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Emergent Literacy

Tick-Tock Like a Clock

Sarah Crawford

Rationale:

This lesson will help students identify /t/, the phoneme represented by T. Students will earn to recognize /t/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (clocking ticking sound) and the letter T, practice finding /t/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters. 

 

Materials: 

-primary paper 
-pencils

-poster with tongue tickler on it

-computer to show video

-twinkle twinkle printout

-primary paper with space to draw

-crayons

-word cards with TOY, TAKE, FOR, TAIL, TUG, LICK

-assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /t/

 

Procedures: 

  1. Say: Our written language is kind of like a secret code, that we as learners, have to detect and understand. You may have noticed already, but our mouth moves as we say certain words; however, it moves in different ways for different letters. Today we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move /t/. We spell /t/ with letter T. T has straight lines, sort of like the hands of a clock! And /t/ sounds like the ticking the clock makes. 

  2. Let’s pretend to be a clock and use our arms to tick-tock, /t/, /t/, /t/. Do you notice where your tongue is hitting your teeth? (Touching the top teeth). When we say /t/, the air in our mouth is going out while our tongue is touching our top teeth. 

  3. Let me show you how to find /t/ in the word enter. I’m going to stretch enter out in super slow motion to try and find my ticking clock. Ee-nnt-eerr. Slower: Eee-nnnn-ttt-er. I found it! I felt my tongue touch the back of my top teeth and let out air! The ticking clock /t/ is in enter. 

  4. Let’s try a tongue tickler [on poster]. Terry has a turtle, that is super tiny, named Tim. Tim was hungry last night, so Terry shared some of his dinner. Here’s our tickler: “Terry’s turtle, Tiny Tim tasted tacos tonight.” Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /t/ at the beginning of the words. “Tttterry’s ttturtle, tttiny tttim tttasted tttacos tttonight.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/t/ erry’s /t/ urtle /t/ iny /t/ im /t/ asted /t/ acos /t/ onight

  5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter T to spell /t/. Let’s write capital T. I want you to start making a straight line from the rooftop and all the way down to the sidewalk. Then let’s put a line that runs right at the rooftop. Now let’s write the lowercase t, it kind of looks like a clocks hands with its straight lines. Start a little above the fence, but not quite to the rooftop and make a straight line to the sidewalk. Then, cross it at the fence. I want to see everybody’s T and t. So, once I give you a stamp, I want you to make nine more just like those. 

  6. Then play The Letter T song just to reiterate everything they just learned and let them follow along with his motions. 

  7. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /t/ in to or on? tiger or bear? finger or toe? bat or dog? read or write? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /t/ in some words. Move your hands like a clock if you hear /t/: talk, run, turkey, table, video, shower, to, fort, after, pig. 

  8. Give out handout of Twinkle Twinkle Say: “Let’s sing and read the song “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star”, now let’s slow it down the first line” Draw out /t/. Then ask them to draw the nighttime or a star and have them to write “Twinkle twinkle, little star” with invented spelling. Display their work.

  9. Show TOY and model how to decide if it is toy or lag: The T tells me to tick like a clock, /t/, so this word is ttt-oy, toy. You try some:                                                             

 

TAKE: take or make

FOE: foe or toe

TAIL: tail or rail

TUG: tug or rug

LICK: lick or tick

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 10. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students find and color the pictures that begin with T.          While coloring, call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #9. 

 

References: 

Molly Kubicki, Pop a Bubble with P.

 

The Letter T Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yl9p--gElU

 

Twinkle Twinkle Printout: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/MMLLTB.pdf

 

Assessment Worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-t_WFNTM.pdf?up=1466611200

 

Future Letter Help: 

https://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/lettert.htm

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