Roaring Lions Run Rabbits
Off!
An Emergent Literacy Lesson
Rationale:
This lesson teaches students
that the consonant r = /r/. This goal
is important because, in order to be able to read, students must be able to
connect each letter to a mouth move and think about what their mouth is doing as
they say the sound. In this lesson, children will learn to recognize
words containing the
r sound. To help students reach the
goal of knowing that r = /r/, they will learn a meaningful representation (a
roaring lion makes the r sound, the
round part of the R could be his
ear), practice finding /r/ in words, and apply phonetic awareness with /r/ in
phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
1.Graphic image of roaring
lion
2.Primary paper and pencil
for each student
3.Chart with "Roaring Lions
Run Rabbits Off"
4.Drawing paper and crayons
5.Rosie's Roses by Henry Cole
6.Word cards with: Rosie,
rainbow, walk, ribbon, big
7.Assessment worksheet
identifying pictures with /r/
Procedures:
1.Say: In order to become
expert readers, we need to learn the code that helps us pronounce words. We have
already learned short vowel sounds a,
e,
i,
o, and
u so now we will move to the
consonants. We are going to learn that r
= /r/. When I hear /r/ I think of a lion roaring loudly! (roar for children).
Show image and repeat that r = /r/.
"See if you can say this tongue tickler: Roaring lions run rabbits off." (let
them say it together in unison). Emphasize that they must say it in a low voice
so that we don't disturb other classes. Have students say it with teacher and
drag out the r. "rrroaring lions
rrrrrun rrrrabbits off." Notice how my mouth moves when I say /r/. It is open a
little and my tongue moves up. Can you say /r/ one more time and see if your
mouth does the same thing? Good, did you feel your tongue go up and your mouth
open a little bit? (Wait for answer). Very good! Lions roar loudly, and it can
be scary!
2.Say: Now let's pretend to
be a lion. Model for the students how you want them to put their hands up like
claws and pretend to be a lion. Can you do it with me? Remember our mouth is
open a little bit and our tongue moves up. Let's do it. /r//r//r///r/.
3.Say: Let me
show you how to find /r/ in the word
brat.
I'm going to stretch
brat
out in
super slow motion and listen for my lion. Bb-rrr-aa-ttt. Slower: bb-rrr-aaaa-ttttt.
There it was! I felt my mouth open and my tongue move up. I can feel the
roaring lion in
brat.
4.Say: Let's
try a tongue twister [on chart]. "Roaring lions run rabbits off". Everybody
say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the
/r/ at the
beginning of the words. "RRRoaring lions rrrrrun rrrrrabitts off."Try it
again, and
this time break it off the word: "/r/ oaring lions /r/ un /r/ abitts off".
[Have
students take out primary paper and pencil]. Say: We use letter
R
to
spell /r/.
Capital R
looks the ear of our tiger. (Show picture.) Let's write the lowercase letter
r.
Start at the fence and go straight down to the sidewalk. Now go straight back up
to the fence and make the ear. (model). I want to see everybody's
r.
After I put a green check on it, I want
you to make nine more just like it.
5.Call on
students to answer and tell how they knew: Say: Do you hear /r/ in
work
or
fun?
finger
or
toe?
Yellow or red?
Lift
or
drop?
Stiff
or
sore?
Say: Let's see if you can spot
the mouth
move /r/ in some words. Brush your teeth if you hear /r/: raining, rest, little,
read, bed.
6.Say: Let's
look at a book with the letter /r/. Rosie's Roses. For Aunt Ruth's
birthday, Rosie wants to get her 4 roses tied with a rainbow ribbon. As Rosie
rambles through the forest, they mysteriously disappear. Where are they going?
Can you guess? Read the first page and ask the students if they heard /r/. Where
did you hear it? Tell the students to do their lion roar whenever they hear the
/r/ as you read the rest of the story. Now ask them to make up a silly creature
name like Ruffle-raffy-rue, or Rupping-rainy-rob. Then have each student write
their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly
creature. Display their work.
7.Show ROSIE
and model how to decide if it is
Rosie
or
fosie:
The
R
tells me
to make my lion roar, /r/, so this word is
RRR-osie,
Rosie.
You try some: RAINBOW: rainbow or dainbow WALK: talk or walk? RIBBON: ribbon or
pibbon BIG: pig or big.
8.Say: That was a fun story.
What was happening to Rosie's roses? Right! Why did that happen? Right. Before
we finish up our lesson on the roaring lion
r I want you to take this work sheet
and color the pictures that begin with the letter
r. (Take up sheet to monitor
individual progress.)
References:
Lesson Idea:
Haynes, Ellen. R is
Grrrrrrrreat! Fall 2011. Auburn University.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/doorways/hayneseel.htm
Assessment:
http://www.kidzone.ws/imageschanged/kindergarten/r-as-begins2.gif
