Emergent Literacy Guide
Tick Tock With T
Emergent Literacy Design
Jaima Griffith
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Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /t/, the phoneme represented by T. Students will learn to recognize /t/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (ticking T) and the letter symbol T, practice finding /t/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /t/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters. The students will also learn the mouth gestures we make when we say /t/ and how to correctly write and upper-and lower-case T. My goal for the student is to master the writing and recognizing T and to master the sound of /t/.
Materials: Primary paper and pencil; Chart with upper- and lower- case Tt; chart with “Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track”; drawing paper and crayons; Tickle Time by Sandra Boynton; a sheet of words [tug, smile, run, tick, tan, move, timer, tingle, slide, big]; Assessment worksheet
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Procedures:
1. I will say: “Our language can be tricky. The trickiest part of our language is learning what letters stand for- the mouth moves we make as we say words. Today was are going to work on spotting the mouth move of /t/. We spell /t/ with the letter T. /t/ sounds like the ticking of a clock. For capital T, we go down to the sidewalk and across at the top. Lowercase t is just a teenager, not as tall, but not short either. His cross crosses at the fence.
2. Let’s pretend our finger is a pendulum for ticking clock. Move your finger back and forth, /t/, /t/, /t/. [Dramatically exemplify the ticking back and forth with your finger like a pendulum and make the /t/ sound] Notice where your tongue is? (Touching the back of the top teeth, while mouth is slightly open). When we say /t/, we blow air out between our top teeth and tongue.
3. Let me show you how to find /t/ in the word time. I am going to emphasize the word time and say it very slow. Listen for our ticking clock; Tttt-i-i-m-m-e. Again: Tttttt-i-i-m-e. There it was! I felt my tongue touch the back of my teeth and blow air. I can hear the tick of the clock in /t/ in the word time.
4. Let’s try a tongue twister [On chart with memorable pictures]. “Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track.” Everybody say it together. Say it two more times. Let’s say it one more time and say it slowly so that we stretch out the /t/ at the beginning of the words. “TTTTommy ttttricked TTTim and ttttook his ttttrain off tttthe ttttrack.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/t/ommy /t/ricked /t/im and /t/ook his /t/rain of /t/he /t/rack.”
5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter t to spell /t/. Capital T looks like a tree. Let's write the lowercase letter t. Start right below the rooftop and then go straight down to the sidewalk. Then draw a little horizontal line across at the fence. I want to see everyone’s little t. After I check it, put a smiley on it, continue to practice and write nine more.
6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /t/ in have or tang? hand or toe? hot or cold? jump or sit? stop or go? Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /t/ in some words. Tick your hand if you hear /t/. tug, smile, apple, runt, tick, tan, move, timer, tingle, slide, mat.
7. I will say, “Now let’s looks at a little story called Tickle Time by Sandra Boynton. This is a story about a little boy who loves to be tickled, but we have to read the whole story to find out why! Every time you hear the /t/ sound, I want you to show me your ticking pendulum finger. Remember to listen for that /t/ anywhere in the words. /t/ can be in the beginning, middle or the end! Let’s get ready-fingers ready. [begin reading book]
8. Show TIP and model how to decide if it is tip or rip; the T tells me to start my ticking clock, /t/, so that word is c-a-ttttttt, cat. You try some: TOP: top or hop, TINT: tint or hint, TINGLE: tingle or mingle, TOLL: toll or roll.
9. For assessment, I am passing out papers with pictures on them. I am going to say what each picture is and every time you hear the sound /t/, I want you to circle it. Ready: tree, lips, tornado, leaf, apple, tiger, turtle, house, puppy, timer. I am so proud of you all. Great job listening for our terrific /t/. Now I have a color sheet for you all to practice our upper-and lowercase T’s.
Lesson Sources:
Lindsey Smith, Ticking Tock T Time: https://sites.google.com/site/lindseysmithswebpage/home/ticking-tock-t-time
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/
Tickle Time by Sandra Boynton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9Zgmhk4bY0
https://www.amazon.com/Tickle-Time-Boynton-Board-Book/dp/0761168834
Color Sheet: http://www.realisticcoloringpages.com/2013/07/t-alphabet-coloring-pages-printable.html
Assessment Worksheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/t-begins1.htm
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