Wiggle Worms

Emergent Literacy
Elizabeth Bush

Rationale:

            In order to learn how to read and write, children need to be aware that spoken words have phonemes that are the sounds of the letters.  They also need to understand the relationship between these sounds and the letters that represent them.  In this lesson students will learn to identify w = /w/ in written and spoken words. The students will learn this goal by associating the /w/ sound with a gesture and learning to locate the /w/ in words that we read and speak.

Materials:

-Primary paper and pencil

- Chart with “When William wakes up he wiggles while he waits for his waffles.”

-Picture cards of the following:  whale, water, walrus, watermelon, well (water), wave, witch, wood, wings, waffles, worm

-“Wiggle” by Doreen Cronin

 
Procedures:

1. Introduce the lesson by explaining that all of the letters of the alphabet have different sounds.  Also explain that our mouths move differently when we say the different letters.
2. Ask the students, “Have you ever seen worms move from side to side? Do you know what that is called? You’re right, it’s called wiggling. What sound do you hear at the beginning of wiggle? Correct. You hear the /w/ sound in wiggle.  Now, let’s all make the /w/ sound together.”  Demonstrate the /w/ sound and then have everyone join in.  “Great job!  When we make the /w/ sound, does anyone notice what your lips do?”  Demonstrate with exaggeration the act of making a circle with your lips. Ask the class to do this with you.  “Some words that have the /w/ sound are, water, wet, whale, and wow. Everyone say /w/ as you wiggle around.”
3. “Now let’s try a fun tongue twister” [on chart].  Read it to them first and then explain the activity with the tongue twister.  “When William wakes up he wiggles while he waits for his waffles.” “This time when we read the tongue twister, every time you hear and say the /w/ sound, pretend you are a worm and wiggle in your seat.”  Repeat the activity until all of the students are wiggling at the correct times.
4. [Practice writing the letter W].  Have students take out a piece of primary paper and a pencil.  “Now that we all know what w sounds like, we’re going to learn and practice how to write the letter w. (Model on Board).  Everyone pick up your pencil and follow my instructions.  Remember that the top line is the roof, the dotted line is the fence, and bottom line is the sidewalk. We are going to make a capital W. To make the letter w, start at the roof slant down to the sidewalk. Next, draw slant line up to the roof. Then, take your pencil and slant up to the fence. Then take your pencil and slant down to the sidewalk. Now, take your pencil and slant up to the roof. Now, I want all of you to make 5 more capital W’s while I walk around and see how good they are.”  Walk around and help students who need more guidance.  When they have all mastered this, continue. Okay, now we are going to make a lowercase w. We are going to start at the fence slant down to the sidewalk and slant back up to the fence. Then once again, slant down to the sidewalk and slant up to the fence. Very good. Now, I want you to write 5 more lower case w’s while I walk around and see how good they are.” Again, walk around and help students who need more guidance. Once they have all mastered this, continue with the lesson.
5. “Okay, now I’m going to give you a couple of words.  Tell me which one you hear /w/ in.  (Model). For example, I will say, ‘Do you hear /w/ in wet or bat?  www – eee –ttt Wet.  bbb—aaa—ttt .  bat.  I hear the /w/ in wet, www-eee-ttt. (Model how to tell that /w/ is in wet, by what your mouth is doing when doing when you say /w/).  Now, let's try this with the rest of our words.

Do you hear /w/ in:

            help  or walk?

            watch or clock?

            walrus or chicken?

            sail or wag?

            where or here?

            cake or wait?

             “To practice a bit more, I’m going to show you a couple of pictures.  I want you   to say what the picture is and if it has the /w/ sound, I want you to wiggle like a worm in your chair.”  [Hold up picture cards with the following:  whale, water, walrus, watermelon, wave, witch, wood, wings, waffles, worm]  

6. Read Wiggles, by Doreen Cronin.  Tell students to raise their hands every time they hear the /w/ sound.  When they do this, write the words on the board.  After reading, have them look around the room and see if they can find other words with /w/ in them.  Talk about the words.

7.  For assessment, give the students a worksheet with pictures and words containing the correspondence w = /w/ mixed with words that do not.  The students will circle the pictures and words that have w = /w/.

 
References:

 Adams, Marilyn Jager. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print. 1990.

 Cronin, Doreen. Wiggles. Atheneum Books for Young Readers: New York, 2005.

 Eldridge, J Loyd.  Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms.  Prentice Hall, 1995. p.23-34