Wacky Wednesday

Emergent Literacy Plan

Leah Rockwell

Rationale:

In order for children to learn how to read, it is imperative that they are able to identify letters and the phoneme that they make.  This lesson will help children to recognize the letter "w" and its phoneme /w/.  The goal of the lesson is for the students to learn to recognize /w/ in spoken words by learning mouth moves.  The students will write the upper and lower case form of w by my modeling. 

Materials:

1. Chart with tongue twister, "When the weather is warm we will walk with William in the wild woods"
2. Primary paper for each student
3. Pencil for each student
4. Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
5. Worksheet with pictures of objects that start with the letter /w/ (ex. whale, someone walking, waiter, whistle) and some that do not (house, bike, book, fence).

Procedures:

1. Before we start with our new lesson we are going to review what we have learned previously.  I am going to get them thinking about the new topic as well as review to see what they remember from previous lessons.  For review we would go over each letter previously by holding up a card with the letter on it getting them to say the letter and sound.  First we are going to review some letters that I have on index cards.  I want you to tell me the letter and then the sound that letter makes.   For example, Brooks what is this letter and what sound does it make? (showing the letter M.)  I would go through all of the letters we have done from previous lessons.
2. Introduce the lesson by explaining that our writing language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for- the mouth moves it makes as we say words. We can break the code if we learn that our mouth moves in different ways when we say different letters.  Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth move /w/.  As you become more familiar with it, you will be able to spot /w/ in a number of words both written and spoken words.
3. I am going to say 'Wacky Wednesday' and I am going to pay attention to the way my mouth is moving when I say 'Wacky Wednesday'. Model how your mouth looks when you say the letter w (Lips make a circle). Let's all say together 'Wacky Wednesday'.  Do you feel the way your mouth moves when you say /w/?  Then have the students practice doing this a couple of times.
4. Introduce the tongue twister that is written on the chart.  Let's try the tongue twister using the /w/ sound.  I will read it one time and then let's try it all together.  "When the weather is warm we will walk with William in the wild woods".  Now, let's say it together."  Point to each word as the children read them.  Now I want everyone to stretch out the /w/ sound.  Wwwhen the wwweather is wwwarm wwwe wwwill wwwalk wwwith Wwwilliam in the wwwild wwwoods.  Great job.
5. I want everyone to take out a piece of paper and your pencil.  We are going to use the letter w to spell /w/.  We are going to learn how to write the upper and lower case w. 
6. First we are going to make an upper case W.  I want you to take your pencil and place it on the roof of the first line (by this time children will understand that the top line is the roof, the dashed line is the fence, and the third line is the side walk on the primary paper).  Now, move your pencil in a slant down to the sidewalk.  Next, move your pencil up to the roof.  Take your pencil up to the fence.  Now, take your pencil back down to the sidewalk.  Last, take you pencil back up to the roof.  Be sure to give the instructions slowly and make the w on the board with the children as you give instructions.  I am going to walk around and see everyone's W.  After I see your paper I want you to write the upper case W five times and then stop.
7. Now we are going to learn to write a lower case w.  Place you pencil on the fence, and now move your pencil down and stop at the sidewalk.  Next, move your pencil up to the fence.  Then, move your pencil back down to the sidewalk.  Last, move your pencil to the fence.  Great job!  Now, I want you to practice writing the lower case w five times."  Once again give the procedure for writing the letter slowly, and also monitor the students as they practice.
8. Let me show you how to find the /w/ in the word switch.  I am going to stretch it out in slow motion.  I want you to listen for the /w/ sound.  S-s-w-w-i-tch.  S-s-w-w there it is.  I heard the /w/ sound in switch.
9. I am going to give you two words and I want you to tell me which word has the /w/ sound.  Raise your hand if you know which word it is and I will call on who ever is sitting very nicely with their hand raised. 

      Wake or Shake?

      Tin or Wind?

      Spin or Swing?

      Would or Should?

10. Read Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes.  I am going to read you a book today.  It is called Wemberly Worried. This book is about a young mouse that worries about everything.  No matter how happy she is she always worries.  Wemberly has to start her first day of school tomorrow, but she is worried about something.  To find out why she is worried we are going to read the book.  While I am reading the book to you I want you to listen for words that have /w/ in them.  If you hear a word with /w/ in it, then I want you to say /w/.  Talk about the story as we read it.  List the words the students found on the board. 
11. For assessment, distribute a sheet with pictures on it and have the students color the pictures that begin with the /w/ sound and x out the pictures that do not start with the /w/ sound.

Reference:

Henkes, K. Wemberly Worried. Greenwillow Publishing: 2000.

Murray, Bruce. Mouth Moves and Gestures for Phonemes. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/mouthmoves.html.

Murray, Bruce.  Wallach and Wallach's Tongue Twisters. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/twisters.html.

Rockwell, Lauren. Wishy Washy.  http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/constr/rockwellel.html.

Clark, Seth. Wiggle Worms.  http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/constr/clarkel.html.

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