The Ssssssnake Sssssays Sssss
Lesson for Pre-Alphabetic Readers
Rationale: This lesson will help children to detect /s/, the phoneme represented by S. Students will learn to recognize /s/ in spoken words by learning a recognizable representation (listening to a snake hiss) and matching it with the letter symbol S. The student will practice finding /s/ in words and then use phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by deciding which of the rhyming words includes /s/.
Materials: primary paper and pencil; chart with the sentence “Silly Sam sat on seven spicy sauces;” worksheet with words for children to circle the picture that corresponds with the letter S; worksheet for students to fill in the blank for words including S; flash cards with pictures that may contain the letter S (SAW, SOME, SIGN); the alphabet book Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Procedures: 1. Say: “We have to learn what letters stand for in order to understand our language. Today we are going to work on seeing the mouth move like /s/. We spell /s/ with letter S. The /s/ sound sounds like a snake hissing (put hands together and twist them around like a slithering snake while hissing; show the movement of the teeth closed together).”
2. Say: “Let’s pretend to be a snake, /s/, /s/, /s/. [Pantomime a snake slithering and hissing.] Notice where your teeth are? (Touching top and bottom teeth together). When we say /s/, we bite both top teeth with bottom teeth and touch the back of our tongue to the back of our mouth and blow out.”
3. Say: “Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word sit. I am going to stretch sit out in super slow motion and listen for my snake hissing. Sssssssit. Now I’ll say it slower: Ssssssssssssiiittt. There it is! I felt my top and bottom teeth touch. I can feel the snake hissing /s/ in sit.”
4. Say: “Lets try a tongue twister [on large piece of paper]. ‘Silly Sam sat on seven spicy sauces.’ Say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /s/ at the beginning of the words, ‘Ssssilly Ssssam ssssat on sssseven sssspicy ssssaucessss.’ Try it again, and this time break the /s/ off of the word: ‘/S/illy /S/am /s/at on /s/even /s/picy /s/auces.’”
5. [Have student take out primary paper and pencil]. Say: “We use the letter S to spell /s/. Capital S looks like a squirmy snake. Lets write the lowercase s. Start at the rooftop. Draw a curved line over to the left and back down to the right and stop at the fence. Now keep going and curve back down and around a little bit to the right and then back to the left to end up at the sidewalk. Now let me see everyone’s s. After I put a sticker on your paper, I want you to make nine more just like it.
6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew the answer. Say: “Do you hear /s/ in skip or jump? Stomach or back? Sleep or wake? Soft or hard? Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /s/ in some words: Make your snake hiss and hands slither if you hear /s/. [Read the words: ‘string, lamp, sand, bus, milk, soup, map, glass, best,’ giving students time to respond with their slithering snake.]”
7. Say: “Together, we’ll read an alphabet book, Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss. Sam does not like green eggs and ham. He doesn’t like them anywhere at any time. The writer is trying to convince him that they are actually very tasty! We will have to read and see if Sam ends up liking green eggs and ham more than he thought he did. Every time you hear the sound /s/ I want you to show your slithering snake hands and hiss like a snake sounds. Remember the /s/ sound can be at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, so listen closely. Everyone get your hands ready!”
8. [Show SIT and model how to decide if it is sit or pit]: Say: “The S in THIS word (point to “sit”) tells me to show my hissing snake hands, /s/, so this word is sssssit, sit. Now you try some. [Show:] SAW: [Ask:] saw or paw? [Show:] SOME: [Ask:] some or come? [Show:] SIGN: [Ask:] sign or fine?
9. Assessment: Students are to complete the partial spellings of words that use /s/ on the attached worksheet.
References:
Watch the Clock Tick with T by Allie Black - found on the Reading Genie:
https://sites.google.com/site/alliesresearchbasedlessonplans/home/watch-the-clock-tick-with-t
Ssspray Your Sssilly Ssstring With S by Janae Williams - found on the Reading Genie:
Worksheet: funfonix.com
http://www.funfonix.com/worksheets/buildaword_consonantdigraphs1.php
Seuss, Dr. Green Eggs and Ham. Random House Publishing. 12 August 1960.
