Rationale: For children to accurately learn how to read and spell words, they must first master the skill of being able to match letters with their correct phonemes. Being able to recognize a word depends solely on its phoneme graphing. Although short vowels are usually the most difficult to learn, the blending of phonemes can also be hard to master. When children begin learning about phonemes, they do not have the natural ability to blend certain sounds such as /sh/ or /th/. The students will learn the /sh/ sound by using meaningful representations and fun activities.

Materials: Paper and pencil; chart with the tongue twister 'Shannon found a shiny shell by the shore' written on it; the children's book Is Jo Home?  by Shelia Cushman; and the picture page with the illustrations soap, ship, frog, shoe, shower, hammer, shrimp, gum, milkshake, coke, and shadow. (Sentences for activity written down only fro teachers benefit, see number 5.)

Procedures: Introduce the lesson by telling the students that language is a secret code and the only way to break it is to learn the sounds that each letter presents. By doing this, you will be able to communicate using the English language with anyone. "Today we are trying to find how the mouth moves when making the /sh/ sound. After todayâs lesson, you will be able to spot and recognize this sound. When you make this sound are your lips together or apart?"

2. Ask Students: "Have you ever told someone to be quiet by saying /sh/? This is the sound that we will be studying today. The best way to spot /sh/ in a word is to say the word and if the sound is the same sound that you would use to tell someone to quit talking then it is the /sh/ sound. Iâll try shape. /Ssshhh/ ape·.See! If I would have put my finger over my mouth at the beginning of the word, you would have thought that I was telling you to be quiet because I made the /sh/ sound."

3. "Now, I would like everyone to try a tongue twister" (on chart). 'Shannon found a shiny shell by the shore.' Lets all say it together. Lets say it one more time but this time put your finger over your lips when you here /sh/ as if your were telling someone to stop talking. We will say it one more time; I now want you to break off /sh/ from each word: '/Sh/ annon found a /sh/ iny sh/ ell by the /sh/ ore.' Good job!"

4. (Students will use their paper and pencil for this exercise.) "To get the /sh/ sound, we will use the letters s and h.  To write the letter s, we will start just a little below the fence line, curve around until you touch the fence line, then curve it back and down to the right until your pencil touches the sidewalk and bring it back up just above the sidewalk. To make the letter h. Start at the ceiling, make a straight line from the ceiling to the sidewalk, bring your pencil straight back up until it touches the fence and loop it over to the right and bring it down to where it touches the sidewalk. I would now like everyone to make a row of shâs on their paper. When you see these two letters combined, that is when you make the /sh/ sound."

5. Ask the students which words they hear the /sh/ sound in. Do you hear /sh/ in shake or make? Tape or Shape? Should or would? I will now read you several sentences. When you hear the /sh/ sound, I want you to put your finger over your mouth as if you were telling someone to be quiet. The sentences are: When I went to the beach, I found a shell. A triangle is a shape that has three sides. The only time you will not see your shadow is when the sun is right above your head. If you can not go to sleep at night, try counting sheep. You put your shoe on the wrong foot."

6. Read the story Is Joe Home? and talk about. Now I am going to read the story one more time but this time whenever we hear a word that has the /sh/ sound, I want everyone to stop and repeat the word breaking off the /sh/ sound while you are repeating it. For example: If I read a sentence that says âHe was on a shipâ then we would all stop and say /sh/ ip.

7. For assessment, give the students the picture page and let them circle each picture that that has the /sh/ sound in it.

References: Byrne, B,. & Fielding-Barnsley, R. (1990). Acquiring the alphabetic principle: A case for teaching recognition of phoneme identity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 805-812.
 Eldredge, J. (1995). Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Ch. 5, pg. 50-70.

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