Rationale: Today’s lesson aims to help children identify /t/, the phoneme represented by T. The phoneme /t/ can be recognized and compared to the sound a snare drum makes when played. We will use this analogy to help motivate and provide a real-life connection that helps the student recognize the phoneme /t/ in spoken words. Additionally, student will achieve phonemic awareness through recognizing the letter T in reading and writing as well as visually learning the mouth movements in saying the phoneme /t/.
Materials: Toy snare drum and drumsticks, (or a youtube video of snare drum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qEQ4RXywrM ,) hand-held white board and markers, printed out tongue tickler, letterboxes and letter tiles for letterbox lesson, “Tim and Tom” by Emily Holliday, phonetic cue activity for assessment, worksheet for assessment from Super Teachers.com.
Procedure:
1. “Some sounds we hear from random things in random places can help us listen to the sounds we hear when we read more easily. Like how the how the sound /d/=duh sounds like a basketball dribbling. Do you like basketball.. Or how the sound /u/=u sounds like a caveman grunt. Another one of these kinds of sounds can help us listen to and read the sound that the letter T makes. Have you ever heard someone play the drums before? One special type of drum is called a snare drum. It looks like this:” *Show snare drum.* “When you tap this drum it makes a /t/ sound. It sounds different than other types of drums because of the way it was built. Can you tap on this drum with your drumsticks to make the /t/ sound? Good! Today we’re going to learn a whole lot more about the sound /t/ and how we can see it while we read and sound it out when we write! Let’s get started.”
2. “The way we move our mouth and lips can help us better the way we say sounds like /t/. Try to put the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth and blow air out like you’re spitting (Don’t actually spit though!). Good job! That’s how your mouth should move when we make the sound /t/.”
3. “Let’s practice how to write T/t so that when we see it, we know to make the /t/ sound. When drawing an uppercase T you draw a line longways (horizontal) and at the center of that line draw a second line downward (vertical). When drawing a lowercase t, draw a vertical line, then draw a second horizontal like through the middle, intersecting it.” Explain key terms like horizontal, vertical, and intersecting. Have your student practice writing a lowercase and capital T on the handheld whiteboard. Make sure you create lines before this part of the exercise to help them with guiding. If necessary, also make connect-the-dot markings so they can complete their T’s and t’s. Reward them with praise when they complete their physical writing of T and remind them of the snare drum and /t/ phoneme.
4. Now it will be time to introduce a tongue tickler to your student. We will be using: “Two tired toads try to tip toe toward Tina.” Show them this tongue twister on a piece of paper and tell them what it says since some of the words are too advanced, and this activity is purely for auditory and oral practice. Have them point to the T’s as they recognize the /t/ phoneme when they say the tongue twister. Also, you can be sure to point out that “tongue twister/tickler” has the same /t/ phoneme that you’ve been practicing so far.
5. Book Talk: “Today I have a really short story I want to read with you called Tim and Tom! In this short story, we learn about Tim and Tom, two twin babies! They are very sweet babies but they cry a lot. Have you ever heard a baby cry? Let’s read the story to find out what makes Tim and Tom stop crying!”
6. In preparation for a short reading activity, do some letterbox lessons for the phoneme /t/. Cover the words TO, IT, AT, TIP, TOY, TAP, GET, REST, TWIN, BEST. During LBL make sure you tell your student, “These are all words that might appear in the story. Not all of them start with a T but they all have the /t/ sound in them.” *Tap snare drum again.* “I want you to put them together for me like we did before!”
7. Have the student read Tim and Tom. Provide coverup critter if necessary. Tim and Tom
8. Show TOM and model how to decide if it is tom or mom: The T sounds like a drum *tap snare drum*, /t/, so this word is ttt-om, tom. You try some: TIP: tip or dip? TME: time
or dime? TWIN: twin or bin? TALL: tall or ball? TAKE: take or make?
9. For assessment of their skills of recognition of the phoneme /t/, distribute the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin
with T. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
References:
Example EL Design Download Example EL Design
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