Big and Small Bouncing Balls
Rationale: Letter recognition is a fundamental step to
becoming a good reader and writer. Therefore, it is important to learn
the
letters of the alphabet and the sounds that they make. This lesson will
focus
on teaching children the letter /b/. The ultimate goal is for students
to be
able to write a capital and lowercase b,
to recognize the sound (b= /b/), and
locate b=/b/ in spoken and written
words.
Materials:
Big,
Small, Little Red
Ball By:
Emma Dodd (Templar Publishing;
2001)
Beach
Ball
Bouncing
Ball
Dry
Erase Board
Dry
Erase Marker
Tongue
twister written on poster
(Becca Begs for a Big Blue Ball at the Beautiful Beach)
Primary
Paper
Pencil
Brown
Bag
Items
inside the bag: button,
bread, ball, book, birthday cake, balloons, baby, banana, brush, bubble
bath,
band aids, pencil, pen, dog, donkey, ring, sticker, dinosaur, ping pong
paddle
Crayons
Worksheet
with 7 items on it (dog,
banana, book, ballerina, bed, bee, penguin)
Procedure:
1.
Introduce the lesson and explain
why it is important to the children.
*Say
to students: Today, we will learn about the letter b.
The letter b makes the
/b/ sound. So what sound does the letter
b make? Excellent, the letter b
makes the /b/ sound. You hear the /b/ sound in the word beach and
brown. Do you
know any other words that start with the /b/ sound?
2.
Children will practice saying
the /b/ sound and learn and meaningful gesture.
*Say
to students: When I think about the sound /b/, I think about a big
ball. Get
the beach ball out and have the students to stand in a big circle and
say, Now,
I’m going to throw this beach ball to each one of you and I want you to
catch
the beach ball and say the sound that letter b makes.
For example, if Josh threw the beach ball to me, I would
catch it and say /b/. Throw the beach
ball to each of the students and then say, that was great, now think
about when
you are in P.E. class and you bounce a ball in the gym. What sound does
the
ball make when it hits the floor? Yes, it kind of sounds like /b/, /b/,
/b/.
Bounce a big ball the floor and say, when the ball hits the floor, I
want you
all to say /b/ and I also want you to stand up and pretend that you are
bouncing
a ball too. Great job! Get everyone to sit down and ask How does your
mouth
feel when you say /b/ ,/b/, /b/? Look how my lips start out together
and then
they open as a puff of air comes out. Now, one last time let’s pretend
to
bounce our ball while we practice the /b/ sound. Let’s try to find the
/b/ sound
in the word rabbit.
R-R-R-A-A-A-B-B-B-B-B-B…there it is! My lips start together and then
puff and
open and you hear the /b/ sound/ It sounds like a bouncing ball. Let's
say
rabbit together. When you hear the /b/ sound, bounce your ball.
R-R-A-A-B-B-B-B-I-I-T-T. Great job! I saw everyone bouncing their ball
after
the /a/ sound!
3.
Introduce a tongue twister to
the students that allows them to practice the /b/ sound.
*Say
to students: I am going to say a tongue
twister, everyone listen for the /b/ sound. Becca Begs for a Big Blue
Ball at
the Beautiful Beach. I will first demonstrate aloud how to say the
tongue
twister and then I will say it aloud stretching the /b/ sound, Bbbbecca
Bbbbegs
for a Bbbbig Bbbblue Bbbball at the Bbbbeautiful Bbbbeach. Students
will then
say the tongue twister off the poster board aloud with me. The students
and I
will say it together 3 times. Next, we will say it stressing the /b/
sound and
then the students will say it using the new hand gesture (bouncing a
ball) when
they hear the /b/ sound.
4.
The letter b can be a hard to write for some students.
Have each student take
out a piece of primary paper and a pencil. Using the dry erase board,
demonstrate how to write a lowercase and uppercase B/b.
Talk and give assistance to the students through the process.
*Say
to students: I am going to show you how to write a lowercase or some
people
call it a small letter b. Watch me
write b first and then you can
practice on your own paper. (Write as you talk) Start at the roof; go
down, b-bbounce back up and around. Now say it
with me as you practice. Start at the roof; go down, b-bbounce
back up and around. Let’s try again. Start at the roof;
go down, b-bbounce back up and
around. Now, practice writing your lowercase b and
write the lowercase b
7 times. If you would like to you can say start at the roof, go down, b-bbounce back up and around in your
head for help. Once you’re done, put your pencil down so I can come
check your
work.
*Say
to students: I am going to show you how to write an uppercase or some
people
call it a big letter B. First, watch
me write B and then you can practice
on your own paper. (Write as you talk) Go straight down the sidewalk;
around
for his big chest, and around for his big tummy. Now say it with me as
you
practice. Go straight down the sidewalk; around for his big chest, and
around
for his big tummy. I want to hear everyone’s voice, let’s try it again.
Go
straight down the sidewalk; around for his big chest, and around for
his big
tummy. Now, practice writing your uppercase B
7 times. If you would like to you can say go straight down the
sidewalk; around
for his big chest, and around for his big tummy’ in your head to help
you out.
5.
Play a drawing game to help
students hear the /b/ sound in words. Students will select items out of
my brown
bag. When the item is selected, students will name the item aloud and
tell if
that item begins with a /b/ sound. If the item doesn’t begin with the
/b/ sound
then they will tell what sound the item begins with.
*
Say
to students: We are going to play a game. I will call each student up
to the
front and they will pick an item out of my brown bag. When you draw the
item
out, you will name the item and tell if that item begins with a /b/
sound. For
example, I selected a _________. I do hear the /b/ sound in ________.
But every
item in the brown bag doesn’t start with a b
or the /b/ sound so, if you don’t hear the /b/ sound then you would
say, I
selected a _______. I don’t hear the /b/ sound in ________ but I do
hear the
___sound.
6.
Introduce the book, Big,
Small, Little Red Ball to the students. When reading the book, the
students
will demonstrate our new hand gesture (bouncing ball) when they hear
the /b/
sound.
*Say
to students: Now we are going to read the story, Big, Small, Little
Red Ball. Woof is a dog that has a lot
of friends and
when Woof and his friends play, they like to play with their favorite
ball. But
Woof has lost his favorite ball and him and his friends can’t play
until they
found Woofs favorite ball. Let’s read to find out what kind of ball is
Woof’s
favorite and where his ball is. When I read, I want you to listen out
for the
/b/ sound. When you hear the /b/ sound, I want you to pretend that you
are
bouncing a ball. Let’s practice with the
title, B-B-B-BBig (slow motion, bouncing the ball), Small,
Little,
Red B-B-B-BBall (Bouncing your hand).
Assessment:
Distribute
a worksheet with 7
pictures on it (dog, banana, book, ballerina, bed, bee, penguin).
Students are
to color only the pictures that have the /b/ sound. I will walk around
and talk
to each student with they work to determine if they have any problems
with
writing or identifying the letter b.
Reference:
Dodd,
Emma. Big, Small, Little
Red Ball. Templar Publishing. London. 2001.
Goodwin,
Candice. Bouncing B’s. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/passages/goodwinel.html
Murray,
Bruce. Teaching
Letter Recognition
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/letters.html
Murray,
Bruce. Mouth Moves and Gestures
for Phonemes. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/mouthmoves.html
Roy,
Ashley. Picture Perfect Popcorn!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/passages/royel.html