all the talking apples in the Letterland orchard. He uses the big pocket of his apron to carry apples. That's why he is called the Apron Man! He does not make a sound like Annie Apple in words. Instead he loves to say his name, 'A!' (ay) in words like apron, April, age and alien! Point out Mr A and Annie Apple on the Vowel Scene Poster.
Action Show his plain letter again. Mr A's letter shape is the same as Annie Apple's, but when Mr A appears in words, he says his name, 'A!' /ā/ and he shoots his hand up in the air to let everyone know he is there. Teach the Action Trick (page 182). Ask the children to do the action and make the sound in response to the plain letter side of the PCC. Song Sing the Vowel Men's Song on the Alphabet Songs CD. Show the picture side of Mr A's PCC when you sing his name. Then at the end of the final line raise the plain letter side and call out his letter name, “a!” (lyrics on TGCD). You could stop after the first verse about Mr A, or perhaps play the whole song to begin to familiarise the children with all five of the Vowel Men.
'Short & Long Vowels' Vowel Scene Posters
Action Trick (see p.182)
Shape: a and A Uppercase Show the BPCC - Uppercase for Mr A. Mr A uses the same uppercase letter as Annie Apple to start an important word like someone's name. Listen, can you hear him at the beginning of names like Amy, Aidan, Ava, Amos and April? Let's do his Action Trick again, as we say, “/ā/ /ā/ /ā/.” Shapes and Sounds for Annie Apple and Mr A Although Mr A spells his name with an uppercase letter this doesn't mean that all capitals are long a's. To head off this possible confusion, display the PCCs ă, ā, and the BPCCs Ă, Ā. Both Annie Apple and Mr A have a lowercase and an uppercase letter. So when we see a plain letter a we won't always know right away if Annie Apple or Mr A is hiding behind that letter. Write the following words on the board: Age, age, Apron, apron, Apple, apple, Axe, axe. Let's look at these words. I'll tell you the word and you decide if Annie Apple or Mr A is the one we hear at the beginning. Discuss each word and quickly Picture Code the a with a stick figure Mr A or a nice, round apple. So whichever shape you see, it could be Annie Apple saying /ă/, or Mr A saying /ā/. For additional clarification of the two letter shapes, each with two sounds, use the pages in A-Z Copymasters that show Mr A in uppercase and lowercase along with the page that shows Annie Apple in both forms as well.
Phonemic awareness and language development Games Play the Listen and Jump Game for two sounds (page 232) with children jumping towards the Annie Apple or the Mr A PCC, depending on which sound they hear at the start of the words below. Or make Vowel Flip-overs (TGCD) to use with these words: apple, apron, ache, ant, ate, acorn, acre, Africa, Asia, Antarctica, atlas, Amy, Alex. (More games on Living ABC software.)
Note: For variant sounds made by the letter a, see our Advanced Teacher's Guide or website. a as in father is depicted in Letterland as a 'Yawning Apple', a as in America is depicted as a 'Parachuted Apple'.
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