MMMoose,
Oh My!
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
This lesson will help children identify /m/, the phoneme represented by M.
Students will learn to recognize /m/ in spoken words by relating the meaningful
representation (moose noise) and the letter symbol
M and practice finding /m/ in words.
Materials:
*primary paper
*pencils
*whiteboard with “Missy
mooed for more milk” written on it
*note cards with the
words MAKE, TAIL, MELLOW, TREE, MAN
*If
You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff (Harper Collins, 1991)
*assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /m/ (URL below)
Procedures:
1.
Language is a hard thing to learn and
understand sometimes. A good way to
start learning is to discover what letters mean. Today we are going to practice
finding the /m/ sound. We spell /m/ with the letter M.
2.
A moose makes the mmmmmm sound, almost
like when a cow mmmoooos. Can you
hear the /m/ sound? When we say /m/ our lips are touching and air is blowing
from our throat to make the sound. Try to make the sound with me!
3.
Let me show you
how to find /m/ in movie. I’m going to stretch movie out slowly and try to
listen for the mmmmoose noise. Mmm-o-v-ie. Now I’m going to try it slower. Mmmmm-oooo-vv-ieee.
There is was! I felt my lips touch and air was blowing from our throat.
4.
Let’s try a
tongue twister [on whiteboard]. “Missy mooed for more milk.” Everybody say it
together three times. Now let’s say it again, but this time stretch the /m/
sound at the beginning of each word. “Mmmissy mmmooed for mmmore mmmilk.” Try it
again and this time, break the /m/ off each word. “/M/issy /m/ooed for /m/ore
/m/ilk.”
5.
[Have
students take out primary paper and pencil.] We use the letter M to spell /m/.
Let’s practice making capital M together!
Start at the rooftop and make a straight line to the sidewalk. Next, put your
pencil back at where you started, and make a diagonal line to the fence. Than
draw another diagonal line from the fence to the rooftop. You finish by drawing
another straight line from the rooftop to the fence.
(Walk around to be sure every student
has successfully written capital M.) Now we are going to practice writing
lowercase m. You start at the fence
and draw a straight line to the sidewalk. You will then start below where we
made our first line and make a hump to the sidewalk. Then, you will make another
hump connecting to the first hump down the sidewalk. (Walk around to be sure
every student has successfully written the lowercase m.) Now draw one full line
of uppercase M’s and one full line of lowercase m’s.
6.
Call on students to answer and see if they know: Do you hear /m/ in make or
lake? Tan or man? Mail or tail? Class or mass?
7.
Let’s read “If You Give a Moose a Muffin”. This book is about what would happen
if you gave a moose a muffin. They would want jam to go with it. Soon you will
have no more muffins and you will have to go to the store to get more muffin
mix. Will the moose ever stop asking for things? Let’s find out!
8.
Ok, let’s begin reading! Every time you here a /m/, make a short mmmoose noise.
Make a list on the board of all the /m/ words they can remember.
9.
Show MAKE and model whether it’s make or lake. Mmmake or llllake. The mmmoose
noise tells me that this word is make. You try some: TAIL: mail or tail? MELLOW:
yellow or mellow? TREE: me or tree? MAN: fan or man?
10.
For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students will complete the partial
spellings and color the pictures beginning with /m/.
Reference:
Auburn University Reading Genie Website; Megan Killen, “Ride Your Motorcycle
with M”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/projects/killenel.html
Auburn University Reading Genie Website; Laurin Lee. “Mmm Mmm Good with M”
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invitations/leeel.htm
“If You Give a Moose a Muffin”.
Laura Joffe Numeroff (Harper Collins, 1991).
Assessment worksheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/m-begins2.htm
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