Zipping Up Z!
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale
This lesson will
help
children identify /z/, the phoneme represented by the grapheme Z. Students will learn to recognize /z/
in spoken words by learning a memorable representation (zipping up a
jacket)
and the letter symbol Z, practice
finding /z/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic
cue
reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials
tongue twister
chart, primary
paper, pencils, pictures (of a zebra, zipper, maze, wizard, and zoo), Zack the Lazy Zebra by Wendy Cheyette
Lewison (Scholastic, 2001), phonetic cue word flashcards of ZAG, ZERO,
BOOM,
NED, ZANY, assessment worksheet with pictures and crayons
Procedure
1. Say: ''Today,
we are
going to learn the letter Z and the
sound it makes /z/. This sounds like we are zipping up our jacket.
Let's
pretend we are zipping up our jackets, /z/, /z/, /z/. (Pantomime the
zipping
motion.) When we say /z/, the tip of your tongue touches above your top
teeth. From
now on every time we see Z or hear
/z/, we will zip up our jackets.''
2. ''I'm going
to show you
how to find /z/ in some different words. Listen while I stretch out the
word buzz. Bbbb-uzzzz. Slower: Bbbb-u-zzzzz.
Did you hear it? The tip of my tongue touched above my top teeth. How
about the
word crazy? Listen for the /z/.
Cccc-rrrr-aaaa-zy. Slower: Cccc-rrrr-aaaa-zzzzz-yyy. There it was! I
could feel
the zipper sound in crazy.''
3. ''Now, let's
try a tongue
twister. (Hold up chart). 'Zack zoomed to the zoo to see the zebra.'
Let's say
this together three times while we zip up our jackets. We are going to
say it
again, but this time I want you to stretch the /z/ at the beginning of
the
words. 'Zzzzzzack zzzzzoomed to the zzzzzzoo to see the zzzzzzebra.'
Now, do
you think we make the /z/ sound and pause before saying the rest of the
word? '/z/
ack /z/ oomed to the /z/ oo to see the /z/ ebra.'''
4. ''Let's
practice how we
write the letter Z to spell /z/.
(Give every student primary paper and a pencil.) Capital Z and
lowercase z look
the same, but capital Z is just a
little bigger than lowercase z. Let's
write the capital Z first. Start on
the rooftop and make a short straight line. Now, draw a line through
the fence
to the sidewalk like you are going to make the
number 7. Now, keep your pencil
down and draw a short straight line on sidewalk. I want to see
everyone's
capital Z's. Then, you can make 10
more. Now, let's practice the
lowercase z.
Start on the fence this time, and make a small straight line. Draw a
line to
the sidewalk like you are going to make a 7. From the end of the 7,
draw a
straight line on the sidewalk. Now you've made a lowercase z!
Practice those on your paper and I will come around and check
them.''
5. ''In the next
activity, I
am going to show you some pictures. The things on the pictures start
with the
letter Z. I want you to show me how you can make the /z/ sound
when you
say the word. I'll do one first to show you. (Show picture of a zebra.)
This is
a zzzzz-ebra. Now it's your turn.'' (Show students pictures of a
zipper, a
maze, a wizard, and a zoo, and have them say the appropriate name for
each
picture with emphasis on the letter Z).
6. ''You all are
doing a
great job finding the Z and sounding
it out. So, I am going to call
out a few words and I want you to tell me which words have the /z/
sound. Do
you hear /z/ in zap or cat? Gift or prize? Test or quiz? Zone or
home?''
7. ''Now, zip
your jacket
every time you hear /z/ in this sentence: The
fuzzy lizard ate zucchini at Zoey's house in
8. ''We are
going to read
the book Zack the Lazy Zebra by Wendy
Cheyette Lewison. The story is about a zebra named Zack that is always
sleeping! We will have to read the story to find out if the zookeepers
and Zack's
other zebra friends can get him awake! Whenever you hear the /z/ sound,
I want
you to zip up your jackets.''
9. ''Now, I am
going to show
you some flashcards with a word on it, like this one. (Show ZAG.) I
will give
you two words and say, 'Is this word 'zag' or 'rag?' (Model I will
decide whether
the word is zag or rag.) The Z tells me to zip up my jacket, /z/. So,
this word
has to be zzzzz-ag. Zag. It's your turn to try: ZERO: Is this hero or
zero? BOOM:
zoom or boom? NED: ned or zed? ZANY: brainy or zany?”
10. Assessment: To assess the students,
distribute a worksheet with several pictures
on it of words with /z/ and words without /z/. Have the students color
the
pictures that have the /z/ sound and put an X on the
pictures
that do not have the /z/ sound. While the group is working on
the
worksheet, I will call each student over to assess individually, using
the
phonetic cue word flashcards from the previous step.
References
Hardin, Melinda
(2008). Zig, Zag, and
Zooming to the Zoo.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/passages/hardinel.html
Montgomery,
Morgan (2008).
Mmm! Something smells good!
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/montgomeryel.html
Murray, Bruce
(2008). Brush
Your Teeth with F.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/murrayel.html