Pretty
Penguins Pop Perfect Popcorn
Cydney Dorsey, Emergent Literacy
Rationale: This lesson will
help students to develop stronger phoneme awareness, by focusing on
their
abilities to recognize phonemes (esp. p=/p/) in spoken words, write the
upper-
and lower-case P/p, and identify words with the beginning /p/ phoneme.
"To
appreciate the alphabetic significance of letters, children must gain
conscious
access to phonemes(Adams p. 53)."
Materials:
-Large
Primary Paper Teacher Tablet
-Marker
-Upper-
and Lower-case P/p cutouts for the teacher’s board
-Primary
Paper Writing Tablets (per student)
-Pencils
(per student)
-If You
Give a Pig
a Pancake
book
-Color
worksheets (one for each student)
-Crayons
-Alphabet
Journals (per student)
Procedures:
1.
Introduce the lesson to the students.
Say:
"Today, we are going to learn about a new letter."
[Show
the students a large P/p on board.]
"This
is a 'P.' We are going to learn about the sound that 'p' makes, and
what it
looks like when it is written in upper-case and lower-case and when we
see it
in words."
2.
Introduce the p=/p/ sound.
Say:
"Do you know the sound that popcorn makes when you pop it in the
microwave? What is that sound?"
[Students
will respond…"p-p-p," "pop!"]
"Right!
P-P-P-P….that is the sound that the 'p' makes! Let’s say this sentence:
Pretty
Penguins Pop Perfect Popcorn." [Students will repeat.]
"Okay,
now let’s exaggerate those 'P' sounds at the beginning of each word Pretty Penguins Pop Perfect Popcorn." [Students will
repeat.]
"Great
job! Now can anyone think of other words that start with the 'P'
sound?"
[Students will respond. "pig" "plow" "paint"
"purple"…]
3.
Discuss upper- and lower-case distinction.
Say:
"Okay, so we have 2 different 'P/p’s' up here on the board. Why are
they
different?" [Students will respond.]
"They
are different because this one [P] is an upper-case 'P,' and this one
[p] is a
lower-case 'p.' When do we use upper-case letters? When do we use
lower-case
letters?" [Students will respond based upon prior knowledge.]
"How
might it be different to write an upper-case P? How might it be
different to
write a lower-case p?" [Students will respond based on prior knowledge.]
"Okay,
[the teacher will demonstrate on large primary paper tablet, students
will take
out their writing tablets and pencils] the upper-case P has a back that
reaches
all the way from the rooftop down to the sidewalk. Its front curves
around from
its back like a backwards 'c,' touching the rooftop down to the fence
making
sure to connect with its back again. Does everybody understand? Why
don't you
try writing one on your paper? Why don't you try writing 5?" [Students
will do as instructed, while teacher walks around to check off.]
"Now,
what about the lower-case 'p'? [Teacher will continue demonstration.]
It has a
back that stretches down from the fence, past the sidewalk, and into
the ditch.
Its front also curves around like a backwards 'c,' but only from the
fence down
to touch the sidewalk. Does everybody see? Why don't you try writing
one on
your paper? Why don't you try writing 5?" [Students will do as
instructed,
while teacher walks around to check off.]
4. "Now, I am going to read
the book If
You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff. Everytime you hear the
'p'
sound we have been talking about today, I want you to make this popcorn
motion
with your hands.
[Teacher will demonstrate motion.].
Everybody practice that
motion with me – great job!"
[Teacher will read the story and students
will make the motions.]
5.
After reading the story, students will be assessed by completing a
worksheet
that asks them to color only the pictures that start with the letter
'p.' The
teacher should come around to the students while they are working on
this
worksheet to have meaningful discussions with them, and to check off
their
completion of the assignment. Once they have finished this worksheet,
they
should make an entry in their "Alphabet Journal" – one sentence with
3 p words in it, including correct capitalization. This will be checked
off
during the general "Alphabet Journal" check.
Resources:
Adams,
Marilyn Jager. Beginning to Read:
Thinking and Learning about Print (A Summary). Center of the Study
of
Reading: The Reading Research and Education Center: University of
Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. 1990.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/mirandael.html
Murray,
Bruce. Reading
Genie: Hand Gestures for Phonemes
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/gestures.html
Numeroff, Laura. If
You Give a Pig a Pancake. USA. An Imprint of
Harpers/Collins
Publisher. 1998. 29 pages.