Short A OG Lesson Plan
Structured Literacy Vowel Concept: Short /ă/
Orton-Gillingham Lesson Plan
Focus Letter & Sound
Aa /ă/
Student/Group: ____________
Date: ____________
Instructor: ____________
Pacing: 45–50 Mins
1
Three-Part Review Drill (Warm-Up • 8 Mins)
A. Visual Drill See Card → Sound
Show phonogram cards; student states letter name & sound.
t b m s p c /k/ f n
B. Auditory Drill Hear → Sand Tray
Teacher sounds phoneme; student repeats, names, traces in sand.
Prompt: /t/, /m/, /p/, /s/ Trace & Name
"Pencil tap – shake sand flat"
C. Blending Drill Onset-Rime Deck
Flip cards on blending board. Track left-to-right with finger sweep.
s - a - t (real) m - a - p (real)
b - a - f (non) t - a - n (real)
2
Phonemic Awareness (Oral & Kinesthetic • 5 Mins)
Isolate /ă/ in Initial & Medial Positions
1. Sound Discrimination (Thumbs Up / Down)
Say word. Student gives thumbs up if they hear /ă/ sound, down if not.
ax (+) it (-) ant (+) up (-)
2. Sound Tapping (Elkonin 3-Box / Fingertaps)
Tap non-dominant index to thumb for each sound. Identify middle sound.
/c/-/ă/-/t/ /m/-/ă/-/n/ /p/-/ă/-/t/
3
New Concept: Letter 'a' & Short Sound /ă/ (12 Mins)
Explicit Multisensory Script
Anchor Keyword
🍎
apple
/ă/ - /ă/ - apple
Mouth Position & Articulation Cues
- • Jaw/Lips: Drop jaw relaxed; lips unrounded, teeth apart (two-finger width).
- • Tongue: Flat and resting low in front of mouth; voice box on (feel vocal cords buzz).
- • Continuous Vowel: Teach that /ă/ can stretch without clipping: "/ăăăă/..."
Multisensory Manuscript Formation: Lowercase 'a'
Grass/Base Line Letter
Verbal Pathway Stroke Cue:
"Start at the dotted middle line. Pull back, around, up to close the circle, then pull straight down to the baseline. Bump!"
Student Chant: "Around, up, down — /ă/!"
Tactile Sequence
1 Sky-write (2 fingers straight arm, 3x)
2 Sand tray trace with verbal chant (3x)
3 Screen board / textured tactile card (2x)
Part 1 of 2: Warm-up & Direct Instruction Next Page: Guided Reading, Spelling Dictation & Application →
Application
Short A Practice & SOS Dictation
Part 2 of 2 | Student Application & Progress
4
Decodable Word Reading (Visual Decoding • 7 Mins)
Sweep finger under word; continuous blend
Column 1 (-at family)
cat
bat
mat
sat
Column 2 (-an / -am)
pan
man
jam
ram
Column 3 (-ap / -ag)
map
tap
bag
tag
Nonsense Words (Fluency)
baf
tam
nap
fas
5
Simultaneous Oral Spelling (S.O.S. Dictation • 10 Mins)
Pound → Finger Tap → Spell Aloud → Write
A. Isolated Sounds (Echo & Name Letter)
1. /ă/ → "a" Score: [ ]
2. /m/ → "m" Score: [ ]
3. /t/ → "t" Score: [ ]
B. Word Dictation (Pound & Tap)
1. cat (/k/-/ă/-/t/) [ ]
2. map (/m/-/ă/-/p/) [ ]
3. bat (/b/-/ă/-/t/) [ ]
C. Sentence Dictation (Teacher reads 2x; Student echoes & pounds each word) COPS Self-Check Ready
Sentence 1: The cat sat on the mat.
C O P S
Sentence 2: A man had a tan bag.
C O P S
6
Connected Decodable Reading (Fluency & Meaning • 8 Mins)
100% Controlled Lexile
The Fat Cat
Sam had a cat. The cat was fat.
The fat cat sat on a red mat.
A rat ran past the cat.
"Tap, tap!" went the cat's paw.
The fat cat sat and had a nap.
Red Words (Heart Words)
the was a
Quick Oral Check
Where did the cat sit? What did the cat do at the end?
OG Multisensory Error Correction & Session Notes Immediate Tactile Feedback Protocol
Reading Error: Finger tap on error. Ask: "What sound does letter 'a' make?" Student says key word: "apple, /ă/". Re-blend.
Formation/Spelling Error: "Clean slate" immediate sand tray trace with verbal chant before re-writing on paper.
Mastery Target: 90%+ Accuracy on /ă/ phoneme-grapheme decoding and SOS spelling. Lesson Complete • Orton-Gillingham Tier 2/3