Silly Socks with Sizzling S

Emergent Literacy Design

 

​

​

 

​

​

​

 

​

​

​

​

RATIONALE: This lesson will help children  identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. Students will learn to recognize /s/ in spoken words by a sound analogy (sizzling bacon) 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. 

 

MATERIALS: 

• Primary paper 

• Pencils and Crayons

• Chart with tongue tickler “Sally saw six silly socks”

• Word cards with SAT, SACK, SAND, STOP, SUM

• Class copy of “Silly TillY”

• Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/ (URL below)

 

PROCEDURES: 

1. Say: Our written language is like a secret code. The tricky part is figuring out what letters sound like and how our mouths move. Today we are going to learn the /s/ sound. We spell /s/ with the letter S. /s/ sounds like something sizzling on the stove!

​

1. Say: Now, let’s pretend we are cooking a piece of bacon, or even a grilled cheese! I want you to take one hand and lay it in your other hand like you’re laying your food flat in a pan. Once your hands touch, I want you to say /s/ /s/ /s/ /s/ like something’s sizzling. Ready? Okay, on the count of three, let’s put our hands together and sizzle. 1-2-3, {place your hands together} /s/ /s/ /s/. Notice where your tongue is? Our teeth are together and we are pushing air through them.

 

1. Say: Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word best. I am going to say best really slowly {stretching it out} and I want you to listen for the sizzling s. Bbb-e-e-est. Slower: Bbb-e-e-e-ssst. I heard the sizzle! That sizzling /s/ is in best! 

 

1. On one bright and sunny Sunday morning, Sally went to the kitchen to eat breakfast. While in the kitchen, she saw a plate of sizzling bacon and a steamy cup of coffee. But wait, next to the coffee was something else… but it was not food. What did Sally see? Sally saw six silly socks next to her sizzling bacon! Then she remembered it was silly sock day at school. Now she got to eat sizzling bacon and wear her stylish new silly socks. What a great day! Now let’s try a tongue tickler {on the chart}: “Sally saw six silly socks”. Let’s say it together three times {normally}. Now say it again, but this time stretch the /s/ at the beginning of each of those words. “Ssssally ssssaw ssssix ssssilly ssssocks”. Now let’s try it again, and this time we are going to break /s/ off the words: /S/ ally /s/ aw /s/ ix /s/ illy /s/ ocks.

 

1. {Have students take out primary paper and pencil}. We use the letter S to spell /s/. Capital S looks like steam rising up into the air from the steamy cup of coffee or sizzling food. Take your pencil and start just below the rooftop and curve your way down to the fence, like a C {demonstrate for student(s)}. From the fence to the sidewalk, curve back the other way. Once I take a look at everyone’s paper, we will practice writing nine more times. Once we have that down we can practice lowercase s. 

 

1. Call on students to answer and give a response on how they knew the answer. Say: “ Now we will decide which word we hear the letter /s/ in. Do you hear /s/ in sand or camp? Put your sizzling food in the pan when you hear /s/. {Take a minute pause at each comma to allow students time to respond with /s/ movement} Sally, said, to, send, her, some, sizzling, sausage, too! Do you feel the air coming through your teeth? 

 

1. Now let's read the book “Silly Tilly” by Eileen Spinelli. Silly Tillly was a  silly goose who liked to take baths in apple juice. Do you take baths in apple juice? Sounds pretty silly right? Well one day, Silly Tilly was a little too silly and friends were not too happy with her. But after apologizing to her friends, all was forgiven. But what did Silly Tilly do? We’ll just have to read on to find out! After you have read the book, ask your students what fun things Tilly can do or eat that start with the letter/ s/? Silly Tilly can eat a salad, salsa---the  dance or the food!---she can write a song and many more...

 

1. Show SUN and model how to decide if it is sun or run. The S tells me there’s something sizzling, /s/, so this word is sss-un, sun. Now I want you to try. SAT: sat or mat? SACK: sack or lack. SAND: sand or band? 

 

1. Assessment : provide a worksheet for identifying /s/. Students will color the pictures that begin with S. Individually assess each child by calling them one by one to read the words from the previous step. 

 

REFERENCES AND MATERIALS:

​

Reference: Reagan Smith Learning /s/ with the Sneaky, Sleathery Snake

Book: "Silly Tilly" by Eileen Spinelli

Worksheet: Color the Pictures: Words Beginning with Letter S