Rationale: Research suggests that alphabetic letter recognition and
phoneme awareness are the most important indicators of first-year
reading achievement in prereaders. Therefore, it is extremely important
that teachers effectively teach the alphabet and the
corresponding phonemes. The goal of this lesson is to introduce the
letter S and its
corresponding phoneme /s/. Students will learn to recognize /s/ in
spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (snakes make the
sound "sss") and the letter symbol S, practice finding /s/ in words,
and apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonemic cue reading by
distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
1. Primary Paper
2. Chart with "Slimy snakes slither slowly down the stairs."
3. Picture of the "S" snake
(URL http://www.trinityfammau.org.uk/fun%20items/colouring/S-snake.gif
)
4. Word Cards with SOCK, PINK, STAR, JAM, SICK, SNOW
5. “Swine Lake” by James Marshall (published by Harper Collins, 1999)
6. Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/ and practicing
writing the letters S and s
(URL http://www.tlsbooks.com/beginningsoundofletters.pdf
)
Procedures:
1. Say: Our written language is a
secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for-our
mouths move in certain ways when we say words. Today we are going to
work on spotting the mouth move /s/. We spell /s/ with the letter S. S looks like a snake, and the /s/ sounds
like the sound that a snake makes when they hiss. "Sssssssss."
2. Say: Let’s pretend our arms and
hands are snakes. Let’s wiggle our arms and hands and make the "Ssssss"
sound like a snake would make. /s/ /s/ /s/. (Pantomime a snake
with your hands and arms.) Do you
notice how your teeth are together when you make that sound? When we
say /s/ we blow air through our teeth.
3. Say: Let me show you how to find
/s/ in the word sister. I’m
going to stretch it out in super slow motion and listen for my snake
sound. Sssss-i-sssss-t-e-r. One
more time, ssss-i-sss-t-e-r. There
it was! I heard the /s/ sound when I blew air out through my teeth. I
can hear the snake sound in sister.
4. Say: Let’s try a tongue twister
(on chart). "Slimy snakes slither
slowly down the stairs". (Everybody say it three times
together). Now, let’s say it again,
and this time, stretch out the /s/ at the beginning of the words.
"Sssssslimy sssnakes ssslither ssslowly down the ssstairs". Try it
again, and this time break the /s/ off of each word. "/S/ limy /s/
nakes /s/ lither /s/ lowly down the /s/ tairs".
5. (Hand the primary paper and a pencil out to each student). Say: We use the letter S to spell /s/. Uppercase and lowercase S both look curvy like a snake. (Show
the picture of the "S" snake). Let’s
write the uppercase S first.
(Model as you explain how to write an S).
Begin with your pencil just below the
roof and make a little curved c
so that it sits on the fence. Now, without lifting your pencil, make a
curve around the backside of the fence and rest it on the sidewalk. I
want to see everybody’s uppercase S. After I put a smiley face on it, I
want you to make four more just like it. After you write five uppercase
S’s, write a lowercase s. (Model how to write a lowercase s). Begin with your pencil just below the
fence and make a little c that
is between the fence and the sidewalk. Now, without lifting your
pencil, make a curve around the backside of the fence and rest it on
the sidewalk. I want to see everybody’s lowercase s. After I put a smiley face on it, write
four more just like it.
6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Say: Do you hear /s/ in Sparkle or Dull? Loud or Soft? Chris or Mike? Wrist or Finger? Messy or Clean? Let’s see if you can spot our mouths
making the /s/ sound in some more words. Make a wiggly snake with your
arms and hands if you /s/. Funny? Test? Sticky? Blue? Mad? Sad?
Risk? Neat?
7. (Get out the word cards). Show SOCK and model how to decide if it is
sock or clock. Say: The S tells me that this word has the sound that
a snake makes in it-/s/, so this word is ssss-ock, sock. You try some: PINK: Pink or Sink? STAR: Star or Car? JAM: Sam or Jam? SICK: Tick or Sick? SNOW: Bow or Snow?
8. Say: Let’s look at a book that
has lot’s of /s/ sounds in it. (Introduce the book Swine Lake by
James Marshall). Ask: Have any of
you ever been to a lake? What do you normally see at a lake? I want you
to listen to the story to see what we see at Swine Lake, and I want you
to keep your ears open for words that make the same sound as snakes.
Whenever you hear the /s/ sound that a snake makes, I want you to
wiggle you hands and arms like snakes.
9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete
the partial spellings and practice writing upper and lowercase S on their own. Call students
individually to read the phonetic cue words from step # 7.
References:
Bell, Elizabeth. Slinky Scaly Snakes.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/bellel.html
Sullivan, Sarah. Nice and Neat Micky
Mouse.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/sullivanel.html
Marshall, James. Swine Lake.
Harper Collins. 1999
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