Lesson 7
ch (as in school) Materials Advanced Picture Code Cards: ch (20). Picture Code Cards. Advanced Copymaster: (6). N.B. This copymaster also covers ph (Lesson 39, page 98) These two lessons involving Harry Hat Man’s sound could be taught together.
Objectives
To know that the letters c and h can combine to make the hard ‘ch’ sound (ch as in school).
To recognise and spell words containing hard ch.
In Letterland lore the regular sound of ch is explained as follows. Harry Hat Man’s hairy hat makes Clever Cat’s nose tickle whenever she sits down beside him. This is why we hear a sneeze sound in words like cheese and lunch and two sneezes in the word church. This story was first introduced in the Primary Years Letterland Teacher’s Guide (see page 61). Sometimes, however ch can make a hard ‘c...’ sound (as in school). This hard ‘c...’ sound occurs in relatively few common words. The most common are school and Christmas, so they serve as good examples of this second sound of ch.
Demonstration: introducing the ch sound Show the card and tell the story:
Clever Cat does not sneeze when Harry Hat Man’s hat blows off. Sometimes the wind in Letterland blows Harry’s hairy hat off his head. When this happens, Clever Cat doesn’t have to sneeze beside Harry Hat Man, because his hat has blown too far away to tickle her nose. Then Clever Cat is very pleased to go back to saying ‘c...’ as usual. But Harry is too startled to speak, so he says nothing at all.
ch
Activity ideas Whole class word work
Write these sentences on the board and ask the children to help with picture coding both sounds of ch.
Note: Exceptions A few words derived from French have caused what may appear at first to be an odd way to spell the ‘sh’ sound, e.g. machine, charades, parachute, moustache, Champagne, Cheryl. The Letterland explanation is that usually Clever Cat only sneezes very softly beside Harry Hat Man, but every once in a while, she sneezes so loudly that he has to turn back and hush her up, exactly as he always does to Sammy Snake. That is why in a few words we hear a ‘sh’ sound from ch.
* High frequency words
We had chips at the school picnic. The choir joined in as the children sang the chorus. Richard and Christina’s dad is an architect.
Live spelling
Live spell: ache echo school chorus anchor. As the children come to the ‘c...’ sound in blending the sequence of sounds, ask one child to act as the wind and come along pretending to blow off the h-child’s hat. The h-child should look suitably startled.
Words containing ch (as in school) ache aching anchor architect character chemist chemistry
choir chord chorus Christmas* chrome chrysanthemum
echo orchestra scheme school* stomach technical
Challenge Words chlorine chrysalis dachshund ochre
We had çips at the sc ool picnic. Section 3: Lesson Plans
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