Rationale: Letter recognition is an essential component to children's literacy. By recognizing letters in print, they can relate them to their corresponding sounds. The best place to start with emergent readers is introducing those letters as symbols and teaching the sound/sounds that associates with them. In our lesson today we will be learning about m and the sound /m/. We will practice writing our letter in upper and lower case so we can identify it when we see it in print. I want the children to identify the letter m when it is written and the sound /m/ when it is heard and also identify this letter in a group of objects, some with the letter and some without.

Materials:
Primary Paper, pencil, drawing paper, crayons

Chart with: "Miss Molly the moose made marshmallows on Monday."

A sheet with different objects on it some that begin with /m/ and some that do not. Ex: a mouse, a table, a muffin, a cookie, a monkey, a moose, a car, a mountain, etc.

Hand gesture for the letter M (rubbing hand on belly as to say "Mmmm, Mmmm, Yummy!")

Picture of the capital and lower case /m/ with removable ice cream cone and bunny ears.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by: Laura Numeroff (HarperCollins Publisher)

Procedures:
1. "Today we are going to study about one of my favorite letters. It is the letter "M." Then I will draw the letter for them on the board. "Both you and I see this letter every day when you either see or write things. I see it every day when I write my name -- Miss Gamble."

2. "How many of you like cotton candy? What about pizza? Does anyone like chocolate? These are all my favorite things and every time I think about them I can only think of one thing to say.... "Mmmm...Mmmm...Yummy!" " Can you say that now? When you say it, I want you rub your belly to show me that it is... Mmmm...Mmmm... Yummy! Do you know that there is something ver special about this sound? It has a letter that is its friend and almost always travels with it wherever it goes. I like to call it the 'hungry letter' because whenever you see it, it says "Mmmmmm." Present them a picture of the capital and lower case /m/ with removable ice cream cone and bunny ears. "Can you say "Mmmmm? When you say "Mmmmm" I want you to think about what your mouth is doing. Can you see what mine is doing when I say "Mmmmm?"

3. "There are many words with the sound "Mmmm." I would like for you all to listen to what I say and when you hear the "Mmmm" sound rub your belly like this.  Are you ready? Miss Molly the moose made marshmallows on Monday." (stressing/dramatizing the m = /m/ in every word.) Now take the tongue twister out that was written down on chart paper, sentence strip, or on the board and show it to them in written context.

4. "Now I would like for you to take out your paper and pencil so we can try to make the letter "M" ourselves. Lets try the capital M first -- Start on the rooftop and go down straight through the fence and stop when you to the sidewalk. Next, go back to where you started on the rooftop and go down the slide thru the fence until you hit the sidewalk and then back up the slide thru the fence to the next rooftop. Finally, go down straight through the fence to the sidewalk and stop. Good Job!.... Now lets try the lowercase m. Start on the fence and go down to the sidewalk then back up toward the fence and hump around and down to the sidewalk again. Now go back up to the fence and hump around and down to the sidewalk again. Good Job!!

5. "I am going to say a couple of words and I would like for you to tell me when you hear the "Mmmm" sound (m =/m/). Do you hear "mmm" in mitten or glove? Do you hear "mmm" in home or house? Do you hear "mmm" in coming or going? Do you hear "mmm" in me or your? Do you hear "mmm" in some or all? Do  you hear "mmm" in mat or rug?

6. Read the story If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff and discuss the story with the children. Book talk: '"If you give a mouse a cookie he keeps wanting more. So if you want to find out what all the mouse wants and gets, you should read this book." As  you read the book, have the children rub their bellies when they hear the "mmm" sound.

7. I will assess the childre throughout the lesson by observing the answers to questions I ask and by making anecdotal notes. I will also pass out a sheet with various pictures on it. The children will circle and color the pictures that have the corresponding "mmm" sound (m = /m/) represented in the picture.

References:
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by: Laura Joffe Numeroff. HaperCollins Publishing

The Reading Genie: How to Teach Phoneme Awareness: Making Friends with Phonemes: http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/phon.html

Milissa King. Mischievous Mindy: http://www.auburn.edu/%7Emurraba/explor/kingel.html