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Emergent Literacy Design

Exploring Reading with Roaring “R”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale: It is important for students to distinguish phonemes in oral language that are represented by graphemes in written language. This lesson will help students identity the phoneme, /r/ represented by the grapheme, R in spoken words. After learning the letter symbol, R, students will be given the opportunity to learn a meaningful representation (using hand in clawing motion), practice finding /r/ in spoken words, and apply phoneme awareness throughout my reading of Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

 

Materials:

  • Poster with big cut-out representation of the letter, R

  • Chart with tongue tickler (“Ranger Rick really likes roaming around the rainforest.”)

  • Primary paper

  • Pencil

  • Template of tiger mask

  • Scissors

  • Crayons

  • String

  • Hole punch

  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr.

  • Assessment worksheet (identifying pictures with /r/)

 

Procedures:

1. Say: “Today, we are going to talk about the letter R. This is what the letter R looks like [point to poster with big representation of the letter R and also model how to write R on the board]. We spell /r/ with letter R. It can be tricky to pick up on our mouth movements as we are saying the letter R. That is what we will be practicing today. Let’s think about how our mouth moves when we say /r/. ”

 

 2. “It sounds like a roaring tiger when we say /r/. To help us remember, let’s use our hand in a clawing motion and pretend to be tigers. When saying the letter R, open your mouth slightly and curl the tip of your tongue back without touching the top of your mouth while blowing air out.”

 

3. “Repeat this tongue tickler after me to practice [point to tongue tickler chart]. Every time you hear /r/, do your clawing hand gesture like a tiger. The tongue tickler is: Ranger Rick really likes roaming around the rainforest.” Everyone say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /r/ at the beginning of the words. “Rrranger Rrrick rrreally likes rrroaming around the rrrainforest.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/R/ anger /R/ ick /r/ eally likes /r/ oaming around the /r/ ainforest.”

 

4. [Have students take out primary paper and pencils] “We use letter R to spell /r/. Let’s practice writing capital letter R. Start at the rooftop and go all the way down to the sidewalk. Pick up your pencil and go back to the rooftop. This time, go around to the fence, and then slant down. I want to see everyone’s R. After I come by and put a check on your paper, I would like you to practice writing five more just like it.” Repeat with lowercase r. Say: “Now that we’ve learned how to write a capital R, let’s practice writing small, lowercase r. To write a lowercase r, start at the fence and go straight down to the sidewalk. Then, go back to the fence and form a curved line coming out from the fence.”

 

5. Call on students to answer and say how they knew. “Do you hear /r/ in the word rat or bat? Pant or rant? Orange or blue? Short or tall? Care or love?” “Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /r/ in some words. Claw like a tiger if you hear /r/: bird, dream, sink, phone, carpet, sport, towel, blender.”

 

6. Pass out to each student a tiger mask template along with crayons and scissors. Have them color them and cut them out. Go around and hole punch and help tie string on the masks. After student’s masks are completed, have them put them on. 

 

7. Give a booktalk and read the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear. For booktalk say: “In this book, we are introduced first to a Brown Bear and then to a Red Bird and Yellow Duck. We have to read to see what other animals we will discover along the way in Brown Bear, Brown Bear.” Before reading, tell the class, “While I’m reading this book, I want you to listen carefully to when you hear /r/. Each time you hear /r/, I want you to claw like a tiger [demonstrate hand motion once more].”

 

8. Distribute the assessment worksheet to students. Say: “I want you to color the pictures that begin with R.” Help students name each picture. Have them bring them to you when they complete the worksheets. Take note if they colored the correct pictures.

 

Assessment: Students will be assessed through observation (by me) throughout the lesson and by a worksheet at the conclusion of the lesson. The worksheet contains pictures and the students have to depict which pictures represent words that start with the /r/ sound and demonstrate their knowledge by coloring the ones that do.  

 

References:

 

 

  • Martin Jr., Bill. (1996) Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Henry Holt & Company:  New York.

 

 

/r/

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