Zoey Goes Buzz Buzz

Emergent Literacy Design

Amanda Harry

Rationale: In order for children to learn how to read and spell words, they must first be able to understand phonemic awareness.  This should help children to decode the written and spoken phonemes in words.  Before children begin to correlate phonemes to letters, it is most important that the children can identify the phonemes in spoken words. This lesson will help children identify /z/.

Materials:

Primary paper

Pencil  

Handout with pictures of words that has /z/ (zero, zebra, zipper, zoo, bee, leg, apple)                

Zigby Camps Out by Brian Paterson, 2003

Procedure:

Introduce the lesson by telling the students that each letter makes a different mouth movement. We will be talking about the sound /z/.

Have you ever been outside in the summer and hear a bumblebee zoom by? You hear the ���zzzz��� sound as the bee passes you. That /z/ is the sound that the letter z makes. We will be talking about the letter z and the ���zzzz��� sound that it makes. ���Watch me as I say the /z/ sound. ���Zzzzzz.��� Now, I want you to try. Can you make the bumblebee sound?���

Every time you hear the ���zzzz��� sound I want you to put your thumbs together and wave your fingers. This is how the bees make the buzz noise. There wings move fast and go buzz. I want you to try it. Do you hear /z/ in hero or zero? Good Job making your bee hands.

Tongue twister: Zoey zipped her zipper in a zoom.  Now let���s repeat the tongue twist three times to make sure we know it. Now let���s say it one more time and slow down at the ���zzzz��� sound. ZZZZoey zzzzeped her zzzzipper in a zzzzoom.

Do you hear the /z/ sound in zebra? Let���s say it together slowly. ZZZZebra. Yes, we do here /z/ in zebra.

Have students take out primary paper and write z���s across the first line. Tell students to make the number seven starting at the rooftop and going to the sidewalk. Once you have made the number seven then go back across to right of the sidewalk so the tail is even with the rooftop.

Teacher will read the book Zigby Camps Out by Brain Paterson and students should do hands motions when they hear the /z/ sound.

Assessment: Have the students circle the words with the ���zzzz��� sound from the handout.

References:

Zigby Camps Out by Paterson, Brain, HarperCollins, 2003

Hilary Shell: Zippy at the Zoo http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/shellel.html

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