Emergent Literacy: Take Time to Learn T
Lesson By:
Caroline Duffy
Rationale: Before students can learn to read and write they need to have phoneme
awareness. In order for children to
become phonemically aware they need to learn each of the phonemes one at a time.
This lesson will help students to learn and understand the phoneme /t/
and associate it with the letter T.
They will learn to recognize the phoneme with a memorable sound analogy (ticking
of a clock). Also, they will
associate the phoneme with its symbol T through written practice and they will
practice finding /t/ in groups of words.
Lastly, they will apply their phoneme awareness of /t/ through
identifying pictures that begin with /t/.
The concept of this lesson is for students to recognize /t/ in spoken and
written words and understand how /t/ makes the sound similar to the sound of a
ticking clock.
Materials: primary paper, pencils, plain paper, clipboards, crayons, analog
clock (if available), The Train Trip
by Geri Murray, word note cards of TAKE, RAKE, TOAD, LOAD, BOOK, TOOK, PICK,
TICK, assessment worksheet.
Procedures:
1.
Say: Language is like a
code. In order to know how to read
and write we need to learn how the code works.
Each letter in our code has a special mouth movement that gives it a
special sound. Today, we will be
working on the mouth movement /t/.
The sound /t/ makes is similar to the sound a ticking clock makes.
2.
Say: Have you ever heard a
ticking clock before? If yes, say lets pretend we are ticking clocks, /t/ /t/
/t/ /t/. If not, provide your own
example of a ticking clock (analog clocks work the best).
After the demonstration of the noise is complete ask the question: Do you
notice where your tongue is when you make the sound /t/?
When you make /t/ your tongue is touching your top teeth.
As you make the sound your mouth opens and your tongue moves down.
Now lets practice making the sound again while paying attention to your
mouth movements, /t/ /t/ /t/ /t/.
3.
Say: Let me show you how to
find /t/ in a word. For example,
let's say we have the word trick.
I am going to stretch out the sounds as I say the word so that I can look for my
ticking clock sound, tt-rr-ii-cckk.
I will say it again, ttt-rrr-iii-ckck.
I felt my tongue touch my teeth at the beginning of the word.
/t/ is the first sound in trick.
Now, you try pronouncing each sound in trick.
Do you feel your tongue touch your top teeth when you say /t/? Do you
recognize the ticking clock sound?
4.
Say: Now, I am going to
read you a funny string of words, Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the
track. Now everybody, lets say
together what I just said five times in a row.
Nice try everybody! Now lets say it again but this time lets stretch out
the /t/ at the beginning of each word.
Ttt-ommy ttt-ricked Ttt-im and ttt-ook his ttt-rain off the ttt-rack.
Did everyone hear /t/ that time?
5.
Say: Now that we have a
better understanding of the /t/ sound lets see if we can pick out the words with
/t/ in a pair of words. If you know
the answer raise your hand and I will call on you. Do you hear /t/ in work or
take? Do you hear /t/ in gift or
hand? Do you hear /t/ in store or
soon? Do you hear /t/ in moon or
lift? Do you hear /t/ in leg or
boot? Good job everyone!
Now I am going to read you a sentence.
If you hear /t/ in any word I want you to pretend you are a clock and
tick like one, Tommy tickled Tim until he cried.
6.
Next, we will have the
students practice writing the letter T.
Have the students take out primary paper, pencil, and clipboard (if
necessary). Say: When we hear /t/
in a word it is represented by the letter T.
To make a capital T you begin by drawing a straight line down beginning
at the rooftop and ending at the sidewalk.
Next, you cross the first time at the rooftop.
Now demonstrate drawing a capital T on primary paper.
Now, to make a lowercase t you begin by making a line straight down that
begins halfway between the rooftop and fence and ends on the sidewalk.
Next, cross the line you just made by making a line on the fence.
Then, demonstrate making a lowercase t on primary paper.
Now I would like you to practice writing uppercase and lowercase T’s on
your own.
7.
Say: I am going to read you
a story. Begin by introducing the text, The
Train Trip by Geri Murray. Now give a booktalk- It was a big day for
Tim. His friend Nate was coming on a train. Tim is excited to have a
friend his age to play with. Nate is on the train for a long time.
The train suddenly stops at a scary place. Now lets read the story to find
out what happens next! The first time I read it to you I am
going to ask some questions after each page. [Now read the story and talk before
you turn, meaning ask questions about the story at the end of every page.] Now
that you are familiar with the story I am going to read it to you a second time.
If you hear me read a word with /t/ I want everyone to tick like a clock. After the reading is over
we will review the words in the story that had /t/.
Also, we will discuss other words with /t/.
After we discuss words with /t/ I will ask each student to pick a word
with /t/, write it in a sentence, and illustrate it.
8.
Say: It is important to pay
attention to your mouth movements when you read words.
Realizing which mouth movements you make allows you to know which sounds
are in which words. For example if
you have two words, take and rake, you need to recognize each mouth movement for
each word so that you can decide which word has the sound you are looking for,
in this case /t/, ttt-aa-kk-ee, rrr-aaa-kk-ee.
My tongue touches my top teeth when I say take but not when I say rake so
I know that take must have /t/. Now
you try some: TOAD or LOAD, BOOK or TOOK, PICK or TICK.
*This portion of the lesson
can be completed either in whole group instruction or individually.
This can be beneficial to complete individually because you can
accurately see whether or not the student understands the concept.
9.
Assessment: Distribute the
worksheet. Each student is to color
in each of the drawings that begin with T.
For the most accurate assessment have the students complete the worksheet
individually and quietly.
Reference:
Book:
Murray, Geri. The Train Trip. Genie
Collection. 2007. 14 pages.
Internet Site:
Murray, Bruce. The Reading Genie.
Link to Downloadable
Decodable Text
Murray, Bruce. The Reading Genie.
Phoneme Gestures .
Assessment Worksheet: SuperTeacherWorksheets.
Worksheet Link.
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