Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. Students will learn to recognize /s/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (hissing snake) and the letter symbol S, practice finding /s/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

 

Materials:

• Primary paper and pencil and color crayons

• Chart with “Sizzling Sausage Says SSS”

• Word cards with SAY, SIX, SAND, PORE, MEG, SNAKE

• Book

• Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /s/

 

Procedures: 1. Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for—the way our mouth moves when we say words. Today we're going to work on spotting the mouth movement for /s/. We spell /s/ with the letter S. S looks like a snake, and /s/ sounds like a snake hissing or the sizzling sound sausage makes when you’re cooking it.

 

2. Let’s pretend we’re a snake, say /s/, /s/, /s/ and put your hands together and move them side to side, like you’re a snake slithering through the grass. Do you notice how your tongue is at the back of your teeth? When we say /s/, we can feel the air hissing over our tongue.

 

3. Let me show you how to find /s/ in the word snail. I’m going to stretch snail out in super slow motion and listen for my hissing sound. SSS-n-ai-l. One more time: SSS-n-n-ai-l-l There it was in the beginning! I felt the air hiss over my tongue behind my teeth. Hissing /s/ is in snail.

 

4. Now let’s try a tongue tickler. Sam was hungry, so he made some sausage. He got the pan out, and put several pieces of sausage on it. As it was cooking, he heard it start to sizzle. Here’s our tickler: “Sizzling Sausage Says SSS.” Everyone say it three times together. “SSSizzling SSSausage SSSaySS SSS.”  Try it again, but this time break it off the word: “/s/ izzling /s/ ausage /s/ ays /s/.”

 

5. Now let’s take out some paper and a pencil. We use the letter S to spell /s/. Capital and lowercase S looks like a snake. Let’s write the lowercase s. Start just a little below the dotted line (fence) like we make a little c and go up then around and down to the bottom line (sidewalk) then back up a little bit to make our s. Now show me see your s. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.

 

6. Call on students to answer and tell if they know: Do you hear /s/ in mud or sand? Stiff or loose? Angry or silly? Sleep or awake? Stop or go? Let’s see if you can spot the mouth movement of /s/ in some words. Sizzling like sausage on a pan if you hear /s/: The, sneaky, snake, moved, through, the, grass, to, get, some, water.

 

7. Let’s read page four of “Fred’s Red Sled” and draw of /s/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /s/. Ask each student to make up a silly name for a friend to play in the snow with them on their sled like Silly-slimy-Sally. Then have them write their silly friend name with invented spelling and draw a picture of them and their silly friend playing in the snow with their sled.

 

8. Show SAY and model how to decide if it is say or way: The S tells me to sizzle like sausage, s/s, so this word is sss-ay, say. You try some: SIX: six or mix?  SAND: mud or sand? PORE: sore or pore? MEG: meg or seg? SNAKE: rake or snake?

 

9. Now y’all will color the pictures that begin with S on the worksheet. Call on students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step 8.

 

References:

• Ameshia Cleveland, Fred’s Red Sled: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/brockel.html.l

• Worksheet assessment: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-s_WFNND.pdf?up=1466611200

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