R is Grrrrrrrreat!
Rationale:
This lesson will help students recognize the sound “r.” Students will
learn how to clearly pronounce the “r” sound by grinding their teeth together
and growling “grrrr” like a dog. The “r” sound is very important in the English
language because it can not only be used by itself, but it can be combined with
other consonants and vowels to make different phonemic sounds.
This lesson will enable children to become more
familiar with the “r” sound in spoken words.
Materials:
Crayons/pencil; primary paper; word cards with: rod, rim, red, road, rack, rat,
rose, rip, roast; tongue tickler written on butcher paper: “Ruth and Rachel ran
after Richard's rabbit in the rain”; little mirrors for every student,
Procedures:
1. Say: “Today we are going to learn how to say the /r/
sound. You hear this /r/ sound when a dog growls like this: ‘grrrrr.’
Can
you try and say this sound with me? ‘Grrrrr.’ Great job!”
2. Say: “Let’s all pretend that we are little dogs and we see something
that makes us angry. What are we going to do? Yes! We are going to growl! Put
your teeth together and make an angry face. Wow, you do look angry! We are doing
this because it helps us sound out the /r/. When we make this face, we are able
to say the /r/ sound in ‘rrrrran’ and ‘rrrrrainbow.’”
3. Say: “I’m going to tell you a funny sentence: Ruth and Rachel ran after
Richard's rabbit in the rain. Now I want you to repeat each section after me and
I want you to make your growling face every time you have to say the /r/ sound,
ready? ‘Ruth and Rachel…’ (let the children repeat.) ‘…ran after Richard’s
rabbit…’ (let the children repeat.) ‘…in the rain.’ (let the children repeat.)
Did you hear all the /r/ sounds in the sentence? Let’s say it once more. (Say
the sentence once more.) Great growling faces!”
4. Say: “Remember how we acted like little dogs before and made a growling face?
I want you to look in your mirror and make that face and growl like a dog. See
how your teeth are together and your lips are apart. That’s very good! Remember,
this helps us when we say the sound /r/.
5. Say: “Let’s test ourselves and see how well we know the /r/ sound. Do we hear
the /r/ sound in the word ‘Monday’? No, we don’t. Do we hear it in the word
‘river’? Yes, we do. Do you see how I make a growling face when I say ‘river’?
That means that this word has the /r/ sound in it.”
6. Say: “For our next activity, I have a liitle game. I will read you two words
and I want you to tell me which word has the /r/ sound in it: Rope or call?
(rope); Map or park? (park); Super or wide? (super); Mirror or smile? (mirror);
Glass or radiant? (radiant)
7. Say: “I am now going to show you a few cards that have
words on them. When I hold up a card, I will give you two options of what it
could be. After I ask you, you will tell me which wourd you think it is. Ready?
Let’s get started!”
(Rod: rod or cod? Rim: kim or rim? Red: fed or red?
Road: road or toad? Rack: rack or pack?
Rat: cat or rat? Rip: kip or rip? Roast: boast or
roast?) After every card say something like this: Yes, this card says rrrred
like the color red. Do you see how we make a growling face when we come across
the /r/ sound in ‘red’?”
8. Say: “Now that we know what sound the
r makes, let’s try writing it!”
(Demonstrate as you talk through the steps) “Make a small line starting at the
dotted line and go straight down to touch the bottom line. Next, you put your
pencil on the line right before you get to the top and make a small hump to the
right just like this. Now I want you to try.” (Hand out primary paper and assist
each student so they understand how to write the letter
r.) “Great job!”
9. For assessment, the teacher will distribute a /r/ sound worksheet out
to each student. Directions ask for students to color the pictures that begin
with the letter R. After all students have finished and the teacher has taken up
the worksheet, the teacher will review the answers for extra practice.
Resources:
Assessment Worksheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/imageschanged/kindergarten/r-as-begins2.gif