Sam the Yam

Small Group

• Decodable texts are controlled for specific phonics patterns. This decodable story focuses on glued sounds -am and -an. Match students who might need practice with these patterns for small-group reading with a phonics lesson.

Pairs, Independent Reading

• For children who have moved beyond this pattern, “Sam the Yam” is a fun story to read independently or with a partner. Have children read it multiple times to practice fluency and comprehension.

Preview letter sounds and high-frequency words (15 minutes)

• Do a mini phonics lesson on glued sounds -am and -an. Have children make the /m/ sound. Then have them try to make the /m/ sound with their noses pinched. It sounds weird! That’s because the /m/ sound comes out of your nose. Repeat with the /n/ sound. Tell children that nasal sounds like /m/ and /n/ change the short /a/ sound a little. We call -am and -an “glued sounds.” With glued sounds, the letters work together, so their sounds can’t be easily split up. We read them together.
• Use the online Word Sounds Slideshow to help children sound out -am and -an words. (Be sure to turn your volume up!)
• Review sight words from the story, such as the, I, do, and you. You might encourage advanced readers to do a fast read of the sight words.

Preview the Story and Set a Purpose for Reading (3-5 minutes)

• Let students look at the pictures. What do they think this story will be about? Tell children it is a silly story about a yam that gets into trouble. Read to find out what the yam does to escape!

• As children read, check comprehension and prompt them to make predictions. What will happen next? What will Sam do?
• Have children read the story again on their own. They can highlight -am and -an words.

• Show What You Know gives students the opportunity to practice their comprehension skills.

ELA Focus: Phonics (10 minutes)

• Let students practice their decoding skills with the glued sound phonics page, Circle and Spell.

For children who are not yet working on decoding, Help Sam Escape focuses on letter recognition using a fun maze.