Slithering Snakes Say "SSSsssss"
Emergent Literacy
Rationale:
In this lesson, children will learn to identify the phoneme /s/ by learning
a meaningful representation (slithering like a snake) and the letter symbol S,
recognizing /s/ in spoken words,
repeating an /s/ filled tongue tickler, writing lowercase and uppercase S’s,
and applying phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by
distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
-Tongue tickler written on chart paper: "Sam's
sister Sally wore sassy socks."
-Primary paper
-Pencils
-Pipe Cleaner
-Googly eyes
-Clipboards
-Primary chart paper
- Picture of Slithering Snake S
- "What Begins with S" worksheet
Procedures:
1. Say: "Today
we are going to learn about the letter 's' and the sound it makes, /s/. To
me, /s/ sounds a bit like the sound a snake makes as it is slithering along. To
remember that the letter s sounds like a slithering snake, let’s pretend that
our arms are snakes. Put your hands together and wiggle your arms while making a
"Sssssss sound like snakes make…/s/ /s/ /s/ /s/. Let’s pay attention to how our
mouths move when we make that sound. When we say /s/, our teeth are together and
we’re blowing air through our teeth."
2. Say: "Let me show you how you can find /s/ in the word sunny.
I am going to stretch out the word by saying it in very slowly and I want you to
watch what I’m doing and listen for the sound a snake makes. Sss-uu-nnn-yy.
Ok, now we will try it a little slower Ss-uuu-nnnn-yyy. I heard it! Did
you hear it?"
3. Say: "Ok everyone let's all try a tongue tickler (on chart).
'Sam's
shop stocks short spotted socks.’
Great! Now let's say it three times in a row. Excellent! Now let's try
stretching out the /s/ at the beginning of the words. ‘ SSSSam's sssister
SSSally wore sssassy sssocks.' Try it again and break the /s/ off of the
word: "/S/-am’s/ s/-ister S-/ally wore s/assy s/-ocks.'
4. Have all the students take out primary paper and
a pencil. Say: "We will use the letter S to
spell /s/ and the letter S looks like a snake. Let's write uppercase S.
For uppercase S, first form a c up
in the air between the rooftop and the fence, then swing back
(demonstrate
on primary chart paper). Can everyone show me their uppercase
S? Great job everyone! I’m going to
walk around and look at everyone’s S. If I put a sticker on your paper please
practice writing ten more just like the first one. Now we’re going to write
lowercase s. For lowercase s,
form a tiny c up
in the air between the fence and the ditch and then swing back (demonstrate on
primary chart paper). Can everyone show me their lowercase s? Great job!
I’m going to walk around and look at everyone’s S. If I put a sticker on your
paper please practice writing ten more just like the first one."
5. Say: "Now we are going to make
our own slithering snake. I am going to hand you each a pipe cleaner and I want
you to form an S with it. When you are finished I will pass out the glue and
googly eyes for you to glue on your S. Once you are
finished, you will have a slithering S snake."
6. Say: "I am going to read a sentence and I want to see your
letters each time I say /s/.
"Sarah and Sue sat on the seesaw singing silly songs."
7. Say: "I
will now read a couple words together to see if you can tell which word contains
the letter s.
If you hear /s/ I want you to raise your slithering S snake in the air. Do you
hear /s/ in third or second? Happy or sad?
Skip or run? Winter or summer?"
8. Show SINK and model for students how to decide if the word is pink or sink.
Say: "The S tells me to slither
like a snake so this word is Ssss -ink. Now you try: SORE- is this
sore or more? SAP- is this map or sap? SUM- is this sum
or bum? SET- is this word set or met?"
Assessment:
I will pass out a worksheet. The students will practice
printing the letter S and decide which pictures begin with S.
Also, I will call students forward to individually read the words from number 8
above.
References:
Worksheet:
http://www.tlsbooks.com/beginningsoundofletters.pdf
Helpful Lessons:
Adkins, Kerry. Emergent Literacy
Design. "Popping Popcorn With P".
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/journeys/adkinsel.htm