Zipping Zippers With
Z!
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
This lesson will help children identify /z/, the
phoneme represented by Z.
Students will learn to recognize /z/
in spoken words by learning meaningful representation (zipping zippers) and the
letter symbol Z, practice finding /z/
in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading by
distinguishing rhyming words from ending letters such as
fizz and
drizz. They will even work with invented spelling creating make-believe
animals at a zoo.
Materials:
Primary paper and pencil; chart with “Zac zooms to zip his zipper”; drawing
paper and crayons; word cards with LIZ,
BIT, ZOO, ZIP, ZOOM, and
DRIZ. Assessment worksheet
identifying pictures with /z/.
Itsby Bitsy Books- The Letter Z (See URL below for both)
Procedures:
1. Say: Our written language is a secret code.
The tricky part is learning what letters stand for-the mouth moves as we
make and say words. Today we’re
going to work on spotting the mouth move /z/.
We spell /z/ with the letter Z.
Z sounds like zipping a zipper.
2. Let’s pretend to zip a
zipper, /z/, /z/, /z/. [Pantomime zipping a zipper].
Notice that when we say /z/, our tongues vibrate inside our mouths.
3. Let me show you how to
find /z/ in the word zip. I’m going
to stretch out zip in super slow
motion and listen for my zipper.
Zzzzzz-i-i-p. Zzz-i-p. There it was! I felt my tongue vibrate.
I can feel the zipper /z/ in zip.
4. Let’s try a tongue
twister. “Zac zooms to zip his
zipper.” Everybody say it three times together.
Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /z/ at the beginning of the
words. “Zzzzac zzzzzzooms to
zzzzzip his zzzzzipper.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/z/
ac /z/ ooms to /z/ ip his /z/ ipper.”
5. [Have students take out
primary paper and pencil]. We use
letter Z to spell /z/.
Capital Z looks like a crazy zipper.
Let’s write the lower case letter
z. Start just
6. Call on students to
answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in
zebra or
lion? Zac or Sue? Zip or
open? Home or zoo? Zit or
bump? Say: Let’s see if you can
spot the mouth move /z/ in some words. Zip your zipper if you hear /z/:
The, fuzzy, cozy, zebra, tried, to, zig,
and zag, past, the, elephant, to, gaze, at, her, zit.
7. Say: “Let’s make a
coloring book with the letter Z!”
Hand out Itsby Bitsy Books coloring sheet. Go through each box and let them
point out the letter Z in each
picture. The last page of the book talks about a zoo. Define a zoo as a place
where animals are kept in a safe and open area so people can go and see them
behind glass or fences. “Now let’s make up our own zoo animal creatures. What
kind of sounds will they make?” Ask them to make up a silly animal name like
Zippy-zeffer-zong that make sounds such as
buzzzzz. Then have each student write
their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly
creature. Display their work.
8.
Show ZIP and model how to decide if it is
zip or
rip. The
Z tells me to zip my zipper, /z/, so
this word is zzz-ip, zip. You try
some: LIZ: Liz or fiz? BIT: bit or
mit? ZAC: Zac or Mac? ZOO: zoo or
moo? HAZE: maze or haze?
9. For assessment,
distribute worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spellings and color
the pictures that begin with Z.
Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
Beginning Consonants Worksheet! KidZone Preschool and Kingergarten.
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/z-begins2.htm