Hop To It
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
The
ability to
recognize the letters of the alphabet is one of the two best predictors
of the
childās reading success (
Materials:
-primary paper
-pencil
-tongue twister (Harry hopped happily home) written on board or poster
-a bag of objects- some that start with h and some that do not. Examples are: hat, heart, a toy horse, a toy house, fake hair, a toy hippo, a tennis ball, a toy car, a deck of cards, and a beanie baby.
-Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who. Random House Books for Young Readers. 1954
-picture worksheet for assessment with pictures of ham, horse, butter, grass, hands, feet, and a hippo.
Procedures:
-The class will begin with a review of the letters previously taught, (vowels and some consonants). Discuss both the letter and the phoneme and ask students for example words for the phonemes. Some of the vowels that we will go over are: a, u. Some of the consonants that we will go over are: b, d.
-Write
the letter
h on the board. "Do any of you have a name that begins with the letter
h? The
letter h says /h/."
-Ask the
students:
"Do you hear the /h/ in the word hop? Good. It sounds kind of like a
person
who is panting from running. Say it
with me. When you hear me say a word
and it has the /h/ sound I want you to move your arms back and forth
and make
the panting sound like this (give example). Let's
practice: /h/op (stretch out the /h/).
-Let's try a tongue twister now: (reading off the board or poster) "Harry hopped happily home." Can you say it with me? (Repeat.) Now, let's really stretch out the /h/ at the beginning of the words. "Hhhhharry hhhhopped hhhappily hhhhome." Let's try that again (Repeat again in the same way). Now let's do it again, only this time lets try to break the /h/ off of the beginning of the words like this /h/orse. Ok? Let's try it. "/h/arry /h/opped /h/appily /h/ome." One more time (repeat the same way again).
-Ask
students to
get out their primary paper and a pencil. "We
use the letter h to spell /h/. Lets
all write it together. To make the
capital letter H: Down for a wall,
down for a wall, then cross at the fence. Everybody
try it. Please raise your hand when
you are done and I will come and see it. After
I have seen it, I want you to write a 5 more the same way. After
everyone is done, show them how to write a lowercase h: Start
at the rooftop, come down and hump over. Everybody
try it. Please raise your hand when
you are done and I will come and see it. After
I have seen it, I want you to write 5 more the same way. Now
you know that when you hear the /h/ in a word, then that is your signal
to write
the letter h, and when you see the letter h in a word, then thatās your
signal
to say /h/."
-Ask the
following
questions to the students: "Do you
hear /h/ in hop or walk? horse or
pig? jump or hop? mountain
or hill?"
-Get out the bag of objects. Pull out the objects. Ask what they are and if they have the /h/ sound or not. For example, pull out a hat. "What is this? A hat. Does hat have the /h/ sound? Yes. Good. Then pull out a tennis ball. What is this? A tennis ball. Does tennis ball have the /h/ sound? No. Good job."
-Give a
booktalk
for Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. "Horton is an
elephant
that is splashing around in a pond and hears a cry for help coming from
a dust
speck. Horton goes and saves the dust speck before he falls into
the pond
and many people make fun of him for saving the dust speck. Horton
does not
pay any attention to these people and saves him and learns that he is
from a
city that refers to themselves as 'The Who's.' Many of Horton's
jungle
friends are upset with him and so they steal the dust speck and send
him to be
dropped in a field of clover. You will have to read the rest of
this story
to find out what happens to the dust speck and to Horton!"
-Read the
book Horton
Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. Have
the students move like they are running whenever they hear the /h/
sound. Practice
with the title, making sure everyone moves their arms when they hear
the /h/
sound. Have the students draw a
picture of something from the story. Have
them use invented spelling to write a sentence about what they drew. Display
their work.
-For assessment, distribute a sheet with pictures on it and have the students color the pictures that begin with the /h/ sound and x out the pictures that do not start with the /h/ sound.
Checklist for teacher to use:
-Does the lowercase "h" go from the top wall to the bottom and hump over?
-Does the uppercase "H" go from the top wall to the bottom and then cross the fence?
-Can the student identify which pictures begin with the letter "H" and are they colored?
-Can the student identify which objects make the /h/ sound when pulled out of the bag? Such as the hat, toy horse, heart, etc.
Reference:
1. Adams,
Marilyn. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print -
A Summary.
2. Dr
Seuss. Horton Hears a Who. Random House Books for Young
Readers. 1954.
3. Cassie Keith- Hello H! http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/begin/keithel.html
4. Dickinson,
Sue. Spell, Read, and Write. How to Print Letters (handout).
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