboxes for the next word. Listen for the beginning sound that goes in the first box, and then listen for /o/. Here’s the word: hot, The cake was hot when it came out of the oven; hot. (allow children to spell words) Okay, it is time to check your work. Watch how I spell hot using my letterboxes on the board. h-o-t did you spell it the same way? Let’s try another with three boxes: pop. Be careful not to pop the balloon; pop. Have a volunteer spell it in the letterboxes on the board in the front of the classroom for children to check their work. Repeat this step for each new word) Next word. Listen to see if you hear /o/ in the word before you spell it. pan; I poured the cake batter into the pan. Did you need a short o? Why not? Right, because we don’t hear /o/ say its name. The next word is log; the caterpillar crawled across the log. One more then we will be done with spelling. This word is a little harder and it has 4 phonemes, so fold out 4 letterboxes: bond; the two sisters had a special bond.  Remember to stretch it out to get this tricky word. 

Say: Now, I am going to let you read the words you spelled, but first I’ll show you how I would read a tough word. (Display the word bond and model reading the word.) First I see it begins with b, there's a vowel o so it must be /o/. I’m going to use my cover-up critter to get the first part. (Uncover and blend sequentially with the vowel) /b/ + /o/= /bo/ Next I’m going to blend that with the next letter /n/. /bo/+/n/= /bon/. Now, all I need is the end, /bon/+/d/=/bond/ Bond; that’s it. Now it’s your turn, everyone together. (Have children read words in unison. Afterwards call on individuals to read one word on the list until everyone has had a turn)

Say: You’ve done a great job of reading words with with our spelling for o=/o/. Now we are going to read a book called On or Off? This is a story about two little boys named Tim and Ben who have two pets, a dog and a pig. The two boys go to a pond, and their pets jump onto a raft. What do you think will happen to the pets and the two little boys? Let’s keep reading to find out. (Children pair up and take turns reding alternate pages each while the teacher walks around the room monitoring progress. After individual paired reading, the class rereads On or Off? Aloud together, and stops between pages to discuss the plot and what they think will happen next.) 

Say: That was a fun story. What did Tim go to the pond for? Right, to fish. Who meets Tim and his pet pig, Slim, at the dock? Right Ben and his pet dog, Lad. What did Tim, Ben, Lad, and Slim all do? Right, jump in the pond! Before we finish with our lesson about short o, o=/o/. I want to see how well you can recognize the short o in words you see. On this worksheet, there are some pictures of different things. Your job is to look at all of the pictures, and then color in the letters that spell that word. Then you will write the word on the line. (Collect worksheets to evaluate individual child progress.)