“Z, z, zip,” says the
zipper!
Emergent Literacy Design
By: Michel Fields
Rationale: This lesson will help the
students identify /z/, the phoneme represented by Z. She will
learn to recognize /z/ in spoken words by pretending to zip up a
jacket when she hears the sound. She will learn what Z looks
like. The students will apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in
phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from
beginning letters.
Materials:
Primary paper, pencil, picture of a zipper with “Ziggy Zebra
Zapped from the Zany Zoo”, Zigby Hunts for Treasure by Brian Paterson, note
cards with ZOO, MAN, ZANY, ZIP,
SICK, ZAP; assessment worksheet, crayons
Procedures:
1. The words that we say to one another are made up of letters.
We put the letters together to create a message. Each letter has
its own sound. Today we are going to focus on the sound /z/. We
spell /z/ with the letter
Z. [I will show the “Z, z, zip,” says the zipper card].
/z/ sounds like what your zipper says when you zip up your
jacket: Z, z, zip!
2. Let’s pretend you’re zipping up your jacket, /z/,/z/, /z/.
[pretend to zip up jacket]. Feel the shape your mouth is in?
When we say /z/, we almost touch our teeth together and put our
tongue towards our teeth.
3. I’m going to show you have to find the /z/ in the word
buzzer. I’m going to
say it very slowly and listen for z, z, zip!
Bbb-uuu-zzzzzz-errrrr. Slower: Bbb-u-u-zz-zz-errr. Found it! I
felt my teeth almost touching! I can hear /z/ in
buzzer.
4. Let’s try a tongue tickler! “Ziggy Zebra Zapped from the Zany
Zoo.” Savannah, say it three times and pretend to zip up your
jacket each time you hear /z/. Great! This time stretch out the
/z/ in the words as I point to them! “Zzzziggy zzzebra zzzapped
from the zzzzany zzzoo.” Okay, this last time break the /z/ off
each word: “/Z/iggy /z/ebra /z/zapped from the /z/any /z/oo.”
5. [I will give Savannah a piece of primary paper and a pencil].
As I said earlier, we use the letter Z to spell /z/.
Capital Z and
lowercase
z look the same, just
different sizes. They look like zig-zags. Let’s start with the
lowercase
z. Start at the fence
and draw a little 7, then right down the sidewalk. Let’s try it!
Make five more just like that one! Now let’s try the capital Z.
This time start at the rooftop and draw a big 7 down to the
sidewalk and go right down the sidewalk. That’s good, now make
five more just the same.
6. Okay Savannah, we’re going to practice picking out /z/ in
words. Do you hear /z/ in zane or
cane?
Chip or
zip?
Brainy or zany? Now I’m going
to say some words. Pretend to zip up your jacket when you hear
/z/: buzz, cat, fiz,
lick, zing,
zoo.
7. Now we’re going to read a book! The book Zigby Hunts for
Treasure is about a zebra named Zigby, a guinea fowl named
Bertie Bird, and a meerkat names McMeer. These three friends go
on adventures together. This time they decide to go down the
river, where they find a treasure map. They follow it through
the dangerous jungle. Do you think they will make it out and
find the treasure? This book has several words with /z/ in it.
Every time you hear /z/, pretend to zip up your jacket. Let’s
see if Zigby finds the treasure.
8. I will show ZOO and model how to decide if it is zoo or moo:
The
Z tells me to zip up
my jacket and touch my teeth together, /z/, so the word is
zzz-oo, zoo, not moo.
Your turn: MAN: man or zan? ZANY: many or zany? ZIP: zip or lip?
SICK: zick or sick? ZAP: cap or zap?
9. To assess Savannah’s learning, I will
give her the worksheet. She is to complete the spellings that
start with z and color the pictures. Here is the website for
the worksheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/imageschanged/kindergarten/z-as-begins2.gif
Refrences:
1. Assessmentworksheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/imageschanged/kindergarten/z-as-begins2.gif
2. Murray, Geralyn, “M, m, mmm,” says my
mouth!
https://sites.google.com/site/readingwritingconnection/designing-emergent-literacy-lesson
3. Reading Genie Lesson, Hilary Shell:
Zippy at the Zoo
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/shellel.html
