Sassy Sally Snake
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
It is important for students to understand letter to sound
correspondences in order to be successful readers and spellers. Children need to
be able to identify letters when they hear the sound orally or when reading
words that incorporate their phoneme. The purpose of this lesson is to assist
the child to gain confidence when using the phoneme /s/ represented by
S. Through hand gestures and practice
of pronunciation, students will gain confidence in regards to identifying and
writing the letter symbol S; as well
as recognize the /s/ in written and spoken language.
Materials:
*Primary
paper and pencils
*Tongue twister on sentence strip (Sassy Sally sang songs for Sammy snail and
Scotty seal.)
*Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/
Pointer
*Bear Snores On
*Cards with words (snow, snail, team, sun)
Procedures:
*Have you ever noticed that each letter of
our alphabet is important for making up the words we say every day? It is very
important that we learn the sounds that go with each letter of the alphabet so
we can use it correctly when we are speaking to one another and writing. Today
we are going to be working on the sound /s/. We spell /s/ using the letter
S.
*Have you ever heard a snake speak? When
they talk they make the sound /s/. During this lesson whenever we hear the sound
/s/ we are going to pretend to be snakes and make our hands slither like snakes.
*Demonstrate gesture. Let's make the /s/ sound and focus on the way your mouth
and tongue moves to make the sound. *Have students as a whole class make the
/s/. Notice how when we make the /s/ sound our lips and teeth are barely open.
Our tongue is also supposed to be lightly touching the front of our mouth and
the back of our teeth. Lets make the /s/ sound one more time. This time I want
you to make sure your tongue is touching the back of your teeth and make the
snake gesture as you say the sound.
*Now we are going to practice saying our
tongue twister. It may sound strange saying this sentence out loud, but the
purpose of this sentence is to continue practicing saying the /s/ sound
correctly. I will say the sentence first and then I will have you repeat after
me. *Use pointer to point to each word when saying it aloud on the sentence
strip. Sassy Sally sang songs for Sammy
snail and Scotty seal. Now you are going to say this sentence together as a
class. Make sure to make your hand gesture when you are saying words that make
the /s/. Now we are going to say the tongue twister again, but I want you to
stretch the /s/ sound. We are doing this so you can really hear where the /s/ is
placed in the words of this sentence. Don't forget to make your snake hands!
(Sssasssyyy Ssssallyy sssang sssongss
for Sssammy sssnail and Ssscotty ssseal.)
*Now I am going to show you how to find
the /s/ in words. The first word I am going to demonstrate with is
sleep. Ssss-l-ee-p. Can you hear it?
Ssss-l-eep. I can hear it. Sometimes you can hear the /s/ in the middle of the
word. I am going to say a word and I want you to make the snake hands when you
hear /s/. (house, mouse)
*Now we are going to practice writing the
/s/. We write the /s/ sound with the letter
S. Show them the letter on the board.
Notice how the letter S even looks
like a snake! First we are going to write a lower case s. Watch first then I
will let you try. We start just below the fence and make a c, then we curve down
to the side walk. I want everyone to practice and raise your paper up after you
have written one. When I put a check on your paper, then you can continue
writing your lower case s. Now we are going to practice an upper case
S. The upper case S looks exactly
like the lower case except bigger. We start just below the rooftop and make our
c that stops at the fence, then we curve down to the side walk. A good way to
tell them apart is, the upper case S looks like the mommy snake, and the lower
case s looks like a baby snake.
*Now I am going to say some words and you
are going to raise your hand and tell me what word you hear the /s/. Ready?
Snake v. cow, santa v. bunny, crow v.
snow, pillow v. salami. Now I want you to make your snake hands when you
hear the /s/: fur, scream, crouch, house, seal, smoke
*I am now going to read a book to you
called: Bear Snores On. One by one, different animals and birds find
their way into Bear's cozy cave. They make different kinds of snacks and treats
to keep themselves from being in the cold. But even after they make all of their
yummy snacks, bear continues to snore! Lets read and find out what happens when
bear wakes up to a cave full of uninvited friends. *As I read the book, I want
you to listen for the /s/. If you hear it, without speaking make your snake
hands so I know that you have heard the sound we are focusing on in this lesson.
*I am going to show you some cards with
words on them. The first word I am going to show you how you would be able to
see if the /s/ is in the word. Example:
snow v. blow. Sss-n-ow. Do you hear the /s/ and see the baby snake on the
card? That is how I was able to decide if this card spelled
snow and not blow. Now you are going
to try some: SNAIL: snail v. pail, TEAM:
scream v. team, SUN: sun v. fun
*For assessment, I am going to pass out a
worksheet that has different pictures and partial spellings on them. Student's
are going to circle the pictures that make the /s/ and complete the partial
spellings.
References:
*Daniel, Collier. Silly Silly Snake
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/danielel.html
*Bear Snores On