Zipping Through the Zoo with Zebra
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale:
This lesson will help teach children the /z/ sound for the grapheme z. Students will learn to recognize the
phoneme sound of /z/ when they hear it and associate it to a bee
flapping his
wings as he flies. Students will learn how to write it. It also
provides
opportunities to pick the sound out by seeing and hearing the grapheme
and
phoneme.
Materials:
Primary
Paper
Pencil
Marker
board or chalkboard
Chart
with "Zany Zachery Zeke zigzags through the zoo to see the zebra." The Z Was Zapped By Chris Van Allsburg
Flashcards
with "zipper", "zoo", and "zest"
Assessment
worksheet with pictures on it
Procedure:
1. Say: We are
going to learn
a new letter today. Write z on the
board. Who knows what letter this is? Z,
that's right. The letter z zigzags
down.
2. We're going to
look at
what our mouth does when we say the letter
z. Put your teeth together open your mouth like you are smiling
with all
your teeth showing. The /z/ sound is what a bee makes as it flies and
flaps its
wings together. So when we make the /z/ sound, we are going to flap our
wings.
3. Have class make
/z/ sound
through their teeth while flapping their wings. Ask: did you notice how
your
mouth moves as your make the /z/ sound?
4. Hold up chart
with "Zany
Zachery Zeke zigzag through the zoo to see the zebra." Read the tongue
twister aloud and draw out each /z/ sound: "ZZZZany ZZZZachery ZZZZeke
zzzzzigzzzzzag
through the zzzzzoo to see the zzzzebra."
5. Have class
repeat the
phrase with you while drawing out the /z/ sound. Be sure to flap your
wings
whenever you hear the /z/ sound!
6. Ask students if
they hear
the /z/ sound in "tip" or "zip"? "zoo" or "who"?
"zany" or "brainy"? "haze" or "fog"? "crazy"
or "calm"? "fidget" or "cozy"? Don't forget to
flap your wings!
7. Pull out The Z Was Zapped By Chris Van Allsburg.
Explain that each letter has something happen to it. Turn to the last
page that
has the z on it. Ask the children
what could have happened to it that has the /z/ sound.
8. Now it is time
to learn
how to write a z. Pass out a piece of
primary paper to each student. Demonstrate on the marker board how to
write it.
Tell the students that the top line of the primary paper is the
rooftop, the
middle dotted line is the fence, the bottom line is the sidewalk, and
below the
line is the ditch. First model how to write an uppercase Z
on the
board. Explain that you zig across the rooftop, zag down to the
sidewalk,
and zig back to the right. Tell the students to repeat this
saying along
with you while you all make uppercase Z's on your paper.
9. Have each
student write it
10 times while I come around to inspect.
10. Explain that
the little z is the same way only it starts at the
fence and zags down to the sidewalk.
11. Demonstrate and
then
observe as they write a lowercase z
10 times.
12. "Now, I am
going to
show you a word. I am going to ask you if it's one of two words." Show
the
word: zipper. Ask if it is "slipper" or "zipper"? ZOO: "zoo"
or "boo"? ZAG: "zag" or "bag"
13. Hold up a
picture of a
car and a zebra. Ask students which pictures starts with a z.
14. For assessment,
have
worksheet with pictures of z words
(i.e. zipper, zoo, zero, zebra, etc.) and pictures of words that do NOT
start
with z (apple, tree, car, etc.). Have
students color in the pictures that start with a z.
Reference:
Hardin, Melinda. "Zig, Zag, and Zooming to the Zoo".
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/passages/hardinel.html
Return to the Projects
index