Blended Learning Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Very Important Vowels

Objectives:
 Students will be able to identify short and long vowels in single-syllable words.
 Students will be able to differentiate between short and long vowel sounds.
State Standards:
Standard 2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds.
 Standard 2.1: Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
Context:
This lesson is important for 1st grade students to learn because it is an essential step in
teaching students how to read. Without knowing vowels, students cannot read single-syllable
words which is a standard for 1st grade students. In our previous lesson, students learned what
sentences are and how to recognize them. Before this lesson, students will have prior knowledge
of short vowel sounds because they have learned the alphabet and the letters’ sounds in
kindergarten. I will be building on this prior knowledge by teaching students the difference
between short and long vowel sounds. After this lesson, we will be moving on to the next
standard which is on learning consonant blends. This lesson will prepare students for the next
lesson because they will need to know their vowels in order to read the single-syllable words
with consonant blends.
Data:
Students will be grouped based on their previous lesson’s exit ticket. The previous lesson
was on recognizing sentences, and the exit ticket from that lesson will depict who will be in each
group. There will be three groups, a group with high understanding, medium understanding, and
low understanding of the previous lesson’s material. Students will be grouped in our next
blended learning lesson by their closure activities from this lesson.
Materials:
Activity Materials
Introduction No materials needed
Teacher Directed (Small Group) Smart Board, YouTube Video, Smart
Notebook Lesson
Collaborative 10 baskets labeled with short and long
vowels, variety of items with long and short
letter sounds (dog stuffed animal, toy boat,
etc.)
Independent Digital
iPad, Khan Academy Kids app
Closure Exit ticket worksheet, pencils

Introduction (10 minutes):

To introduce this lesson, I will begin by reminding students of how they learned all the
letters’ sounds in kindergarten. I will then tell them that there are certain special letters that are
very important when learning how to read called vowels. I will write the five vowels on the
white board and ask students if they remember the sounds of these five letters. After the students
have participated, I will tell them the learning objectives for this lesson. At this point, the
students may ask what long and short vowel sounds mean. I will tell the students that vowels are
special because they have two different sounds, a long and short sound. I will then point to the
letters on the board and tell the students each letter’s long sound, asking the students to repeat the
sound back to me. After this, I will group the students in their assigned groups and go over the
instructions for each rotational activity.
Teacher Directed (20 minutes):
In this portion of the lesson, students will learn more information about vowels including
how to determine if a vowel in a word is short or long. I will begin by showing students this
video, that explains long and short vowels while also providing example words with each type of
vowel. After the video, I will call on students to tell me examples of words with long and short
vowels. Students will then demonstrate their knowledge of the information in the video by
playing a game on the Smart Board. In this Smart Notebook lesson, “Long and Short Vowels,”
there are two different activities to complete. The first activity gives students words with a
missing vowel, and students are required to fill in the missing vowel. The second activity is a
chart for students to complete. The chart is broken into columns for each of the five vowels, and
a word bank is at the bottom of the screen. Students will place each word in the correct column
based on the vowel in the word. Students will take turns coming up to the Smart Board and
completing these activities.
 Collaborative (10 minutes):
During this station, students will work together to complete an activity. This activity will
require students to apply their knowledge of short and long vowel sounds to sort and categorize
objects. When students arrive at this station, there will be ten baskets spread out along with
various objects sitting in the middle. Five baskets will be together labeled with the five shorts
vowels, and the other five baskets will be labeled with the five long vowels. Students will work
with their classmates to choose an object, say the object’s name aloud, and place it in the correct
basket based on the vowel sound in the word. For example, if a student picks up a dog stuffed
animal, then they will place it in the short “o” basket. Students will be able to check to see if they
are correct by flipping over the label on the basket where I will write all the items that should be
in each basket. After sorting all the items, students will remove the items from the baskets and
place them back where they were originally for the next group.

Independent Digital (10 minutes):

For this portion of the lesson, students will use their iPads to play an app that tests their
knowledge of short vowels. Students will use the Khan Academy Kids app to play three short
games. On the Khan Academy Kids app, students will press the picture of a book in the upper
left corner. Once they are in the library of games, students will go under the “ABC” category and
scroll to the very bottom of the page where they will find the short vowel games. There are five
games corresponding to short vowels. Each game is about a different short vowel. Students will
choose three of these games to play during this station. For example, if they choose the “a” game
then the app will tell them the letter’s sound and give examples of words with this sound. Then,
the app will ask students to choose pictures that have the short “a” sound. After this, students
will fill in the missing vowel of short “a” words. Once students complete three games, the app
will go back to the library page. When a student has completed the game, a green arrow appears
on the corner of the game. Students will take a screenshot of this page showing that they have
completed three games.
Closure (10 minutes):
After the rotational activities, students will return to their seats and sit down. I will ask
the student if they have any questions about what we learned today, so they can discuss with me
and their classmates anything that they do not understand. After we discuss any questions
students might have, I will pass out a short worksheet that will be the students’ exit ticket for this
lesson. The worksheet will have five words on it with a blank beside each word. Students will be
asked to fill in the blank with either “short” or “long” depending on the type of vowel in the
word. As the students turn in their exit tickets, I will ask them what their favorite station was
from today’s lesson. By knowing their favorite stations, I will be able to create similar rotational
activities for future lessons.
Rationale:
1. Long and Short Vowels YouTube Video
 I chose this YouTube video for the teacher directed station because it is straight-
forward and visually shows students long and short vowels and their differences. It
supports student learning by providing students with a more in-depth explanation of what
long and short vowels are and their importance. This video is of high quality because it is
easy to understand and the speaker takes her time in the video, so first grade students can
follow along and are not confused. It also aligns with the state standard because it
differentiates between long and short vowels by saying the words aloud to the students.
This video is beneficial because it teaches to both auditory and visual learners. It can also
help students who have a hearing disability because it provides words on the screen that
correspond with what the speaker is saying.

2. “Long and Short Vowels” Smart Notebook Lesson

The “Long and Short Vowels” Smart Notebook Lesson is included in this lesson because
it is an entertaining way to test students’ knowledge of the information covered in the
previous video. It supports student learning by providing students with an opportunity to
demonstrate what they have learned while allowing them to come up to the Smart Board and
play a fun game along with their classmates. The Smart Notebook Lesson is of high quality
because it appears simple and straightforward, so young students are not overwhelmed and
understand exactly what they are required to do. It supports the state standard for this lesson
by having two sections, one that focuses on short vowels and another that focuses on long
vowels. This Smart Notebook Lesson benefits visual learners because it is colorful and shows
students pictures that correspond to certain words. It also benefits kinesthetic learners
because it requires students to come up to the board and answer questions.
3. Khan Academy Kids App
I chose this app for the independent digital station because it is a fun way for
students to build upon their knowledge of short vowels. The app is well-developed and
very high quality. It is colorful with great graphics and easy to navigate for young
students. The app supports student learning by allowing them to independently test their
knowledge of short vowels in the form of an entertaining app. Each game is led by a
different talking animal who guides student through the lesson. The animal provides
instant feedback for the student after answering each question. The Khan Academy Kids
app supports the state standard for this lesson because it reinforces students’
understanding of short vowels, so they are more prepared to differentiate between long
and short vowels in the future. This app supports visual, auditory, and kinesthetic
learners. It is also beneficial for students with poor eyesight because it talks the student
through the entire lesson and has large, colorful font and pictures.
This app is used in the independent digital rotation. I chose this piece of multimedia because
once I found it, I was amazed at how much it helped students clearly hear and see how to sound
out certain letters and words. Students are guided to spell a word and then the game sounds out
the word completely so the student can hear and see the correct spelling and pronunciation. Also,
as the student chooses a letter, it says the letter so they will have better retention with the
alphabet. The content quality was great and aligned perfectly with the standards for this lesson
(relating to the alphabet and sounding words out). The student actively interacts with the game to
complete spelling words and constantly learning through every mistake or correct a