Popping
P's!
Emergent
Literacy Design
Rationale:
Phonemes are an
essential component for success in children's reading and spelling.
This lesson will help children identify /p/, the phone represented by
P. Students will learn to recognize /p/ in spoken
words by learning a meaningful representation (popping bubbles), practice
finding /p/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /p/ in phonetic cue
reading.
Materials:
Primary paper
and pencils, Chart with "Patrick punches puffy pillows.", Hop
on Pop by Dr. Seuss, Word cards with POT, LOT, PIG, FIG, FEEL, PEEL,
DINE, PINE, PAN, FAN, PAIL, MAIL, Assessment worksheet identifying pictures
with /p/ (URL in references)
Procedures:
1. Introduce
the lesson by explaining all letters of the alphabet make different
sounds. Also explain that when we say these different
letters, our mouths move differently.
Say: Our
written language is a secret code. Today, we are going to be
investigators as we discover /p/. We will be spotting the way
our mouth moves as we say /p/. We spell /p/ with the letter
P. P can even look like a bubble popping
and /p/ sounds just like that.
2. Let's pretend we are bubble
popping by moving our fingers, /p/, /p/, /p/. [Pop your
fingers open like a popping bubble.] Notice how your mouth
moves when you say /p/. Your lips start together [point to
your lips], and then they open and a puff of air comes
out.
3. Now let me show you how to
find /p/ in the word lips. I'm going to stretch
lips out in super slow motion and listen for the popping
bubble. Lll-i-i-ips. Let me try it
slower, Lll-i-i-i-p-s. There it was!
I felt my lips come together and then open and a puff of air came
out. I can hear the popping bubble /p/ in
lips.
4. Let's try a tongue twister
with /p/ [on chart]. "Patrick punches puffy pillows."
Everybody say it three times together [say it together].
Try it again, and pop the /p/ whenever you hear it at the beginning of
the word. When we say the /p/ sounds, pop your fingers out
like a bubble that is popping. [Read the poem while
incorporating the hand gesture]. Now say it again, and this
time, break /p/ off of the word: "/p/ atrick /p/ unches /p/
uffy /p/ illows."
5. [Have students take out
primary paper and pencils.] We use the letter P to spell /p/.
Let's write the lowercase p. To make the letter
p, start at the fence and draw a straight line all the way down to the
ditch. Pick up your pencil and take it back up to the
fence. Now, draw a half circle that goes down the sidewalk
and touch the stick. Now, I want all of you to practice
writing ten more letter p's while I walk around and admire your wonderful
letters.
6. So let's play a game to see
how well we can hear /p/ in different words. When I call on
you, please answer and tell me how you knew the answer. [Have
students raise their hands and answer the questions.] Do you
hear /p/ in pail or bucket? house or
place? poke or hit?
push or drag? cow or
pig? [After going through all the sets of
words] Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /p/ in some
words. Pop the bubbles if you hear /p/:
A, pretty, pony, pranced, to,
the, blue, pansies, in, Florida.
7. Now I am
going to read Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. This book is
about two kids who love to jump on their dad. Have you ever
done that? To see what else they jump on, we need to read the
book! As I read, listen for /p/.
8. [Show POT and model how to
decide if it is pot or lot.] The P tells me to
pop a bubble, /p/, so this word is p-ot, pot. You try
some: PIG: pig or fig?
PEEL: feel or peel?
PINE: dine or pine? FAN: pan or
fan? PAIL: pail or
mail?
9. For
assessment, distribute the worksheet with pictures on it, some start with P and
other do not. Students are to complete the partial spellings
and color the pictures that begin with P. Call
students individually over to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
References:
Dr. Seuss. Hop on
Pop. Random House. 1963.
Fulliloe, Casey.
"Pop Your P's . . . Pop! Pop!
Pop!" http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invent/fulliloveel.html
Murray, Bruce. "Brush Your
Teeth With F: Emergent Literacy." http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/sightings/murrayel.html
Tongue Twister Alphabet. http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/allitalphabet/index.html#
Assessment
worksheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/p-begins2.htm
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