Popping Popcorn with the letter p
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale:
This lesson will help children identify the phoneme /p/, which is represented by the letter p. Students will learn to recognized the /p/ sound in spoken words. Popcorn popping is a visual representation of the sound /p/. Students will practice finding /p/ in words and apply phoneme awareness with /p/ in phonetic cue reading by identifying which word has /p/ in it when deciding between two words. Student will learn how to write both capital P and lowercase p on primary paper.
Materials:
Primary paper, pencil, crayons, coloring sheet of the letter P, word cards with PIT, PET, POT, PACK, SLIP; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /p/. (link below)
Procedures:
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Say: Our written language is like a top secret code. We have to learn what letters stand for. Our mouths have to move in a specific way as we say words. Today we are going over how place our lips and teeth when we say /p/. We spell /p/ with the letter p.
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Popping popcorn is an example of /p/, /p/, /p/. (Show students a picture of popcorn popping.) Do you hear the pop, pop, pop? Using the lips and pressing them together, making little explosions with my hands like popcorn when it pops.
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Now I will show you how to find /p/ in the word slip. I’m going to stretch slip out in one long motion and you should listen for the /p/. Sss-l-i-p. Here it is again stretched out even more: Ssss-lll-ii-p. There, you found it! I felt my lips press together as air is forced through them. I can hear the /p/ in slip.
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Now lets try a tongue tickler! “Pam passed the popcorn to Pat.” Lets say it together three times. This time say it again and stretch the /p/ at the beginning of the words. “Pppam pppassed the pppopcorn to Pppat.” We are going to try it one last time and break the /p/ off the word, “/p/am /p/assed the /p/opcorn to /p/at.”
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Now lets get out our pencil and paper! We are going to use the letter P to spell /p/. Capital P looks like a tall line with half a circle at the top. Lets make an uppercase P. Starting at the rooftop make a straight line that goes down till it hits the ground then draw a half circle that starts at the rooftop of the line and ends at the part of the line on the fence. Lower case p looks like a line that goes below other letters with a half circle at the top of the line. Start at the fence and draw a straight line and stop when it goes into the ditch then draw the half circle starting at the fence and ending at the ground. Now let me see you p. I want you to make 5 more just like it.
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Now, I will call on a few students to see if they know. Do you hear /p/ in pet or can? Pal or take? Up or it? Say: Let’s see if you see the mouth move /p/ in some words. Raise your hand if you hear /p/: The pretty girl pets her pup on the paw.
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Now, lets look at a book called Pats Jam (Cushman, 1990). We are going to read about two pals that do everything together. Can you guess what the two friend’s names start with? That’s right, they both start with a P! Page 1 introduces Pat and page 2 introduce Pam. After I read the story, I will ask my students if there are any other words they can think of that begin with /p/. I will ask them to come up with fun sayings that include the /p/, like Ppppeter-ppppatter-pppiper. Then I will ask students think of a story and a draw a picture to finish off their story.
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I will show them the word Pet and ask them if it says pet or set: the P helps me know that it is the word p-e-t. I will ask them to try other words like: POT: lot or pot? PACK: pack or back? PIT: pit or sit?
Assessment:
I will give out primary paper and ask students to write an uppercase P and a lowercase p. Then hand out a worksheet and have the students only color the pictures that begin with /p/.
Resources:
Worksheet for tracing letter P: http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/p.htm
Worksheet for coloring letter P: http://www.dltk-teach.com/t.asp?t=http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/image/b-pp.gif
Reference: Murray, Bruce; Emergent Literacy Design: Brush Your Teeth with F
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/murrayel.html
Assessment: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/p-begins1.htm