Bouncy Balls and Baseball Bats

Emergent Literacy Design
by:
Matthew Darby

Rational:

This lesson is designed to help students with the correspondence b=/b/.  This lesson provides students with the opportunity to learn how to write both the uppercase and the lowercase letter b.  Student will also learn words that start with the sound /b/.  This lesson allows for students to practice both using the correspondence in a reading and writing situation.  “Studies indicate that reading and writing are interrelated processes (Doctorow, Wittrock, & Marks, 1978; Taylor & Berkowitz, 1980), and growth in one process tends to facilitate growth in the other” (Eldredge, 11.)

Materials:

• Book: It’s Not Easy Being Big by Stephanie St. Piere, Random House Books for Young Readers
• Have a poster designed with the tongue twister (Bill’s baseball busted Betty’s bubble) written on it.
• Dry erase boards that resemble primary paper (roof, fence, floor, and basement) for entire class
• Dry erase markers for entire class
• Erasers or paper towels for entire class
• Cards (baseball, basketball, bat, bear, baby, boy, dog, cat, light, cup, girl, and clock)
• Crayons
• Coloring sheet with 6 pictures on it (boy, basketball, boat, girl, lamp, and hat).

Procedure:

1. Introduce the lesson and why it is important. Today we will learn about the sound /b/.  Does anybody know what letter makes the sound /b/.  The letter b makes the sound /b/.  Can anybody tell me a couple words that starts with /b/.
2. Say to students:  What sound do you hear when you bounce a bouncy ball. When I bounce a bouncy ball I hear /b/, /b/, /b/. Can everybody pretend to bounce a bouncy ball?  When you say /b/ how does your lips look?  My lips are pressed together. I bounce my bouncy ball because it is fun.  Lets all bounce our bouncy balls.”  Have children pretend to bounce a bouncy ball.
3. Have students try to say the tongue twister Billy’s baseball busted Betty’s bubble.  First read the tongue twister to the students B-B-Billy’s b-b-baseball b-b-busted B-B-Betty’s b-b-bubble. Have students read the tongue twister with you. Be sure to annunciate the sound /b/.
4. Have students get ready to write the letter b.  First tell students that this letter can sometimes be tricky.  On your board model writing the letter b.  Start by telling students to make a bat from the ceiling to the floor.  Then tell the students to draw a ball next to the bat, the top of the ball should be at the fence and the bottom of the ball should be on the floor.  Explain to the students that when you make the letter b the bat should hit the ball.  Have the students practice the lower case b on their dry erase board.  Have them write the lower case b five times on their board.  Now students it’s time to practice the uppercase B. Explain that this is not complicated.  Tell the students that they need to start this the same way they started the lower case b. Students need to draw a bat starting at the ceiling going down to the floor. This time class you need to draw to balls that the bat needs to hit one on top of the other.  Show the students how to write the uppercase letter B on you dry erase board.  Then have students practice drawing the uppercase letter B.  Have them write the letter B five times.
5. Now it’s time to play a fun game.  Go over all the cards with your students.  Tell them the names of the cards (baseball, basketball, boy, bear, bat, baby, cat, clock, girl, cup, and light.) After going over the cards tell the students that you are going to hold up two different cards and that they are going to pick the card that has the sound /b/. Hold up two different cards one with the sound /b/ the other with a different correspondent (Ex. card #1 boy; card #2 girl) Ask students to raise their hands if they know which card starts with the sound /b/.
6. Story time!  We are going to read the book It’s Not Easy Being Big.  Tell the students to listen very carefully to the story, and whenever they hear the /b/ sound they can bounce their bouncy balls.  Remind students as you read the book that they only need to bounce their balls when they hear the /b/ sound.

Assessment:

Pass out the coloring sheets and crayons.  Tell the student that they are only to color the pictures that have a picture that starts with the /b/ sound.  Ask if the students have any questions about the coloring worksheet.  While students are working on this coloring sheet, the teacher should walk around the room offering assistance to students who need extra help with the sound /b/.

References:

Dakota Farrulla Bouncy Bouncy Basketball  Emergent Literacy Design.

Eldredge, J. Lloyd.  Teaching Decoding Why and How. Second Edition.  Pearson

Education Inc. New Jersey. 1995

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