Nate is the Nicest Newt in the Neighborhood 

Caroline Yow

Emergent Reading Lesson

 
Rationale: Phoneme awareness is important for young children to learn, especially before attempting to read.  This lesson will focus on the phoneme /n/. The children will be able to learn the how the letter n sounds and how it is written. The children will also learn the letter n in order recognize it in writing, and hear it in speech. This lesson incorporate pictures, tongue twisters, and handwriting activities.

 Materials

          Picture of a motorboat (letter N n typed on it)
          Dry erase board that has primary lines
          Dry erase marker
          Chart paper with tongue twister (Nate is the nicest newt in the neighborhood)
          N pictures---with the word written under (nut, net)
          N book (AlphaTales Letter N: The Nicest Newt by Heather Feldman)
          Worksheets:

The first part of the worksheet has two primary school paper lines. One line with a traceable capital letter N and one line with a traceable lowercase n. The students will trace the letter and then continue the line by writing their own letter n.

The second part of the worksheet will have some pictures. The students will circle and color the picture that starts with the letter n.  Pictures:  nut, tree, net, fishing pole, nail, hammer, nest, bird.

The third part of the worksheet will have some written words, in which the students are supposed to circle the letter n in the words that contain the letter n  words:  sat, land,  pat, pin, Nick, ham, ten , hen, at, and.

Pencils for the children

Procedures:

          1. "Today we are going to learn about the letter "n". Does anyone know the sound "n" makes? Let me tell you the sound that "n" makes…nnnnn. It sounds to me like a noisy motorboat. Everyone put your hands out like you are holding the steering wheel of your very own motorboat. Drive your motorboat with me while we make our /n/ sound. Nnnnnnn. Great job! When we say nnnnn, our tongue is on the back of our top teeth and it looks like we are smiling! Let's drive our motorboat one more time. Good! Whenever you think about how to sound out /n/, think about driving your motorboat."

          2. "Now let's learn a new tongue twister together. We are going to hear a lot of n's.  Im going to tell it to your first. Our tongue twister is Nate is the nicest newt in the neighborhood. Does anyone know what a newt is? Newts are salamanders. They are in the reptile family. They even look just like lizards…just a little bigger. I want you to say the tongue twister with me now. "Nate is the nicest newt in the neighborhhod.. This time I want us to stretch out our /n/ sound, Get ready. Nnnnate is the nnnnicest nnnnewt in the nnnneighborhood. Good!" 

          3. "Can anyone think of a word that starts with the /n/? I have a few pictures that start with the /n/. They even say the word on the card. Our first card has a picture of a nut. Stretch the word nut with me…remember to drive your motorboat. Nnnnut. Good! What is our next picture? A net! You're right.  Let's stretch net together. Nnnnet. Great! I heard some motorboats out there."

Group Assessment--"Now I'm not going to show you the picture, I am just going to tell you some words and you tell me which ones have the /n/ sound. Get your listening ears ready! Do you hear /n/ in note or paper? Do you hear the /n/ in old or new? Do you hear the /n/ sound in near of far? Do you hear the /n/ sound in hunt or fish? Great job!"

          4.  "Now let's look at our board that has our Theo Bear lines. When we right capital letter N, we start at Theo's hat line and draw a slanted line down to his shoe line. We then move over and do the same. Draw a slanted line down to his shoe line. We then connect the top of our first hat line and draw a slanted line down to our 2nd shoe line. To draw our lowercase n, we draw a straight line starting at our belt line and ending at our shoe line. We then will pick our pencil up and start a little below our belt line. We touch our stick line and hump up to our belt line and then curve down straight to our shoe line."

"I want each of you to now get out your tracing fingers and trace our letter n in the air with me. (Repeat writing n directions- start with capital letter n)"

          5. "Now we are going to read a book called The Nicest Newt by Heather Feldman. Did any of you hear /n/? I did! What word had /n/? Nicest and newt! Good Job. Well we are going to be reading about a newt.  Nate is the character in this story and he is the nicest newt in the neighborhood. Does anyone know what a newt is? A newt is similar to a lizard. Nate is a nice newt. He likes to help others. Let's read to see who Nate helps."

Assessments:  For an individual assessment the children will each complete a worksheet on the letter "n". I will go over the directions of how to complete it before handing it out.

           The first part of the worksheet has two primary school paper lines. One line with a traceable capital letter N and one line                    with a traceable lowercase n. The students will trace the letter and then continue the line by writing their own letter n.

          The second part of the worksheet will have some pictures. The students will circle and color the picture that starts with the                letter n.  Pictures are: nut, tree, net, fishing pole, nail, hammer, nest, bird.

          The third part of the worksheet will have some written words, in which the students are supposed to circle the letter n in the                words that contain the  letter n  words:  sat, land,  pat, pin, Nick, ham, ten , hen, at, and.

References:

Feldman, Heather. (2001). Alpha Tales (Letter N). Scholastic Books. New York, New York.

Montgomery, Morgan. Mmm! Something Smells Good.  Fall 2008.

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/montgomeryel.html

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