Emergent
Literacy - Lesson for teaching letter recognition
“Sticky
Spaghetti Snakes!”
Rationale:
Most
children seem to be familiar with the s = /s/ concept; however, many
children
have trouble recognizing it on the end of words, especially plurals.
This lesson
is intended to familiarize students with the phoneme /s/ using hands on
activities. My goal for this is to help students recognize, identify,
and
locate that s = /s/ in spoken or written words. By the end of the
lesson, the
students will also be able to correctly write the letter s.
Materials:
1.
Tape
2.
Poster
Board
3. A
large
letter “S” on a piece of red construction paper
4.
Over-cooked spaghetti noodles (at least 2 for each child)
5.
Primary
paper and pencils
6.
Worksheet with pictures of words that have "s" in the beginning,
middle, and end
http://www.coloring.ws/t/abc/s-snake.htm
(picture of a snake shaping the letter S, “s”
is at the beginning)
http://www.coloring.ws/t/animals/color-possum.htm
(picture of a possum, “s” is in the middle)
http://www.coloring.ws/t/sports/ballet/1.htm
(picture of a hippopotamus, “s” is at the end)
7. Text containing many words
with
the phoneme /s/. Suggestions: The
Stray Dog : From a True Story by Reiko Sassssa; Author: Simont,
Marc, or Sometimes I’m Silly; Author:
Cousin, Patricia T.
8.
Chart
with: “Sammy the sneaky snake slithered
into the slippery spaghetti”
9. A basket or box containing
objects with phoneme /s/ at the beginning, middle, and end
10. Blank worksheet for
students to paste the /s/ words on for assessment.
Procedure:
1.
Begin
the lesson by saying, "Boys and girls, today we are going to
pretend to
be sly slithering snakes in search of words with letters that make the
same
sounds that a snake makes." Next ask your students "What sound
does a snake make?" Have them make the sound several times. Ask
them, "Where
is your tongue when you make the /s/ sound?" "Is air coming out of
your mouth or nose?" Then explain that snakes do what is
called
hissing. Now model the phoneme /s/ for them as the hissing sound that
they will
be making today as snakes.
2. On
a
poster have the word HISS written with the last two graphemes of “s”
decorated
like snakes so that your students can associate the phoneme with its
grapheme
by a familiar picture. Next say, "Boys and girls, let’s say hiss."
"Do you hear the snake sound in the word hiss?" "Watch me hiss
one more time." "Are we all making the same sound, /s/?"
3. Are you ready for a challenge? Let’s try a
tongue twister. Refer to the tongue twister you have written on the
chart. "Sammy the sneaky snake slithered into
the slippery spaghetti.“ Everybody
say it three times together. Now
we are going to say it again, but this time stretch out the /s/ at the
beginning of the words. "Ssssammy the ssssneaky ssssnake sssslithered
into
the sssslippery sssspaghetti." Let’s try it one more time, and this
time
break the /s/ off the word: "/s/-ammy the /s/-neaky /s/-nake
/s/-lithered
into the /s/-lippery /s/-paghetti." Great Job!
4.
(Have
students take out primary paper and pencil). "We can use the letter
s
to spell /s/. Let's write it. I will draw it first, so watch as I draw
it
(first capital, and then lowercase). For the uppercase S, you
will form
a c up in the air between the rooftop and the fence, then swing
back. Now
it's your turn." Let the
students write several uppercase S ‘s. Now boys and girls,
we are
going to write the lowercase s . For this you will fokrm a tiny
c up
in the air, then swing back like this. Students will write several
lowercase s’s. Then model a word with an s in each of
the three
places, beginning, middle, and end, and have your students copy the
words onto
their paper.
Example words – snow, slip, sip,
Sunday, September, rose,
lost, purse, please, first, kiss, grass, kids, mess, bus.
5.
Give
each student two spaghetti noodles and a copy of the letter S (have a
copy of
the snake worksheet each student). Ask them to form their spaghetti
noodles into
the shape of the letter S on the paper. Once they are done, they have
to try to
make another letter S with their spaghetti on the back of the paper
without
being able to see the written letter.
6.
Now have
your children pick one item from your basket of objects that contain
the
phoneme /s/. Model the first item you pick up – I have
just picked up a sock. The /s/ in this word comes at
the beginning. Now, I want you to share what you
have picked up and tell the class where the /s/ sound
is in your word.
Have your children share what they chose and
discuss where the phoneme /s/ is in the word. For example, if someone
chose
scissors, it has /s/ in the beginning, middle, and end. If someone else
picked
a bus, explain how you hear /s/ at the end.
7.
Now it
is time to use an easy book to emphasize the snake sound /s/ in texts.
Introduce a book such as The Stray Dog : From a True Story by Reiko
Sassa
by Marc Simont, which contains words that contain the phoneme /s/.
You can
introduce the book by saying, "Boys and girls, I am going to read
you a
short story about a family going on a picnic then adopting a scruffy
stray dog
and calling him Willy. I want you to keep your ears open for words that
make
the same sounds as snakes. Every time you hear a word with the snake
sound I
want you to hiss like a snake, making the /s/ sound! Okay, listen
closely!"
8.
For
assessment give your students the three worksheets with pictures of
animals
that you hear s = /s/ in (follow link included above). Also include two
pictures of animals that do not have
the letter “s” in their name (examples:
dog and ladybug). Have one sheet where they cut out the pictures
and one
with 3 columns. One column beginning, one middle, and one ending. Next
tell
your students what each picture is and have them say back to you what
they are.
Now have them cut out the pictures and place them into the correct
column
according to where they hear s=/s/ in the word.
References:
Aimee
Maner. "MiSS"chievous
Snakes
“Letter
S
Spaghetti Party” by Ginger Terry ESL Teacher.
http://atozteacherstuff.com/pages/110.shtml
Kid’s
Zone
Coloring Pages
http://www.coloring.ws/coloring.html
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