Slithering, Sneaky Snake Says “SSSsssss”
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
Throughout this lesson, children will learn to identify /s/, which is the
phoneme represented by S. Students
will learn to identify /s/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful
representation (slithering like a sneaky snake) and the letter symbol S.
Students will also practice how to find /s/ in words, as well as learning how to
apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing
rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
Primary paper and pencil; Chart with “Seth Snake slithers sneakily down the
sizzling hot sidewalk”; Pipe cleaner; Glue; Eyes;
Clipboard; Colored Pencils; Drawing
Paper; “What Begins with S” worksheet; Dr.
Seuss's ABC (Random House, 1963); word cards with SO, SIX, SOCK, and SEE.
Procedures:
1.
Say:
“Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what each
individual letter stands for. We can hear each letter sound by the mouth
movements that we make as we say words. Today we are going to learn about the
letter /s/, as well as learning about the sound it makes. When I hear or say the
letter /s/, it reminds me of the sound a snake makes as it slithers along the
ground.”
2.
“To remember that the letter /s/ sounds like a slithering snake, let's pretend
that our arms are snakes. Put your hands together and wiggle your arms while
making the “Sssssss” sound, like a snake would make (/s/ /s/ /s/ /s/). Let's pay
close attention to the movements of our mouths as we make the “Sssssss” sound.
When we say /s/, notice where your top teeth are. (Your top teeth are resting on
your bottom teeth). Your tongue should be pushing against the back of your
bottom teeth. When we say /s/, we are blowing air between our top teeth and our
bottom teeth.”
3.
Say:
“Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word
mask. I am going
to stretch out the word by saying it very slowly. Your job is to watch what I am
doing and to listen very carefully for the sound that a snake would make. Mmm-a-a-ask.
Ok, now I am going to say our word even slower.
Mmm-a-a-a-sss-k. There it was! I felt
my tongue pushing against my bottom teeth as I blew air in between my bottom and
top teeth. I can definitely feel the slithering, sneaky snake /s/ in
mask.”
4.
Say:
“Ok everyone, let's try a tongue tickler (on chart). “Seth Snake slithers
sneakily down the sizzling hot sidewalk.” Great! Now let's say it again,
and this time, stretch the /s/ at the beginning of each word. “SSSSeth
SSSSnake SSSSlithers SSSSneakily
down the SSSSizzling hot SSSSidewalk.”
Excellent!
Try it again and break the
/s/ off of each word: “/S/ eth /S/ nake /S/ lithers /S/ neakily down the /S/
izzling hot /S/ idewalk.”
5.
[Have
all the students take out primary paper and a pencil]. Say: “We will use
the letter S to spell /s/. Capital/uppercase S looks like a snake. Let's
write uppercase S. In order to write
uppercase S, we must first form a c in between the rooftop and the
fence. We will then swing back down, forming a backwards
c in between the fence and the
sidewalk (demonstrate on primary chart paper). I want to see everyone’s’ uppercase
S! Great job everyone! I'm going to walk around and look at everyone's
S. If I put a smiley face on your
paper, then please practice writing nine more
S’s just like the first one. Now we
are going to write lowercase s. In
order to write lowercase s, we need
to form a tiny c starting at the fence and going to the center of the
fence and the sidewalk. We will then swing back down, forming a backwards
c from the middle of the fence and
the sidewalk to the bottom of the sidewalk (demonstrate on primary chart paper).
Can everyone show me their lowercase s?
Great job! I'm going to walk around and look at everyone's
s. If I put a smiley face on your paper, then practice writing nine more
just like the first one.”
6.
Say: “Now,
each of us is going to make our own slithering, sneaky snake. I am going to hand
each of you a pipe cleaner, and I want you to form the letter
S with it. When you are finished, I
will pass out the googly eyes for you to glue onto your snake. After you have
completed your craft, you will have a slithering, sneaky
/s/ snake.”
7.
Say:
“I will now read a couple of words
to see if you can tell which words contain the letter s. If you hear /s/
I want you to raise your slithering, sneaky
/s/ snake in the air. Do you hear /s/
in third or second? Dirt or Sand? Stop or Go? Swim or Float? Skip or Run? Side
or Front? Winter or Summer?”
8.
Say:
“Let's look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss tells us about a funny creature whose
name starts with a S. Can you guess? Read the pages regarding the letter S,
drawing out /s/. Ask students if they can think of other words with /s/. Ask
them to make up silly creature names that begin with /s/. Then, have each
student write their silly creature name with invented spelling and draw a
picture to show what it might look like. Have students share their work and say
each creature’s name together as a group, drawing out the /s/.”
9.
Show
SLAP and model for students how to decide if the word is clap or slap. Say:
“The S tells me to slither like a sneaky snake. So this word is Ssss
-lap. Now you try: SOUR- is this sour or hour? SLOW- is this slow or
glow? SOON- is this soon or moon? SEND- is this send or bend?”
Assessment:
I will distribute a worksheet to assess the students’ learning. The students
will practice printing the letter S
and decide which pictures begin with S.
Also, I will call on individual students to come forward and read the words from
step #9.
References:
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/adventures/dobbinel.htm
(Slithering Snakes By: Samantha Dobbin)
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/adventures/mckinneyel.htm
(Slithering Snake Says “SSSsssss” By: Maggie McKinney)
Worksheets:
http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/s.htm