Popping popcorn with p
Emergent Literacy
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /p/, the phoneme represented by P. Students will learn to recognize /p/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (hands moving up in down as if popcorn is exploding under them) and the letter symbol P, practice finding /p/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /p/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with “Patty popped popcorn with Perry the puppy”; drawing paper and crayons; Students will be provided with a coloring page of popcorn being popped to practice /p/. This is because when popcorn pops it sounds like /p/ /p/ /p/ /p/. We will also use Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Random House, 1963) as a reading source; word cards with PIN, PAT, PICK, POT, PORK, and PINK; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /p/ (URL below).
Procedures: 1. Say: It can be tricky for us to learn what letters stand for – the mouth moves when we make and say words. Today we are going to work on learning how to move our mouth and spot the movement when we say /p/. We spell /p/ with letter P. P looks like a scoop we use to scoop out freshly made popcorn, and /p/ sounds like popcorn popping.
2. Say: Let’s pretend we have popcorn being popped on the stove, /p/, /p/, /p/. (Use hand gestures like the popcorn is under our hands). Notice how our lips close on top of each other, and we open them when we blow air out through them with force.
3. Let me show you how to find /p/ in the word camp. I’m going to stretch camp out super slowly and listen for the popcorn popping sound. Cc-a-a-m-m-p. Ccc-a-a-a-a-m-m-p-p. There it was! I felt my lips closing together and air coming through them. Popcorn /p/ is in camp.
4. Let’s try a tongue tickler. Patty popped popcorn with Perry the puppy. Patty loves her best friend Perry who is also her puppy. Whenever Patty eats her food, Perry likes to watch with longing puppy eyes. Every time Perry does this, Patty gets so sad. One day, Patty decided it was okay for Perry to eat some popcorn, so here’s our tickler: Patty popped popcorn with Perry the puppy. Let’s say it three times together. Now say it again but this time, split up the /p/ at the beginning and middle of the words. “P-atty p-o-pp-ed p-o-p-corn with P-erry the pu-pp-y.
5. [Using primary paper and pencil]. We use letter P to spell /p/. Capital P looks like a popcorn scooper. Let’s write lowercase letter p. Start just below the fence and drop a ball and draw a line all the way into the ditch. Then the ball will bounce back up to the fence and land on the sidewalk. After I put a smile on everyone’s paper, I want you to make nine more just like it.
6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew. Say: Do you hear /p/ in talk or tap? paint or color? top or bottom? cape or crown? lift or drop? Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /p/ in some words. Pop the popcorn if you hear /p/. The, pretty, pink, butterfly, flew, past, the, big park.
7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss tells us about a police man in a pail, and a puppy that belongs to Pepper. Read pages 37 to 39, splitting up /p/. Ask students if they can think of other words with /p/. Ask them to make up a silly word with /p/ like Pepper’s puppy. Then, have each student write their silly word with invented spelling and draw a picture of what they wrote. Display their work.
8. Show POP and model how to decide if it is pin or tin; The P tells me to pop the popcorn, /p/, so this word is p-in. You try some: PAT: pat or cat?, PICK: tick or pick?, POT: pot or dot?, PORK: pork or torque?, PINK: pink or link?
9. For assessment distribute the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin with P. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step 8.
Reference:
Assessment worksheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/p.htm
Murray, Bruce; Emergent Literacy Design: Brush Your Teeth with F.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/murrayel.htmlCl
