“Mmm,
mmm, mmm!”
Emergent Literacy
Courtney Gibson
Rationale: Most students do not have
trouble
recognizing the m = /m/
correspondence, but they do have trouble recognizing it at the end of
words as
well as in the middle. This lesson is designed to help students
identify the
/m/ sound when it is located in the beginning, middle, and, end of
words.
Through both letter and phoneme recognition, students will be able to
recognize
/m/ in both spoken words and written words, and be able to write it
correctly
by the end of this lesson.
Materials: For this lesson you will need:
- If
You Give a Mouse a Muffin By: Laura Numeroff
(Harper Collins Publisher)
- Primary
paper
- Pencils
- Drawing
paper
- Crayons
- Poster
board saying, “Miss Moose Mary makes marvelous
milkshakes.
- Poster
board with pictures of things that begin with m
on it and some that do not. (Ex: moose, mat, dog, mountain, muffin,
computer,
McDonalds, flower, etc.)
- Copies
of this for children that have these same
pictures in black and white.
- Hand
gesture for m
= /m/ is rubbing hand on belly and saying. “Mmmm, mmm, mmm.”
- Poster
with a capital and lower case m and a picture of
a milkshake.
Procedure:
1. Raise your hand if you like
cookies? Pizza? Ice cream? Candy? Chicken fingers? French fries?
Everyone tell
me what your one favorite food is. (Go around the room, and
after every
student what their favorite food is and then the whole class can say, “Mmmm, mmm, mmm.”)
2. Every time I
heard a food that I just love to eat I can’t help but say Mmm, mmm,
mmm, and rub
my belly because it sounds so yummy! Let’s all try it together.
Everyone think
of your favorite food and when I say go we will all say Mmm, mmm, mmm
together
and rub our bellies. Go, Mmm mmm, mmm!
3. Do
you know that there is
something very special about this sound? It has a letter that is its
friend and
almost always travels with it wherever it goes. I like to call it the
'hungry
letter' because whenever you see it, it says "Mmm. Can you say
"Mmm? When you say "Mmm" I want you to think about what your mouth
is doing. Can you see what mine is doing when I say "Mmm? (Explain how lips come together and our throat
is
vibrating!) Then put up picture of milkshake with capital and lower
case m. This is what our
sound looks
like when we write it on paper. Make the mmm sound when I point to the
m. Do this several
times.
4. There are many
words with the sound "Mmmm." I would like for you all to listen to
the tongue twister I say. Are you
ready? (Now take the tongue twister out that was written
down on
the poster board and show it to them in written context) Miss moose Mary makes
marvelous milkshakes. Say it with me this time. (Repeat) Now let’s stretch out all the /m/
sounds and rub
our bellies when we hear them. (Say it again this time stressing/dramatizing the
m = /m/ in
every word.)
5.
Now I would like for you
to take out your paper and
pencil so we can try to make the letter "M" ourselves. Let’s
try the capital M first -- Start on the rooftop and go down
straight
through the fence and stop when you get to the sidewalk. Next, go back
to where
you started on the rooftop and go down the slide thru the fence until
you hit
the sidewalk and then back up the slide thru the fence to the next
rooftop.
Finally, go down straight through the fence to the sidewalk and stop.
Good Job! (Do
this again several times until you think students feel comfortable with
the
letter and writing it.)
Now let’s try the
lowercase m. Start on the fence and go down to the sidewalk
then back up
toward the fence and hump around and down to the sidewalk again. Now go
back up
to the fence and hump around and down to the sidewalk again. Good Job!! (Do
this several time
until you feel students are comfortable with it.) Then interchange
between
making capital and lowercase m a few
times to challenge students.
6. I
am going to say a couple of
words and I would like for you to tell me when you hear the /m/ sound (m =/m/). Do you hear /m/ in mitten or glove? Do you
hear /m/ in the word home or school? Do you hear /m/ in
the word coming
or going? Do you hear /m/ in the word me or your?
Do you
hear /m/ in the word some or all? Do you hear /m/
in mat
or rug?
7. Read the
story If You
Give a Moose a Muffin By: Laura Joffe Numeroff and discuss the
story with
the children. Book talk:
If you give a
moose a muffin, there is no telling what all he is going to want next,
because
he keeps wanting more. So if you want to find out what all the moose
wants and
gets, let’s read this book and find out.
As you read
the book, have the children rub their bellies when they hear the /m/
sound.
8. I will assess the children
throughout the lesson by observing the answers to questions I ask and
by making
anecdotal notes. I will also pass out a sheet with various pictures on
it. The
children will circle and color the pictures that have the corresponding
/m/
sound (m = /m/) represented in the
picture.
References: