1) Poster board with Simple Sam Sails Slowly and Sleepy Sally Sits Silently on it.
2) Cards with pictures, some having /s/ in them and others not including: spider, school, soccer ball, socks, pants, stapler, mouse, hat, cape, dog, cat, lamp, and action pictures including: sing, slip, skate, slide, jump.
3) Primary paper and pencil
4) The Cat in the Hat Comes Back by: Dr. Seuss.
Begin by sharing knowledge that sometimes words are not easily recognized or written. SOMETIMES IT IS A CHALLENGE TO KNOW WHICH OF THE ALPHABET LETTERS OR LETTER MAKES A SPECIFIC SOUND AND/OR MOUTH MOVEMENT. SOMETIMES THE SAME LETTER CAN MAKE DIFFERENT MOUTH MOTIONS. IT IS LIKE A CODE THAT YOU CAN BREAK ONCE YOU LEARN THE DIFFERENT PHONEMES. TODAY WE ARE GOING TO PRACTICE WITH THE LETTER S AND THE PHONEME /S/. S IS FOUND IN SO MANY WORDS. THE ACTIVITY THAT WE WILL DO SHOULD BE ENJOYABLE AND NOT TO DIFFICULT BECAUSE OF THE THOUSANDS OF WORDS WITH /S/ IN THEM.
I AM GOING TO MAKE A MOVEMENT WITH MY ARN AND YOU ALL TELL ME WHAT ANIMAL MOVES THIS WAY. (Slither arm back and forth and wait for students to reply) SNAKE! THAT’S RIGHT. NOW I AM GOING TO WRITE THE WORD SNAKE ON THE BOARD. WHILE I AM WRITING IT, I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO GET OUT YOUR PENCIL AND PAPER THAT I GAVE YOU EARLIER. (Write snake in neat print) NOW LETS REVIEW TOGETHER HOW TO WRITE THE LETTER S. IT KIND OF LOOKS LIKE A SLITHERING SNAKE, DOESN’T IT? OKAY, WE WILL START WITH THE SNAKE’S HEAD, LETS PRETEND. START BY PLACING YOUR PENCILS A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ROOF LINE ON YOUR PAPER. (Teacher models on board while talking) CURVE UP AND TO THE LEFT UNTIL THE SNAKE’S BODY HITS THE ROOF LINE. NOW CURVE IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION AND MOVE YOUR PENCIL SLIGHTLY DOWN UNTIL THE MIDDLE OF YOUR SNAKE’S BODY IS EVEN WITH IT’S HEAD. YOU WILL KNOW HOW BIG TO MAKE THIS FIRST CURVE BY USING THE DOTTED LINES IN THE MIDDLE TO GUIDE YOU. LAST, WE NEED TO ONCE AGAIN CURVE BACK IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION AND FORM THE FINAL CURVE WITH THE SNAKE’S END OF IT’S BODY AND TAIL. LET THE END OF IT’S BODY TOUCH THE GROUND LEVEL AND IT’S TAIL CURVE UP SLIGHTLY OFF THE GROUND. DOOK, NOW PRACTICE MAKING NINE MORE ON YOUR PAPER. WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHER, RAISE YOUR HAND AND I WILL COME BY AND PUT A STAMP ON YOUR PAPER IF THEY ARE DONE CORRECTLY. IF SOME NEED TO BE REDONE, I WILL GIVE YOU SOME TIME TO DO SO.
ALL RIGHT, I HAVE WRITTEN TWO 1-2-3-4 LINES OF POETRY ON THIS POSTER BOARD. LET ME READ THEM TO YOU. SIMPLE SAM SAILS SLOWLY. SLEEPY SALLY SITS SILENTLY. OKAY, NOW YOU ALL SAY THEM WITH ME.(Students say with teacher) GOOD, LETS DO IT AGAIN AND THIS TIME LETS STRETCH THE /S/ OUT LONGER BEFORE SAYING THE REST OF THE WORD. (Together) SSSSIMPLE SSSSAM SSSSAILS SSSSLOWLY. SSSSLEEPY SSSSALLY SSSSITS SSSSILENTLY. (Teacher) GREAT! NOW WE WILL DO IT ONE MORE TIME AND A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY. THIS LAST TIME LETS BREAK THE /S/ OFF OF THE WORD BEFORE READING THE REST. I’LL DO THE FIRST WORD TO GIVE YOU THE IDEA. /S/ IMPLE. OKAY, LETS DO THEM ALL TOGETHER. /S/ IMPLE /S/ AM /S/ AILS /S/ LOWLY.
/S/ LEEPY /S/ ALLY /S/ ITS /S/ ILENTLY. YOU ARE DOING SSSSWELL!
NOW I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO THINK FOR A FEW MINUTES ABOUT A LINE OS 1-2-3-4 POETRY OF YOU OWN USING FOUR WORDS BEGINNING WITH /S/. YOU CAN USE THE BOTTOM OF YOUR PAPER TO WRITE SOME IDEAS. I REALIZE THAT YOU SIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SPELL ALL OF THE WORDS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE SO JUST DO THE BEST YOU CAN OR EVEN DRAW A PICTURE TO HELP YOU REMEMBER. WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR LINE OF POETRY, WE WILL LET YOU SHARE YOURS WITH THE REST OF THE CLASS. BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN WITH IT. (Allow about five minutes and then have students share, this will be your way of assessing checking for use of correct words using /s/)
I REALLY LIKE THOSE LINES OF POETRY THAT YOU EACH SHARED. WE HAVE A COUPLE OF OTHER THINGS TO DO WITH /S/ BEFORE WE ARE FINISHED. I HAVE SEVERAL CARD HERE WITH PICTURES ON THEM. SOME OF THEM HAVE /S/ IN THEM AND SOME DO NOT. WHEN I SHOW THE PICTURE TO YOU, I WANT YOU TO SLITHER YUR ARM LIKE A SNAKE IF THE PICTURE HAS /S/ IN IT. IF IS DOES’T, SHAKE YUR HEAD NO. OKAY, LETS BEGIN. (Teacher shows about 15 cards and talks about them briefly after each one. Might also ask for volunteers to say the word and either extend the /s/ of break it away from the word. Doing this individually would be another good way to assess.)
YOU ALL DO THE SNAKE MOVEMENT SO WELL AND ARE DOING A GREAT JOB AT FINDING THE /S/ IN WORDS. THE LAST THING WE WILL DO IS READ THE CAT IN THE HAT COMES BACK. I WILL READ IT THROUGH ONCE AND THEN I WILL READ IT AGAIN SLOWLY. WHEN YOU HEAR /S/ IN ANY PART OF ANY WORD, YOU DO YOUR SLITHERING ARM AGAIN. (Read and reread)
Adams, Marilyn Jager, (1990). Beginning To Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Pager 51-71.
Eldredge, J. Lloyd, (1995). Teaching Decoding in Holistic Classrooms. Chaper five.
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