Miss Anna's Designs for Reading

Rationale: The goal of this lesson is to help children identify /k/, the phoneme represented by K, in both written and spoken words. Students will learn to recognize /k/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (cracking a nut) and the letter symbol K, practice finding /k/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /k/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

 

Materials: Primary paper and pencil; the alliteration “Kenny wasn’t kind in kindergarten when he kicked Kate” on an overhead slide or poster; Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Random House, 1963); blank paper and colored pencils; word cards with KING, KITE, MITTEN, KIND, HISS, KID; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /k/ (URL below).  

 

Procedures:

1. Say: Reading is like solving a code, and the way we crack the code is by learning what different letters stand for, and how our mouth moves when we say them. Today we’re going to figure out the mouth move for /k/. We spell /k/ with the letter K. Saying /k/ sounds like the noise a nut makes when it cracks open.

2. Say: I want everyone to pretend to crack a nut in your hand, and say /k/ as you do it. [Model and do it with them]. Focus on the way your mouth moves when you say /k/- the back of your tongue touches the roof of your mouth and then you open your mouth to make the sound as the air comes out.

3. Say: The word “kind” has the /k/ sound in it. Let me show you how to find it. I’m going to say the word “kind” very slowly and I want you to listen for the /k/. K-ii-nn-d. K-iii-nnn-d. Did you hear it? Was it at the beginning or the end of the word? When we stretch words out we can hear all of the sounds that the letters make. K-ind [emphasis on /k/]. We can hear the “crack”, /k/, in kind.

4. Say: Let’s look at a fun tongue-twister. [Show on overhead]. “Kenny wasn’t kind in kindergarten when he kicked Kate”. I want everyone to say it together 3 times. Now we’re going to slow it down so that we can clearly say the /k/ in every word. “/K/ enny wasn’t /k/ ind in /k/ indergarten when he /k/ icked /K/ ate”.

5. [Have students take out their primary paper and pencil]. Say: We use the letter K to spell /k/. Let’s write the lowercase letter k. Start at the rooftop, go down to the sidewalk, go up and out at the fence, back into the center and out and down to the sidewalk. I want to see everyone’s k. After I check yours, please make nine more k’s just like it.

6. Say: Now that we can write /k/, we need to start listening for it in words. I’m going to say a word, and if you hear /k/ raise your hand. [Call on students to answer and tell how they knew]. Do you hear /k/ in kite or site? Mike or mile? Hike or high? Koala or bear? Kick or hit? Now let’s see if we can find the /k/ in other words. Pretend to crack your nut if you hear /k/: The, kind, kangaroo, dad, keeps, kissing, his, kid.

7. Say: Now we’re going to look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss tells us about some fun things that begin with K. Can you guess what they might be? [Read p. 26-27 only, show on overhead]. Let’s think of other things that start with K. [Write down ideas the class comes up with on the board]. Now I want you to draw a picture of something that starts with K, and write the name of it, like in the book. [Give a few minutes for drawing time, walk around the room and check work].

8. Say: Let’s learn some more words with the “k” /k/ sound in them. [Show KING and model how to decide if it is king or ring]. The K tells me to crack my nut, /k/, so this word is kkk-ing, king. You try some: KITE: kite or site? MITTEN: kitten or mitten? KIND: kind or hind? HISS: kiss or hiss? KID: kid or hid?

9. For assessment, distribute worksheet to students. Students will draw lines to pictures of words that begin with K, and then color those pictures. While they are working independently on worksheet, call up students one at a time and review cards from step #8 with them to assess individual understanding and progress.

 

References:

Murray, Bruce. Brush Your Teeth with F.

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/murrayel.html 

               

Seuss. “Dr. Seuss’s ABC”. New York, NY. Random House, 1963. P. 26-27.

 

Assessment worksheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/k-begins1.htm