Pretty Purple Poppies

Emergent Literacy
Amanda Shankles

Rational:

In order for young readers to become better, more fluent readers, they need to be able to recognize written letters and be able to relate the sound of the spoken letter to print. This lesson will help students recognize the phoneme /p/ and use it with the written text ‘P’.

Materials:

• Primary paper
• Pencils (one for each student)
• Chart with written alliteration
• Word List – pen, paper, hit, color, yellow, pass, tape, grab
• Sheet with pictures and words – plate, bowl, spoon, fork, pig, dog, cup, mug
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff
  

Procedures:

1. Introduce the lesson by explaining to the students that there is a certain way our mouth moves for every word we say. Today we are going to find out how our mouth moves when we say /p/. Each student will say /p/ and watch each other to find out what our mouths look like when we say /p/.
2. Ask students: Who has ever popped popcorn in the microwave? What sound does it make? Yes…it makes the /p/ sound. Every time we hear that sound today we are going to pop our hands (popping fingers from the fist position.)
3. Let’s try a tongue twister with a lot of /p/ sounds. “Pam picked pretty purple poppies from the flower pot.” Everyone repeats it 2-3 more times. Now let’s use our popping hands every time we hear the /p/ sound. Great job!
4. Pass out paper and pencil to each student. Now we are going to write the letter P on our paper. Start at the fence and make a straight line down to the ditch. Pick up you pencil and then make a circle starting at the fence and going down to the sidewalk. Make sure the circle touches the straight line.
5. Let me show you how to find /p/ in the word jump. I’m going to say the word in slow motion and listen for the popping /p/. j-j-j-u-u-u-m-m-p-p-p. Yes, I do hear the /p/ sound. Now I’m going to say a few words. When you hear the /p/ sound, I want you to raise your hand. Read: pen, paper, hit, color, pass, yellow, tape, grab.
6. Now, I’m going to read you a story called If You Give a Pig a Pancake. In this story the pig loves pancakes and lots of syrup. He makes a huge mess. What do you think happens to him when he gets dirty from all the syrup? Let’s find out. Every time you hear the /p/ sound, pop your fingers like popcorn.

Assessment:

            After the reading the story, I will pass out a sheet with pictures of several objects with the words underneath the picture. The     student is to circle the picture whose name has the /p/ sound in it.

Reference:

Adams, Marilyn, Jager (1990). Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print, p.53-55.

            http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters.html