Hiss Like a Snake With
S
Emergent Literacy
Rationale: This lesson will
help children identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S.
Students will learn to recognize
/s/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (sound a snake
hissing makes) and the letter symbol S, practice finding /s/ in words,
and apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing
rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials: Primary paper and
pencil; chart with "Sid the Snake Sings Six Songs in the Sun";
Six sleepy sheep (Puffin Books,
1991); word cards with SAP, SIT, LOW, TED, SACK, SELL; assessment
worksheet identifying pictures with /s/.
Procedures:
1. Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part
is learning what letters stand for—the mouth moves we make as we say words.
Today we're going to work on spotting the mouth move /s/. We spell /s/ with
letter S. S looks like a snake, and /s/ sounds like the noise a snake
makes when he hisses.
2. Let's pretend to be snakes hissing, /s/, /s/, /s/.
[Pantomime snake hissing] Notice where your teeth are? (Stacked on top of each
other). When we say /s/, we blow air between out our top and bottom teeth.
3. Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word list.
I'm going to stretch list out in super slow motion and listen for my
hissing. Lll-i-i-ist. Slower: Lll-i-i-i-sss-t There it was! I felt my teeth top
teeth and bottom teeth touch together and blow air. I can feel the hissing /s/
in list.
4. Let's try a tongue twister [on chart]. "Sid the Snake Sings
Six Songs in the Sun." Lets say it three times together. Now say it again, and
this time, stretch the /s/ at the beginning of the words. "Sssssid the
Ssssssnake Sssssings Sssssix Ssssssongs in the Sssssun." Try it again, and this
time break it off the word: "/S/id the /S/nake /S/ings /S/ix /S/ongs in the
/S/un.”
5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use
letter S to spell /s/. Capital and lower case S look like a snake. Let's
write the lowercase letter s. Form a tiny c up in the air then swing
back. I want to see your s when
you are done. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine
more just like it.
6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you
hear /s/ in work or sun? sew or
toe? on or slow?Stopt or drop? Sore or more? Say:
Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /s/ in some words. Slither like a snake
if you hear /s/: The, seven, past, bug, said, was, to, the, pink, sour.
7. Now boys and girls we are going to read the book
Silly Sally. Everytime you hear /s/ I
want you to give me a thumbs up. Book talk: Silly Sally is a wild girl.
She walks upside into town. Her animal friend join her on her walk into
town forming a parade, but what will the towns people think about Silly Sally
and her animal friends? Let’s read and find out how the towns people
reacted.
8. Show SIT and model how to decide if it is sit or
mit: The S tells me to hiss like a snake, /s/, so this word is sss-it,
sit. You try some: SAP: sap or nap? SACK: back or sack? SELL: sell or bell?
LOW: low or so? SIT: sit or fit?
9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to
complete the partial spellings and color the pictures that begin with S.
Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
Resources:
Reading Genie:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/
Rachel Bowman’s Slither Like a Snake with S:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/journeys/bowmanel.htm
Worksheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/s.htm
S- Snake picture:
http://www.coloring-pages.ws/displayimage.php?album=66&pos=36
Printable book: http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/minibooks/s-mini-book.pdf