EMERGENT LITERACY
The Bug Bumbles by with B
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /b/, the phoneme represented by b. Students will learn to recognize /b/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (Ben the Bug goes bumbling by the big Bear’s balloon.) and the letter symbol b, practice finding /b/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /b/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
Primary paper and pencils
Crayons for the student
A Bug, a Bear, and a Boy (David M. McPhail, 1998)
Word cards with BOOK, MAD, BLOOM, BENCH, and KITE
Assessment worksheet to identify /b/ (link below).
Procedure:
Say: “Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for and how the mouth moves to make each sound. Today we're going to work on learning and recognizing the letter b and making the /b/ sound. We spell /b/ with letter b. The letter b looks kind of like the bug. The sound made by the letter b sounds like the bumbling noise Ben the Bug makes by the big Bear’s balloon.”
Say: “Let’s pretend to bumble by the Bear’s balloon. We will use our letter b bug to make a /b/, or bumbling, sound /bumb/, /bumb/, /bumb/, /bumb/, /bumb/.” [Pretend to be flapping your bug wings.] “What is our mouth doing when we make our bumbling sound? Notice how our lips push together and then blow out with air before they push together again.”
“Let me show you how to find /b/ in the word cabin. I am going to stretch the word cabin out in super slow motion. Listen for my bumbling bug. Ccaa-bbbiinn. Slower: Ccc-aa-bbb-iinnn. There it was! I felt my lips touch when we said /b/. I can feel the /b/ in cabin.”
Let’s try a tongue twister and listen for the /b/ sound. “Bonnie borrowed Bridget’s big blue barrette.” Now, let’s say it three times together. Now say it, but this time stretch the /b/ at the beginning of the words. “Bbbonnie bbborrowed Bbbridget’s bbbig bbblue bbbarrette.” Let’s say it one more time but this time break it off the word: “/b/onnie /b/orrowed /b/ridget’s /b/ig /b/lue /b/arrette.
[Have primary paper and pencil ready for the student.] We use the letter b to spell /b/. Upper case B looks like a bug. Say: “Let’s write the lower case letter b. Start at the rooftop, and draw a line straight down to the sidewalk. Then, go to the fence and go down and around back to the sidewalk.” Model how to write the upper case B for the students! After I put a smiley face sticker on it, practice 9 more just like that one.
I will call on individual students to answer and tell how they knew: “Do you hear /b/ in ball or glove, little or big, basket or can?” “Now, let’s see if you can spot the mouth move of /b/ in some words. Bumble like the bug if you hear /b/: The, boy, flew, a, big, kite, near, the, blueberry, bush.
Now we are going to read the book A Bug, a Bear, and a Boy. Book talk: This story is about a bug, a bear, and a boy. They all become friends and they go on many different adventures together. What do you think they do on their adventures? Let’s read it and see. After we have read our book we will read it again and look for the /b/ sound. Reread the book and this time look for the /b/ sounds. Say: “Now this time, every time we hear the /b/ sound, lets pretend to bumble like our big bug" [wave hands like bug wings to represent our sound .] “Now that we are really good at finding our /b/ sounds, write a word or sentence with the /b/ sound and draw a picture of it.” [Display students’ work.]
Show BAG and model how to decide if its bag or rag: The b tells me to bumble like a bug, /b/, so this word is bbb-ag, bag. You try some: BOOK: book or took? MAD: bad or mad? BLOOM: bloom or room? BENCH: bench or fence? KITE: kite or bite?
For assessment, distribute the worksheet (from the resources below). Have the students complete the partial words and color the pictures that begin with the letter b. Call on individual students and have them read the words that start with the letter b from activity “What Begins with ‘B?’
Resources:
A Bug, a Bear, and a Boy (David M. McPhail, 1998)
Assessment Worksheet:
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/b-begins2.htm
Rachel King, Banging a Big Drum with a B:
http://rackel201458.wixsite.com/ctrdlessons/emergent-literacy
Bee Gif