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Hiss Like a Snake with S

Anne Marie Doxtader

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Emergent Literacy Design

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. b Students will learn to recognize /s/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (ssss is the sound a snake makes) 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.c

Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with "Sam says snakes are super scary"; drawing paper and crayons; Stella star of the Sea by Marie-Louis Gay; word cards with SAT, SIT, RAKE, SUN, TIDE, and SACK; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/ (URL below).d

Procedures:e 1. 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 /s/. We spell /s/ with letter S. S looks like a snake, and /S/ sounds like a snake hissing.f

2. Let's pretend to hiss like a snake, /s/, /s/, /s/. [hissing and moving like a snake] Notice that your teeth are together, and we are pushing air through them? When we say /s/, we blow air between our top teeth and lower teeth.f

3. Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word fast. I'm going to stretch fast out in super slow motion and listen for my snake. fff-a-a-sss-t. Slower: fff-a-a-sssss-ttt There it was! I felt my teeth together and blow air. Snake /s/ is in fast.g

4. Let's try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Sam has a big fear of snakes. When he went to the zoo, he saw their big sharp fangs and creepy eyes. So now Sam says snakes are super scary. Here’s our tickler: " Sam says snakes are super scary." Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /s/ at the beginning of the words. " Ssssam sssays ssssnakes are ssssuper sssscary." Try it again, and this time break it off the word: "/s/ am /s/ ays  /s/ nakes are /s/ uper /s/ cary.h

5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter S to spell /s/. Capital S looks like a big snake. Let's write the lowercase letter s.  Start just below the rooftop. Start to make a little c up in the air, then make a backwards c connected to the bottom of the first c and have it end at sidewalk. Like a squiggly snake. I want to see everybody's s. Once I have checked yours and put a sticker on it, I would like you to please make nine more just like it.i

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /s/ in work or sun? sorry or fun? yes or no? drop or stiff? tights or lose? Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /s/ in some words. Slither like a snake if you hear /s/: The, silly, slimy, slug, fell, off, some, slippery, slanted, leaves.

7. Say: "Let's look at a book. In this story , we get to see Stella and her brother spend their day at the beach!” Read page 4, drawing out /s/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /s/. Ask them to think of things at the beach or in the ocean that has the ssss sound in them. Then have each student draw a picture of their ssss. Display their work.h

8. Show SAT and model how to decide if it is sat or cat: The S tells me to hiss like a snake, /s/, so this word is sss-at, sat. You try some: SIT: sit or fit? RAKE: sake or rake? SUN: run or sun? TIDE: side or tide? SACK: sack or lack?

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

Assessment Worksheet:

https://free4classrooms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Free-Letter-S-Phonics-Worksheets-Free4classrooms.png

Snake
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