Emergent Literacy
Bruce Murray
Sound
the Foghorn
Emergent
Literacy
Bruce
Murray
Materials:
Primary
paper and pencil; chart with "Uncle was upset because he was unable to
put his
umbrella up"; drawing paper and crayons; Bud
the Sub (Educational Insights); picture page with bug,
bag, cup, gum, sun, bus, hat, rug, drum, tub, nut, and wig
(Modern
Curriculum Press Phonics, Level A).
Procedures: 1.
Introduce the lesson by explaining
that our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning
what
letters stand for䴊the mouth moves we make as we say words.
Today we're
going to
work on spotting the mouth move /u/. At
first /u/ will seem hidden in words, but as you get to know it, you'll
be able
to spot /u/ in all kinds of words.
2. Ask students: Did
you ever hear a
tugboat's foghorn say /u/? That's the mouth move we're looking for in
words.
Let's pretend to sound the foghorn and say /u/. [Pull an imaginary
foghorn
chain.] We sound a foghorn to warn the other ships we're coming through
the
fog. Sound your foghorn: /u/.
3. Let's try a tongue
twister [on
chart]. ‰¥þUncle was upset because he was unable to put his
umbrella up.‰¥ÿ
Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time,
stretch
the /u/ at the beginning of the words. ‰¥þUuuncle was uuupset
because he
was
uuunable to put his uuumbrella uuup.‰¥ÿ Try it again, and this
time,
break it off
the word: ‰¥þ/u/ ncle was /u/ pset because he was /u/ nable
to put his
/u/
mbrella /u/ p.
4. [Have students take
out primary
paper and pencil]. We can use letter u
to spell /u/. Let's write it. Start at the fence. Draw down to the
sidewalk,
curve over, back up to the fence, and now, without lifting your pencil,
draw
straight down to the sidewalk. I want to see everybody's u.
After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just
like it. When you see letter u all by
itself in a word, that's the signal to say /u/.
5. Let me show you how
to find /u/ in
the word thumb. I'm going
to stretch thumb out in super slow motion and listen
for the foghorn. Th-th-th-u-m.
Th-th-th-u-u-u . . . There it is!
I do hear the foghorn /u/ in thumb.
6. Call on students to
answer and tell
how they knew: Do you hear /u/ in up
or down? Glass or cup?
Walk or run? Under or
over? Work or fun?
Say: Let's
see if you can spot the mouth move /u/ in some words. Pull your foghorn
if you
hear /u/. Uncle, was, upset,
because, he, was, unable, to, put, his, umbrella,
up. [Note: was has /u/, but put does
not].
7. Say: "Bud is a
little
submarine. Gus is the captain. They find a tugboat that gets hit by an
iceberg and starts to sink. Can Bud and
Gus rescue the crew and save the day?"
Read Bud the Sub and talk
about the story. Read it again, and have students raise their hands
when they
hear words with /u/. List their words on the board. Then have each
student draw
a submarine and write a message about it using invented spelling.
Display their
work.
8. For assessment,
distribute the
picture page and help students name each picture. Ask each student to
circle
the pictures whose names have /u/.
Reference:
Byrne,
B., & Fielding-Barnsley, R. (1990). Acquiring the alphabetic
principle: A
case for teaching recognition of phoneme identity. Journal
of Educational Psychology, 82, 805-812.
Emily Borders, Uh . .
. I Don't Know!! http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/bordersel.html