Silly, slithering snakes
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
This lesson will help students identify the phoneme /s/ that is represented by a S. Students will learn how to recognize /s/ when words are spoken by learning the symbol S and the representation (slithering snake), practice listening for /s/ in spoken words, and develop phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by using the beginning letters of the words.
Materials:
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Tongue tickler tale: “Sam said he was sorry he put salt in Sally's sandwich,”
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Primary paper,
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Pencils,
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Flash cards with the words SOCK, SAD, MAD, SAND, BAND, SEED, and NEED written on them,
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The book Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards,
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Activity sheet
Procedures:
1. Say: “Today we are going to practice making the sound /s/ by moving our mouths. Do you hear /s/ in the word sss-ound? To spell /s/ we use the letter S. The word sss-nake begins with the letter S and makes the sound /s/. /s/ sounds like a slithering snake.”
2. Say: “Everyone stand up and pretend you are a slithering snake, /s/, /s/, /s/, /s/(make the /s/ sound while moving your arms like a slithering snake.) Notice where your lips and teeth are when you say /s/. (lips open and teeth together). When we say /s/ we pretend we are smiling and showing our teeth pressed together!”
3. Say: “Now I am going to show you how to find /s/ in the word sub. I will stretch the word out slowly and I want you to listen for my slithering snake. Sss-u-u-ub. I will try it slower: Sss-u-u-u-bbbb. I could feel my teeth and lips smiling at the beginning of the word.”
4. Say: Let’s try the tongue twister that is on the poster: “Sam said he was sorry he put salt in Sally's sandwich.” Let’s say it together. Now Stretch out the /s/ at the beginning of every word. “Sssam sssaid he was sssorry he put sssalt in Sssally's sssandwich.” This time we are going to break it off in the beginning of the word: “/s/am /s/aid he was /s/orry he put /s/alt in /s/ally's /s/andwich.”
5. Say: I am going to tell you two words and I want you to tell me which word you here /s/ in: Do you hear /s/ in saw or law? Sack or back? Sail or nail? Let’s see if you can recognize the motion of /s/. When you see /s/ make your slithering snake, if you don’t here it put your hands behind your back: sing, fur, seed, silk, jump, cape, salad, joke, say.
6. Pass out primary paper and have students take out a pencil. “We use S to spell /s/. Let’s practice writing a capital S. First, you will form a cup in the air between the rooftop and the fence, and then you will swing back.” I will then model this for them on a white board and ask them to write ten uppercase S. I will walk around to see if any of them are having trouble. “Now let’s try a lowercase s. To make a lower-case s you make a tiny c up in the air and then you swing back.” I would model this again on my white board. “Now let’s practice ten more like the ones we did together.” I would then walk around again to see if anyone needs any help.
7. Say: “We are going to read our letter /s/ book, Some Smug Slug.” Book talk: “The slug sees a steep hill he wants to climb. After many of his friends try and change his mind he has to decide if he will still climb the hill or not. Will he make it up the hill? Let’s read along and find out if he makes it up the hill. See if you can quietly make our snake motion for words with the s and as we read along. Let me see those quiet snakes! You all are doing great!” After reading the book have your students draw an alternative ending.
8. Show SOCK and show the students how to decide if it is slug or bug: “The S tells me to make my slithering snake; /s/, /s/, /s/. So this word is sss-lug, slug. Now I want you to try some. SAD: sad or mad? SAND: band or sand? SAY: day or say? SEED: seed or need?”
Assessment:
To assess the students on s = /s/, pass out the worksheet. Have students color each picture that begins with S. Work individually with students who have not grasp s = /s/ once the assessment is complete. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
References:
Activity sheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/s-begins2.htm
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invent/ciampiel.html
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/
