Emergent Literacy Design
Phoneme awareness is an important part for students to start learning to read. With the ability to recognize phonemes, students will be able to decode or pronounce words as they approach the reading process. After this lesson, which focuses on the phoneme /s/, students will be able to recognize the letter S in written word and recognize the sound /s/ in spoken words. Students will practice finding the phoneme /s/ and applying the phoneme in phonetic reading by noticing the different phonemes between words that rhyme, such as sun and run.
* Primary paper
* Mrs. Wishy-Washy Makes a Splash by Joy Cowley
* Chart with "Steven soaked his stinky socks in the sink"
* A large picture with steak sizzling on the grill either from the Internet.
* Pictures or actual objects that begin with S and some that begins with other sounds.
* Snake, string, soap, rope, ring, tub, shoe, spoon, cup, brush, and sun
* Assessment worksheet (link provided below under references)
1. Begin the lesson by introducing the phoneme /s/. Stretch out the sound in different words for the student so they can hear what sound you are making. "Watch me as I stretch out the letter S and make the /s/ sound. 'Sssss' Now I want you to try to make the sound /s/ with me."
2. Next, ask the student to watch the teachers' mouth as they make the /s/ sound. "Watch my mouth as I make the sound and see if you can tell me what it does as I make the sound. 'Sssss' Could you see what my mouth was doing? I was you to make the /s/ sound and watch yourself in the mirror to see what your mouth does." This will help the child to learn how his/her mouth functions as he/she says certain sounds. It is important to have the child speak about what he/she thinks his/her mouth is doing when making the /s/ sound.
3. Show the student either the different pictures with objects or actual objects that start with the /s/ sound and some with other sounds, such as snake, string, soap, rope, ring, tub, shoe, sun, cup, brush, and spoon. This will allow the student to point out what pictures/objects start with the letter S and which pictures/objects does not. Ask the student to emphasize the /s/ sound when he/she says the name of the object.
4. Ask the student: "Have you ever seen someone making steak on the grill? Have you listened closely to hear that it makes a sizzling noise? Well that noise is the exact sound that the letter S makes, 'Sssss'. I want you to pretend to be making steak on the grill. You have to flip the steak over and move it around (pretend to be flipping and moving the steak with your hand to show the gesture) and what sound do we hear it make? The /s/ sound! "Sssss".
5. Introduce the tongue twister to the student: "I want you to help me say this tongue twister. 'Steven soaked his stinky socks in the sink.'" Do you hear any /s/ sounds in that sentence? Say it with me this time 'Steven soaked his stinky socks in the sink.' You hear some /s/ sounds in that sentence? That is very good! Let's stretch out the /s/ sound so we can hear it even better. 'Sssss-teven sssss-oaked hi-sssss sssss-tinky sssss-ock-sssss in the sssss-ink' Oh, I heard lots of /s/ sounds too, link in Sssss-teven. What word did you hear that had the /s/ sound in it?"
6. "Did you know that we can write the /s/ sound down on paper by using the letter S? Take out your paper and pencil so we can practice writing the /s/ sound on paper. Start your s at the fence, make a little c in the air and swing it back. Your s should end at the sidewalk. Once I come and put a stamp on your paper, you may finish the rest of your line out with more s's.
7. "I am going to ask some of you if you can hear the /s/ sound in some words I say. I want you to sound it out, listen for the sizzling steak, and then tell me which word you hear the /s/ in." Call on students in the group: "Do you hear the /s/ in sun or run? Sheep or cow? Scream or quiet?"
8. "Now we are going to read Mrs. Wishy-Washy Makes a Splash. This story is all about Mrs. Wishy-Washy and her animals. They know when it is time for their back because they see bubbles! They don't want to take a bath this time though; do you think Mrs. Wishy-Washy is going to get them in the bath tub?" As I read through the story the first time, I will have the student's just listen to the words and understand the story itself. The next time I read the story, I will have the students give me thumbs up when they hear the /s/ sound. They will write down the word or words they hear throughout the story and we will go back afterwards to discuss the words.
9. Finally, the students will be assessed by coloring the worksheet provided by the link below, which has four pictures on it (some that start with /s/ and some pictures that do not). The students must recognize the pictures that do start with /s/ and color that picture. The must also write the corresponding letter for each picture, even if it was not colored.
Lesson Design: "Sizzling Sausage" by Elizabeth Stevens
Cowley, Joy. Mrs. Wishy-Washy Makes a Splash. New York, NY. Philomel, 1993. 18 pages.
Assessment worksheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/s-begins2.htm
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