Emergent Literacy

Tick Tock the Timer goes off!

Amelia Welch

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /t/, the phoneme represented by T. Students will learn to recognize /t/, in spoken words by learning sound analogy (timer tick) 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.

Materials:

1. Primary paper and Pencil

2. Chart with Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track

3. Drawing paper and crayons

4. Word cards with TO, TAP, TOE, TEN, TODAY, TANK

5. Class copy of Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Random House, 1963)

6. Worksheet: identifying file:///Users/ameliawelch/Downloads/516.pdfictures with /t/

Procedures:

Say: “Today we are going to learn the phoneme /t/, which is represented by the letter T in our alphabet! We are going to focus on spotting the mouth move /t/. Students will learn to recognize /t/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (timer ticking) and the letter symbol T, and practice finding /t/ in words. When a timer ticks it goes “ti, ti, ti, ti, ti,” say it with me!
Say: Let’s pretend to be a timer ticking, can you tilt your head back and forth? Now say, “ti, ti, ti ,ti.” Do you feel the placement of your tongue touching the top of your mouth? If so, then you are doing correct! If not, no worries we will figure this out and crush this skill my friend!
Say: “Let me show you how to find /t/ in a word. Here, you choose between the two words “left” or “right,” (they choose). Alright, you chose left! I am going to stretch it out very slowly and you help me listen for the timer tick sound. Help me find the /t/! Ll-eee-fff-ttt. Did you hear a “ti.” Wait! I think I felt my tongue hit the top of my teeth, which makes the /t/ sound, so the /t/ is in the middle of left!
Say: “Tongue ticklers can help us remembers these crazy sounds! This tongue tickler is going to help us remember /t/, be a ticking timer one more time for me! Tommy and Tim were the best of friends. Tommy always liked Tim’s train on the track, but Tim’s train was the only toy Tim would not let Tommy play with. Until one day, Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track. Now, let’s practice with the tongue tickler from our story Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track. Say it in a whispering voice, “ Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track.” Now say it twice more in a normal voice! Now stretch out the /t/ at the beginning of the words, “TTttommy tttricked Tttim and tttook his tttrain off the tttrack.” Now let's break off each word to find our sound. Every time you hear the sound /t/, I want you to tilt your head like a ticking timer going back and forth. Break off the word: “/t/ommy /t/ricked /T/im and /t/ook his /t/rain off the /t/rack.”
[Have students take out paper and pencil]. Say: “Use the letter T to spell /t/. Capital T looks like a table. Let’s write the lowercase /t/. Start just below the rooftop and draw a straight line downwards. Then, go to the tippy top of the line at the rooftop and draw another straight line but it is going from one side to the other along the rooftop line. Watch me! Now you try! After I come by and give you a smiley face, you can draw nine more for me!”
Calling on students to answer and tell how they know. Say: “Do you hear /t/ in toe or finger? Ten or nine? Top or bottom? Talk or silent? I have a fun idea: let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /t/ in some words! Tilt your head like a ticking timer if you hear /t/: how, tank, today, year, minute, telescope.”
Say: Let’s look at a fun alphabet book. Dr. Suess tells us about 10 silly tired turtles. Read page 17, drawing out /t/. Read about the letter page T and ask the children if they can come up with a silly /t/ animal. For example, the tiny, tootful tarantula. Then, they can share their animals with their classmates.
Show TO and model how to decide if it is TO OR DO. Say: “Remember the /t/ tells me a ticking timer is ticking. So, the word TO has the /t/ sound in it. TAP: tap or lap? TOE: toe or finger? TEN: ten or pen? TODAY: today or pay? TANK: tank or rank?”
For assessment, pass out worksheet. Students will trace and write out letter /t/, while also coloring in and circling pictures of objects that start with /t/. For assessment, I will call each student individually to read the phonetic cue cards from step #8.

Reference: Dr. Murray’s Lesson Design, brush Your Teeth with F https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1359716/pages/lesson-design-materials

Work Sheet: https://free4classrooms.com/free-beginning-sounds-worksheet-letter-t/

Book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrmX7I88VQk

Chart: Making Sight Words Bruce Murray