Vacuuming
Up
Violets
Emergent
Literacy
Lauren Long
- Phoneme (/v/) picture of vacuum
- Chart paper with tongue twister written on it ("Victor
gave Val violets for Valentine's Day.")
- Primary paper (one per child)
- Pencil (one per child)
- Decodable text, Vin
and Val
- Chart paper with lyrics to "Do You Know the Valley
Man?" song
- Chalkboard or whiteboard for class-wide activity
- "Color the Pictures" assessment worksheet (http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/v-begins2.htm)
1. Introduce the
lesson. Tell the students, "Today, we are investigators. When you see writing, it's like a secret
code. Now we are going to break some of
that code and learn about a new letter and the sound it makes! We are going to learn about "v" and
the sound it makes. Can you say "/v/"? It's the sound we hear when we say the word
'vacuum'."
- "Every time you hear the /v/ sound, I want you to
pretend as though you are vacuuming up that sound.
Get your vacuums ready!"
- Repeat the word "vacuum" several times and have
children pretend they are vacuuming every time they hear the /v/
phoneme,
emphasizing the phoneme in the spoken word.
- Point to chart paper with the tongue twister "Victor
gave Val violets on Valentine's Day" on it.
- Read it once aloud.
- Have students repeat it with you again.
- "Now, this time when you read it, I want you to
vacuum up the /v/s you hear! Get your
vacuums
ready again!" Read the tongue
twister again, emphasizing /v/ so they can "vacuum it up".
- "This time, I'm going to break off the /v/ sound when
we read the tongue twister. Say it with
me, and every time you hear /v/, vacuum it up! – 'V-ictor ga-ve V-al
V-iolets
on V-alentine's Day.' Great! You are
doing a v-ery good job v-acuuming up your /v/s!"
"Let's be investigators again. We are
going to see if we hear the /v/ sound
in different words. I'm going to say two
words, and you tell me which word you hear the /v/ sound in!" "Do you hear /v/ in mountain
or volcano?"
Car or van?
Vroom or broom?
Case or vase?
Lava or rock?
8. Writing the letter
"v". Explain to students
that the /v/ sound can be written with the letter "v".
Have students get their pencils and primary
paper ready.
- Model writing the letter v. Have
students write their own letters.
- "Let's write the letter v! Put your
pencils on the rooftop. Draw a diagonal
line, like you're a piece of
lava sliiiding down the side of the volcano.
Make sure your line goes past the fence, and stops on the
sidewalk. Keep your pencil on the
sidewalk, and slide
back up to the rooftop."
- Have students continue writing the letter v as you walk
around and make sure they are writing them correctly.
- Remind students that this letter, v, makes the /v/ sound,
like in the words vacuum and violets.
- Give the following book talk: "Vin and Val are
friends
that take a trip in a van. They are
traveling to a hut to get some sap in a vat!
When they try to take the sap in the van with them, the van gets
stuck
in the mud. Oh no! What are they going
to do? Let's read the book to find out."
- Read the book once to students. Have
them make sure they listen for the /v/
sound and notice the letter "v" on the pages of the book.
- Reread Vin and Val. Have
students actively participate with
vacuuming gesture. "I am going to read the book again, and I want you
to
vacuum up your /v/s every time you hear them!"
- Write these words on the board.
- Encourage students to use their "vacuuming gesture"
as they say the words.
- Encourage students to write the words on their primary
paper.
References:
DLTK Kids (2006). Letter V
Alphabet Songs: http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/songs/v.htm.
Kidzone (2004). What
Begins with V? http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/v-begins2.htm
Hamby, Courtney. Vacuuming the V's. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/guides/hambyel.html