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S Slithers by the Sneaky Snake

Emergent Literacy Design

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Rationale: This lesson will help students identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. A sound analogy (sneaky snake) will helps students to recognize /s/ in spoken words and the letter symbol S. Students will apply phoneme awareness with /s/ by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters in phonetic cue reading and practice finding /s/ in words.

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Materials: Primary paper and pencil; crayons; word cards with SIT, SUN, CAT, SOCK, SNOW, and BEAT; assessment work sheet identify picture with /s/; smartboard document; Allsburg’s The Z was Zapped

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Procedures:

  1. Say: There is a letter in our alphabet that can sneak by like a snake. Today we’re going to work on spotting the hissing sound (/s/) we make by blowing air over a raised tongue. We spell /s/ with letter S. S looks like a slithering snaked, and /s/ sounds like the hissing sound of a sneaky snake.

  2. Let’s pretend to slither like a sneaky snake, /s/, /s/, /s/. [Joined hands in a clapping motion and wiggle arms left-right]. Notice how your top teeth are  /s/stacked on top of your bottom teeth like a smile. When we say /s/, we blow air between our /s/smiling teeth.

  3. Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word fist. I’m going to stretch fist out in super slow motion and listen for the hissing sound of the sneaky snake. F-i-i-i-sst. Slower F-i-i-i-sssss-t. There it was! I felt my teeth stack on top of my bottom teeth and blow air through them. Sneaky snake /s/ is in fist.

  4. Let’s try a tongue tickler [on smartboard document]. Sam has a slithering pet snake that has a silver sock. The snake is tired of its silver sock and wants Sam to buy him a sunny yellow sock. So, the sneaky snakes hid its silver sock from Sam. Here’s our tickler: “The sneaky snake hides its silver sock from Sam.” Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /s/ at the beginning of the words. “The sssneaky sssnake hid its sssilver sssock from SSSam,” Try it again and this time break if off the word: “The /s/neaky /s/nake hid its /s/ilver /s/ock from /S/ am.

  5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter S to spell /s/. Capital S looks like a slithering snake. Let’s write the lowercase letter s. Start at the fence. Start to make a little c and go down back to the sidewalk. I want to see everybody’s s. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.

  6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you /s/ in sock or rock? Sun or tan? Bird or skirt? Soon or moon? Sit or wet? Say: let’s see if you can see your top teeth stacked on top of your bottom teeth like a smile. Slither your arms if you hear /s/: row, cut, sign, sour, smile, to, the, small, sandwich.

  7. Look at Allsburg’s book The Z Was Zapped for letter S. Chris gives us a wonderful book that gives many stories of how letters get into trouble. Let’s look at our sneaky letter, S. Ask children if they can think of other words with /s/. Then have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly creature. Display their work

  8. Show SIT and model how to decide if it is sit or fit: The S tell me there is a sneaky snake hissing, /s/, so this word is sss-it, sit. You try some: SUN: sun or run? CAT: cat or sat? SOCK: sock or rock? BEAT: beat or seat? SNOW: snow or know?

  9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin with S. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

 

Resources:

Assessment worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-s_WFNND.pdf?up=1466611200

Reference for future discovery: Sarah Jane Brock, Fishing Frenzy. 

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/brockel.html.l

Allsburg, C (1987). The Z Was Zapped. Boston, MA: HMH Books for Young Readers

Reading Genie Advancements, http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/advancements/ 

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Created by: Ulices Mena

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