"Mmm
Mmm Good!"
Rationale: In
order for children to become successful readers they must first
understand that
letters stand for phonemes and phonemes stand for spoken words. Before
children
can match letters to phonemes, they must recognize phonemes in spoken
word
contexts. This lesson will help children identify /m/. They will learn
to
recognize /m/ in spoken words by learning a tongue twister to spot the
mouth
move /m/. Then they will learn the letter symbol, practice writing it,
and find
/m/ in words.
Materials: chart
with "Mommy makes me muffins every morning"; sentence strips cut into
pieces
the size of index cards; If You Give a
Moose a
Muffin by Laura Numeroff; coloring
paper and crayons
Procedure:
1. Introduce the lesson by explaining that our
written
language is tricky and that we must first understand that that letters
stand
for something. I will explain that the alphabet is made up of 26
letters and
that these letters make different sounds. Letters stand for the mouth
moves we
make as we say words. Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth
move
/m/. We are going to find words that contain the letter m and learn how
to
write the letter m.
2. What is your favorite food? My favorite food is
pizza and
whenever I get done eating pizza I always say, "mmmm...I want some
more". Have
you eve done that? So let's pretend that right now we are eating our
favorite
foods. Let the kids practice the mmmm
sound until they get comfortable. Have
the students take the time out and tell you how their mouths are held
while
they are emulating the sound. Make sure to point out the fact that we
pierce
are lips together then open them up.
3. Let's try a tongue twister (on chart). "Mommy
makes me
muffins every morning". Everybody say it three times together. Does
everyone
hear the mmm in the tongue twister? Let's say it again but slower and
let's
stretch the /m/ at the beginning of the words. "Mmmommy makes mmme
mmmuffins
every mmmorning". Try it again and this time break it off the word: /M/
ommy
/m/ akes /m/ e /m/ uffins every /m/ orning.
4. Give the students time to come up with names,
places,
things, and even actions that they can think of that have the phoneme
‰¥þM‰¥ÿ
sound. Encourage students to think of words like mom or names like
Molly. If a
student gives an incorrect name or word tell them that, that was a good
effort
and give them the correct graphemes for that word. This task will also
allow
you begin some assessments of what your students actually know about
the
phonemes for M.
5. (Have students take out sentence strip piece
and pencil).
We can use the letter m to spell /m/. We are going to write both upper
case and
lower case. I am going to demonstrate how to write the letter on the
chart
paper first. To make an upper-case letter m you first go straight down,
down
the slide, up the slide and down straight. Now let's try doing it
together. I
will walk around helping any students that are having trouble. Next we
will
write a lower-case m. Start at the fence. You first go down, hump
around, hump
around. Now let's try doing it together. I will walk around helping any
students that are having trouble. Now we will practice writing lower
and upper
case m's. I'm going to call out either upper or lower and you are going
to have
to write it.
6. Let me show you how to find /m/ in the word
lamp. I'm
going to stretch lamp out in supper slow motion and listen for the mmmm
sound.
Ll-aa-m-p. Ll-ll-aa-aa-mm-mm... I hear it! I found the mmm sound in the
word
lamp. Now lets talk about some words that have an m and make an mmm
sound. I'm
going to call out some words and I want you to put up your card on the
side
with the mmm sound whenever you hear the sound mmmm. If you don't hear
the
sound, then turn your card on the blank side. Man, mommy, pet, dog,
jump, kid,
mad, school?
7. Read the story If
You Give a
Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff and discuss the story with the
children.
Book talk: If you give a moose a muffin, there is no telling what all
he is
going to want next, because he keeps wanting more. So if you want to
find out
what all the moose wants and gets, let's read this book and find out.
As you
read the book, have the children rub their bellies when they hear the
/m/
sound.
8. Pass out plain white paper and then have each student draw a picture of something that is mmmm good to them and write a message about it using invented spelling.
9. For
assessment, I will
go around the room and ask students to name a word that we have not
talked
about in this lesson that has the mmm sound. I will write these words
on the
board. I could also hand out a paper that has different pictures on it
and let
the children circle the pictures that contain the mmm sound.
References:
Hopkins, Ivy.
"Mmmmm! Mmmmm!
Yumm!" http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/hopkinsel.html
Numeroff, Laura. If
You
Give a Moose a Muffin. (1991).
Gering
Book. 30.
Redd, Jennifer.
"MMM...Monkeys!"
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/reddel.html
Sirota, Elaine.
"Mmmm...Mommy
Made Muffins!"
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/sirotael.html