The Slithering Snake Called S
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. The student will learn to recognize /s/ spoken in words by learning a sound analogy (a hissing snake) and a hand motion. Students will learn the symbol S, practice finding /s/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading.
Materials:
Primary paper
Worksheet
Pencils
Crayons/colored pencils
Cards with the words: Sun, Kite, Shark, Home, Pens, Ball, Cash, Speed
Chart with “The silly snake likes to see sunsets”
Book: Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt
Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for, and the way our mouths move as we say words. Today, we’re going to work on recognizing the mouth move for the sound /s/. We spell /s/ with the letter S. S looks like a slithering snake and /s/ sounds like a snake hissing.
Say: Let’s pretend we are snakes. Put your hands together and move them from side to side pretending like they are a slithering snake [pantomime slithering snake]. Now let’s hiss like snakes /s/ /s/ /s/. Notice what your mouth is doing [touch teeth]. When we say /s/ our teeth come together, and we blow air out of our mouths.
Say: Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word house. We are going to go slowly so that we can hear the hissing snake in /s/. hhh-ooouuu-sss-eee. Did you hear the snake hiss? Let’s say it really slowly hhhh-ooouuu-ssss-eee. There it is! I felt my teeth come together as I blew air out! I feel my hissing snake in house.
Say: Let’s try saying a funny sentence called a tongue tickler. First, I am going to tell you a fun story about this tongue tickler. There once was little snake named Steve that would slither through the forest. He stayed in the shade of the forest because the sun way too hot, but Steve loved the sun. He wanted to see the sun so every evening he’d peak out of the forest to watch the sunset. Alright so I’m going to say the tongue tickler first and then we’ll all say it together. Whenever you hear /s/ show me by using your hands to slither like a snake: “The silly snake likes to see sunsets”. Let’s say it again, but this time stretch out the /s/ in the words: “The sssilly sssnake likesss to sssee sssunsssetsss”. Now we’re going to try it again and this time we’re going to break /s/ off the word: “The /s/illy /s/nake like/s/ to /s/ee /s/un/s/et/s/."
[Have the students take out primary paper and pencil] Say: We use letter S to spell /s/. A capital S looks like a big, sneaky snake. Let’s practice writing a capital S. We’re going to start at the roof of our paper and write the head of our snake curving down to the left to make our first hump. Then at the fence we’re going to make another hump going to the right and ending at the sidewalk. You try it! After I put a smiley face next to it, please write it three more times. [After the capital S has been written] Now we’re going to try a lowercase s. A lowercase s looks like a baby, sneaky snake, so we’re going to do the same thing we did for capital S, except the head of the snake is at the fence. You make a small curve to the left and then a small curve to the right, finishing it with the tail at the sidewalk. Give it a try! After I put a smiley face next to your lowercase s, write it three more times.
Say: Now we’re going to play a game! For this game, you need to listen for the hissing snake /s/ in two words and try to figure out which one has the letter S in it. Do you hear /s/ in Sally or Harry? Do you hear /s/ in raincloud or sunshine? Do you hear /s/ in moose or duck? Great job! Now we are going to play another game! For this game I want you to slither your snake hands if you see the letter S on these word cards. [Hold up one card at a time]. *Sun, Kite, Shark, Home, Pens, Ball, Cash, Speed* You all did a great job identifying the letter S!
Give a book talk for “Scaredy Squirrel” by Melanie Watt. Say: There is a squirrel who is very nervous. Because he is always so scared, he loves staying in his nice, cozy tree all day. The world was too scary to him, but then one day he accidentally leaves his tee! He is in the scary world! Let’s find out what happens to him! When every you hear me make the /s/ sound move your hands like a slithering snake.
Show SAD and model how to decide if it is sad or mad. Say: The S reminds me of our slithering snake, so I know that letter sounds like /s/ which means that the word with /s/ in it is sad. Now it’s your turn. *SET*: set or bet? *SHARK*: shark or park? *BUS*: bus or bug? *STOOL*: stool or pool?
Assessment: [Pass out the worksheet and have the students get out crayons or colored pencils]. Students should color the pictures that begin with the letter S and fill in the missing letter. While the students are working on their worksheets, call the students over one at a time to read the phonetic cue words in Step 8.
Sources:
Reference: Smith, Beatrice. “Silly Snaked Called S”
https://bks0022.wixsite.com/mysite/emergent-literacy-1
Murray, Bruce “Brush Your Teeth with F”
https://murraba.wixsite.com/lessondesigns2018/emergent-literacy
Book: “Scaredy Squirrel” by Melanie Watt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc4IJjFFdpg
Worksheet: https://www.kidzone.ws/images-changed/kindergarten/s-as-begins2.gif
Image: https://jloog.com/images/safari-clipart-jungle-snake-4.jpg
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