Slithering Silly Snakes
Emergent Literacy Lesson Design
By: Shelley Horton
hortose@auburn.edu
Rationale: To learn to read
and spell
words, children need to learn that words are made up of letters and
each letter
represents a sound. Though most children are familiar with the s = /s/ concept, they do have trouble
recognizing it on the end of words, especially plurals. This lesson is
aimed to
help students locate s = /s/ in the
beginning, middle, and end of words. Through letter and phoneme
recognition,
students should be able to recognize /s/ in spoken words, including
plurals,
written words, and use it in writing by the end of the lesson.
Materials:
Poster with the word hiss
written on it,
with the two s’s decorated like
snakes. This poster will also have the tongue twister: “Sam saw a
sneaky slimy
snake in the sandbox” written in bold. In addition there will be a
pocket on
the board, which holds picture cards. Some of these picture cars will
have /s/
in them and others not, including; spider, school, socks, pants, soccer
ball,
mouse, and action pictures; including, sing, skate, slide, and jump.
The book, Summer Fun
by Lucy Lawrance
Primary paper and pencils
Drawing paper and crayons
Procedures:
- Introduce the lesson by
saying, “Today we are going to pretend to be sneaky slithering snakes
in search of letters that make the same sounds that snakes make.”
Explain that snakes make the sound that is on the end of this word hiss (pointing to the word that is on the poster). When
snakes feel that they are in danger they hiss, which makes the /s/
sound. Practice the sound together, several times. Then explain that
the /s/ sound can show up in all parts of a word, the beginning, the
middle, and the end.
- “Let’s practice the /s/
sound by trying a tongue twister.” Pointing to the poster, we will say,
“Sam saw a sneaky slimy snake in the sandbox.” “Great job!”
- (Give the students primary
paper and a pencil.) Let’s use the sound /s/ to spell the letter s. (First, model how to make the letter on the paper.)
Let’s write it. Begin with your pencil just below the roof and make a
little c so that it sits on the fence. Now, without
lifting your pencil make a curve around the backside of the fence and
rest it on the sidewalk. Make 5 more. When you see the /s/ sound by
itself you know it makes the /s/ sound like a hissing snake.
- Now, I am going to hold up
a picture card. Some of them have the /s/ in them and some do not. When
I show the picture to you, I want you to slither your arm like a snake
if the picture has the /s/ in it. If it doesn’t, shake your head no.
For example, here is a picture of socks. I am going to slither my arm
like a snake and shake my head yes, because this word does have the /s/
sound in it. Okay. Let’s begin. (Teacher shows about 10 cards and talks
about them briefly after each one.)
- Now it is time to use an
easy book to emphasize the snake sound /s/ in texts. Introduce the
book, Summer Fun by Lucy Lawrence. You can introduce the book
by saying, "Boys and girls, I am going to read you a short story about
summer fun and I want you to keep your ears open for words that make
the same sounds as snakes. Every time you hear a word with the
snake sound I want you to hiss like a snake, making the /s/
sound! Okay, listen closely!!!"
- For assessment give your
students some type of cut and paste worksheet with words that you hear
s=/s/ in. Have one sheet where they cut out the pictures and one
with 3 columns. One column beginning, one middle, and one
ending. Next tell your students what each picture is and have
them say back to you what they are. Now have them cut out the
pictures and place them into the correct column according to where they
hear s=/s/ in the word.
References:
Adams, Marilyn Jager, (1990).
Beginning to
Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. pages 51 - 71
"HiSSing Snakes" by Shea Fant
http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/insights/fantel.html.
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