Rationale:

This lesson will help children identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. Students will learn to recognize /s/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (sliding down) and the letter symbol S, practice finding /s/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

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Materials:

Primary paper and pencil; chart with "Silly Sally slides on Saturday"; drawing paper and crayons; Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan Edwards; word cards with SLUG, SKIN, SLOPE, SAD, STEM, and SILK; picture of a slide from internet; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/ (URL below).

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Procedures:

1. Say: Our written language is like a spy code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for—our mouth makes moves as we say words. Today we're going to work on spotting the mouth move /s/. We spell /s/ with letter S. S looks like a slide, and /s/ sounds like someone going down a slide.

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2. Let's pretend to slide down a slide, /s/, /s/, /s/. [Pantomime sliding down with arm moving like a snake] Notice where your teeth are? (Showing top and bottom teeth touching but not clenched). When we say /s/, we blow air between the spaces in our top and bottom teeth.

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3. Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word dress. I'm going to stretch dress out in super slow motion and listen for my slide. Dd-r-e-ess. Slower: Ddd-rr-e-e-sss There it was! I felt my teeth touch each other and blow air out. I can hear the slide /s/ in dress.

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4. Let's try a tongue twister [on chart]. "Silly Sally slides on Saturday." Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /s/ at the beginning of the words. "Sssilly Sssally ssslides on Sssaturday." Try it again, and this time break it off the word: "/s/ illy /s/ ally /s/ lides on /s/ aturday.

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5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter S to spell /s/. Capital S looks like a slide. Let's write the lowercase letter s. Start just below the rooftop. Start to make a little c, then make a backwards little c all the way down to the sidewalk. Then cross it at the fence. I want to see everybody's s. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.

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6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /s/ in moon or sun? Smile or frown? Fall or stand? Big or small?  Happy or sad? Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /s/ in some words. Make a slide with you hand if you hear /s/: The, slithery, slimy, sticky, snake, swam, down, the, long, stream.

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7. Say: "Let's look at an alphabet book. Pamela Duncan Edwards tells us about a silly bug who takes a trip!" Read the story all the way through and have students listen for the /s/ sound. Reread page 4, drawing out /s/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /s/. Ask them to make up a silly name that starts with S. Then have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their slug. Display their work.

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8. Show SUN and model how to decide if it is sun or fun: The S tells me to slide, /s/, so this word is sss-un, sun. You try some: SIX: six or mix? SICK: sick or kick? SIT: fit or sit? MAD: sad or mad? SAND: sand or band?

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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.

 

References: Stephanie Pollack, Sizzling Steak.

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/adventures/pollakel.htm

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Edwards, Pamela Duncan. Some Smug Slug. New York : Harper Collins Publishers, 1996. Print. 31 pages.

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

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Click here to return to Applications:

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/applications/

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Contact: slb0061@auburn.edu

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