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Several Sassy Snakes
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Emergent Literacy Design
Baley Justice
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. Students will learn to recognize /s/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (hissing snake) and the letter symbol S, practice finding /s/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
1. Primary paper and pencil
2. Chart with the tongue tickler “Sam said he was sorry he put salt in Sally's sandwich.”
3. Crayons
4. Silly Sally by Audrey Wood (HMH Books for Young Readers,1999)
5. Index cards with the words SAT, TAN, SAFE, TAIL, SAND, KEY, TEST, NOTE
6. Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/ (URL in references below)
Procedures:
1. The teacher says: Today we are going to learn about the letter and the sound s. Our mouths move differently with each letter. Today we are going to practice moving our mouths with the letter S. The letter s makes the sound /s/, like a snake makes, ssss.
2. The teacher will: Show the class the picture of the snake. The teacher will say: the /s/ sound sounds like a snake. Let’s practice making the hissing sound together as a class, let’s pretend we are all snakes, Sssssss. Does anyone notice what we do with our mouths when we make this /s/ sound? We put our teeth together and blow between our teeth. Everyone practice making this sound for a few minutes. As you are making this sound, keep in mind how your mouth moves.
3. The teacher will say: Now that you all know what the /s/ sound makes, we are going to practice finding the sound in a word. Listen to the words I am going to say, and see if you can identify the /s/ sound in them. I am going to say the word very slowly for you. Ready? The first word is fffff-iiiii-sssss-tttttt. Did you all find it? I found it close to the end. Let’s try another word. Sssss-iiiii-ppppp. Did you all hear it that time? It was in the beginning. Continue with a few more words: Split, Slice, Must
4. The teacher will say: Let’s do a tongue tickler for the letter s. Hold up a poster or tape it to a general spot so that everyone can see it. Tell the class to listen for the /s/ sound during this tongue tickler. Let’s try reading this together. “Sam said he was sorry he put salt in Sally's sandwich.” Let’s read it again very slowly. This time, hold out the /s/ sound like a snake would “Ssssam ssssaid he wasss sssorry he put ssssalt in Ssssally'sss sssandwich.” Now let’s separate the s from each word. /S/am, /s/aid, wa/s/, /s/orry, /s/alt, /S/ally’/s/, /s/andwich.
5. The teacher will: Go to the marker board/chalk board and instruct the students to take out their primary paper and a pencil. The teacher will tell the students that they are going to practice writing a capital and lowercase S. The letter S actually looks like a snake. The capital and lowercase S look very similar, except the lowercase one is a bit smaller. Let’s write
the uppercase letter S first. Start on the fence and make a c going up to the rooftop, then cross the fence and loop back down to the sidewalk like you are doing a backwards c. I want to see everybody’s! After I put a sticker on it, I want you to practice it 10 more times. We will do the same thing with a lowercase s. Follow the same instructions, but make it smaller. After I check yours, write it 10 more times.
6. The teacher will say: Now I am going to hold up index cards. I will hold up one and we will say it slowly together as a class. Then, I will hold up another card right after and we will say it slowly as a class together. You as a class have to decide which index card has the /s/ sound that we have been working on. Ready? The first card says “Ssss-aaa-ttt”. The second card says
“Tttt-aaa-nnn”. *Repeat once more if necessary* Okay class, which word makes that /s/ sound? Complete this task using the words safe and tail, sand and key, test and note.
7. The teacher will say: Now we are going to read a book called Silly Sally. Can anyone guess what this book is going to be about? This book is about dancing with a silly pig, playing leapfrog with a silly dog, and many more silly things! While we are reading this story, I want you to pay attention to all the words that have the /s/ sound. After the book is read, ask different students what words they heard with the /s/ sound.
8. The teacher will: Pass out the assessment sheets to see if the students have acquired the /s/ sound. Pass out the crayons for the students. Instruct the students that to look at the worksheet while you are going over the directions. Tell the students that this is a worksheet with pictures on them. If you notice the picture is something that starts with a S, then color the picture and finish writing the word on the dotted line below the picture. If you have trouble identifying the picture, ask for help.
References:
Maggie Fox, Dripping Water with P
http://maggiefox96.wixsite.com/mysite/emergent-literacy
Wood, Audrey (1999). Silly Sally
Snake Picture: https://www.fotosearch.fr/CSP971/k9716785/
Tongue Tickler: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/ticklers.html
Assessment Worksheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/s-begins2.htm
Bianca Davidson, Cooking with S
Delaney Stephens, Duck goes Knocking
http://das0032.wixsite.com/lesson-designs/emergent-literacy
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