An Emergent Literacy Design
By: Laney Leavins
Rationale : In this emergent literacy lesson, students will learn about /b/, the phoneme that is represented by B. It will assist students in identifying /b/. To be able to identify this letter sound in words, we will start with a sound analogy (the buzzing of a bee). In addition to that students will also locate /b/ in words, and use phoneme awareness with /b/ using phonetic cue reading by identifying words that begin with the letter /b/.
Materials :
- Book : How Many Bugs in a Box by David A. Carter
- Primary paper and a pencil
- Image of bugs and a “busy bee”
- Word cards with bug, bee, busy, bike, bin, belt, & basket
- “Tongue Tickler” on chart : “The busy buzzing bee brings yummy berries to her brother.”
- Dry erase board and marker
- Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /b/. (Link Below)
Procedures :
- Start the lesson by saying : “Did you know learning letters can be very tricky to learn sometimes. Even though it’s tricky, we can still make it fun. Our letters and their meanings are like a top secret code, and today you are a SUPER SPY! When we learn letters, we must move our mouths.. The tricky part comes in when we learn that each letter has a different mouth movement, but you are a Smart Word Super Spy. In today's lesson we are going to learn how to move our mouth when we say the letter /b/. We spell /b/ with the letter B. We can remember this because /b/ looks similar to our “Busy Bee’s wing”. We can also hear /b/ in our tongue tickler” Let's say it : “The busy buzzing bee brings yummy berries to her brother.”.
- “Let’s pretend for a moment that we are busy bee’s”, “/b/, /b/, /b/, buzz, buzz”. [use arms to pretend like you are flying like a busy bee]. Now, do you see how you are using your lips to make the bee sound? Both of your lips are pressed together, and then BOOM, we pop our lips out to complete the sound”. [Demonstrate the lip movements several times very exaggerated]. When we say /b/ we start by pressing our lips together, and pushing them out lightly.
- “Let me show you how to find /b/ in the word cub. I am going to stretch the word cub very slowly. Listen for the buzzing /b/ sound. C-u-b. Let’s try it a little slower : Ccc-u-u-u-u-b. Did you hear it?! [Wait for response here.]. I pressed my lips together and gently pushed them out. Buzzing /b/ is in cub.”.
- “Let’s try a tongue tickler [chart]. Bailey the busy buzzing bee is gathering berries. For whom you may ask? For her brother Brody the bee, of course! It is Brody’s birthday. There are many berries, but blueberries are his favorite. She gathers the beautiful berries and takes them to their bungalow. Our tongue tickler is : The busy buzzing bee brings yummy berries to her brother.”.
- “We are going to say it together 3 times.” (normal the first time)
- “Now we are going to STTTRETTTCHHHH it out [use hand gestures to exaggerate stretch, students can participate as well.]. We are going to stretch /b/ out at the beginning of the words. [The bbbusy bbbuzzing bbbee bbbrings yummy bbberries to her bbbrother.].
- “Lastly, we are going to seperate /b/ from the beginning of each word. [The b/usy b/uzzing b/ee b/rings yummy b/erries to her b/rother!].
- [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. “We use the letter B to spell /b/. Capital B can be drawn by starting at the rooftop and going down to make a straight line. Next, go back to the rooftop and curve around to the fence. Without moving your pencil, start at the fence and curve around like you just did! Lowercase letter b can be drawn by starting at the fence and going straight down to the ditch. Then, curve back up halfway to the fence. I want to see everybody’s b. Beautiful! I want you to make nine more just like it!
- “I want you to tell me which word you hear /b/ in! Do you hear /b/ in barn or tractor? Bake or cookie? Bread or pretzel? Bounce or jump? Baby or puppy? Let’s see if you can spot the mouth movement /b/ in some words. Make a gesture of flying like a bee when you hear the /b/ sound in these words: “The, big, blue, bear, baked, some, yummy, brownies, for, his, buddies.”.
- “Let’s look at the book, How Many Bugs in a Box by David A. Carter.” Introduction Booktalk: “This story wants us to figure out how many bugs are in each box! Can you do it? I know you can! Let’s read to find out how many bugs we can count!”. Read the pages 1-5 of the book, drawing out the /b/ sound. End of story- “Did you notice some words with /b/ in them as I read the story?”. Write the words down on the board as the children call them out. Have the children say the /b/ sound as they circle the b in each word.
- “Show Barn and model how to decide if it is barn or yarn. The B makes a /b/ sound like “busy buzzing bee”, so this word is bbb-arn, barn. You try some! BLACK: black or rack? BLUE: clue or blue? BARK: park or bark? BOOK: book or look? BAT: bat or cat?
- For assessment, give out a worksheet. Students should color the pictures that begin with the /b/ sound that demonstrates the letter B. Call students one by one to read the phonetic cues from step #8.
References:
Carter, D.A. (1988). How Many Bugs in a Box. Simon & Schuster.
Assessment Worksheet : https://www.myteachingstation.com/beginning-sound-of-the-letter-b
https://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/awakenings/