Mmm, Mmm … Good!
Emergent Literacy-
Teaching letter Recognition
Emily Irvin
Rationale: Children must
understand the alphabetic principle
in order to learn to read and spell words. They must understand that
letters in
written words are mapped onto phonemes in spoken words. In order to do
this
they must recognize phonemes in spoken words first. This lesson helps
children
to learn the /m/ in spoken words by learning a fun remembrance and
allows them
to practice finding the /m/ in written words.
Materials: Primary pencil and paper, Chart with “Molly met
Mary at the matinee movie”, picture page with /m/ and other words (man, mail, flower, horse, monkey, mermaid,
fish), picture cards with moon, sun,
mustard, ketchup, ocean, mountain, music, and radio
words, book: Are You My Mother?, drawing paper and crayons
Procedures:
- Introduce the lesson by saying
“Language is like a secret code. Our letters have a certain shape and
certain sounds. Sometimes it is tricky to know what sounds the letters
make so we are going to pay special attention to how our mouth moves as
we say the sounds. Today we are going to look at the mouth move /m./.
At first it may be hard to find in words, but with a little practice
you will be able find /m/ in many words.
- Ask students: What do you say when you
eat something good? Do you ever say /m/? Let’s all say it, /m/. Good.
Now we are going to rub our hands across our tummies when we say /m/.
Let’s try it. Great! Now whenever we hear a word with the /m/ sound I
want you to stretch out /m/ and rub your tummy. This motion will help
us remember the /m/ sound.
- To find /m/ in spoken words you must
stretch out the word. I will show you how. If we have the work, bump, I
will stretch the word out. Bbbbuuuummmppppp. Where do I hear my /m/?
Bbbuuummmmmmmmm..There it is! There’s the /m/ in bump.
- I want everyone to look at the chart.
We are going to say a silly sentence, a tongue twister. “Molly met Mary
at the matinee movie.” Ok, no every one say it with me. Very good! Now
we are going to say it and make the rubbing motion when we hear the
/m/. It helps to stretch out the /m/ so let’s do that as well. “Mmmolly
mmmet Mmmary at the mmmatinee mmmovie.” Great job!
- Have students take out their primary
paper and pencils. There is a letter we use to spell /m/. The letter is
m, and we are going to practice writing it. Everyone try this with me.
Start at the fence and make a line straight down, then one hump and
another hump. Now I want everyone to practice making m’s on their own.
I am going to walk around and look at your papers. If you are writing
them correctly I will put a checkmark on your paper, and if you need a
little help then I will help you. I would like everyone to make a whole
line of m’s on their paper. Good job! Now you know how to write the /m/
you hear in words using the letter m.
- Call on students to answer: “Do you
hear /m/ in many or few, cap or map, movie or film, make or take?” Good
job! Pass out picture cards to students. Say: “We are going to play a
sound game. You have some picture cards that have different pictures
that represent words. I am going to ask you which one you hear the /m/
in and you will hold that card up. Do you hear /m/ in moon or sun,
mustard or ketchup, ocean or mountain, music or radio?” Great job
hearing those /m/ words!
- Read: Are You My Mother? Say: “Class
we are going to read this book and every time you hear the /m/ sound I
want you to rub your tummies and say /m/. Pay special attention to
those /m/ words and we will see how many you remember when the story is
over.” Read the book and have students discuss which /m/ words they
heard. Then have them think of something that starts with the /m/ sound
and draw a picture of this as well as write a sentence to tell about
their picture (may use invented spelling).
- For assessment pass out a sheet with
pictures and have the students circle the ones that have the /m/ sound.
References:
1. Eastman, P. (1960) Are You My Mother? Random House
Children's Books. New York.
2. Eldredge, J. Lloyd; Teach Decoding: Why and
How, second edition;
Upper Saddle River, NJ; Pearson Education, Inc.; 2005, 1995; 60-82
3. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/connect/tippettel.html.
Dorsey Tippett; “Move the M My Way”
4. http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/explor/kingel.html.
Milissa King; “Mischievous Mindy”
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