Rationale:

 

This lesson will help students with the phoneme /s/, represented by the letter S.  The students will be able to recognize the sound by associating the phoneme /s/ with sound a snake makes. They will practice finding /s/ in different words.  Finally, the students will practice recognizing /s/ words with similar words without /s/.

 

Materials: 

 

Primary paper and pencil; slithery sneaky snakes surprised Sallie chart; Drawing paper and crayons, Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Random House, 1963); Word cards with SAT, SIX, SAD, SORT, assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/.

 

Procedures:

 

• Introduce the phoneme: Say “Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for—the mouth moves we make as we say words. Today we're going to work on spotting the mouth move for /s/. /s/ is represented by the letter S. S looks like a slithery snake”

 

• Lets pretend to be slithery sneaky snakes, /s/, /s/, /s/. Notice that your tongue is high and you blow air when you make the /s/ sound to sound like a snake!

 

• Let’s try to find the /s/ in the word best. We are going to say the word in slow motion. Listen for the slithery snake. B-e-sss-t.  There’s the slithery snake! I felt my teeth touch.

 

• Let’s try a tongue twister.  “Slithery sneaky snakes surprised Sallie.” Let’s all say it together three times. Let’s say it again, except this time lets stretch out the beginning of the words. “Sssslithery, sssneaky, sssnakes,  sssurprised Ssssallie.” Let’s try it again, but this time lets break the /s/ off of the word. “/s/ lithery, /s/ neaky, /s/ nakes, /s/ urprised /s/ allie.

 

• [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter S to spell /s/. Capital S looks like a slithery snake. Let's write the lowercase letter s. Start at the fence and make a little c. Then make connect a backward c. I want to see everybody's s. After I check it, I want you to make nine more just like it

 

• Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /s/ in sell or buy? Sit or lay? Smell or touch? Mess or clean? First or third? Say: “Lets see if you can spot the mouth move /s/ in some words. Make your hands a slithery snake when you hear the /s/. Sand, kind, still, Sam, far, mass, tell, set, look, slaw, site

 

• Say: “Now we are going to look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss shows us the alphabet and tells us about silly Sammy.” Read the page while drawing out S. Have the students make a silly /s/ creature name like sassy sissy sess or slippy sloppy sap. Have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their creature.

 

• Show SAT and model how to decide if it is sat or fat: The /s/ sounds like a slithery snake. So, this word is sss-at, sat. You try some: SIX: six or mix? SAD: Sad or bad? SORT: Sort or port.

 

• For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spellings and color the pictures that begin with S. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

 

Reference:

 

Dunn, Morgan."Buzz like a Bee with Z." http://lmd0015.wix.com/literacy-designs#!blank/ckqo

 

http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/s-begins2.htm