Emergent Literacy Design

Tommy the Tiny Tapper

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 sound analogy (tapping a desk) 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:

Primary paper and pencil
Poster with “Teddy Took the Tall Hat from the Town
Drawing paper and crayons
Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Random House, 1963)
Word cards with TIM, TON, TAN, TOE, TEAR TWO
Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /t/ (https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-t_WFNTM.pdf?up=1466611200 )

Procedures: 1. Say: our written language is like a secret code. The hard part comes when learning what sounds different letters stand for- the way our mouth moves as we say words. Today, we will learn and figure out how our mouth moves for /t/. We spell /t/ with the letter T. T looks like a person standing with their arms straight out, and the /t/ sounds like the tapping noise from tapping on the desk.

2. Say: Let’s stand and have our arms out like a T shape and tap a surface nearby, /t/,/t/,/t/. [Pantomime tapping with arms out] Notice where top teeth are when we mimic the sound? When we say /t/, we tap our tongue behind our front, top teeth.

3. Say: Let me show you how to find /t/ in the word hit. I’m going to stretch hit out in super slow motion and listen for the tapping sound. Hhh-i-i-t. Slower. Hhh-i-i-t There it is! I felt my tongue tap behind my front, top teeth to make the tapping sound. The tapping /t/ sound is in hit.

4. Say: Now, let’s try a tongue tickler (on the poster). Teddy is a funny boy. He loves to wear different hats that are all very silly. He found a very tall hat one day when he was walking through town. Here’s our tickler: “Teddy took the tall hat from the town.” Everybody, please say the tickler three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /t/ at the beginning of the words. “Ttteddy tttook the tttall hattt from the tttown.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/T/eddy /t/ook the /t/all ha/t/ from the /T/own.”

5. (Have students take out primary paper and pencil) Say: We use letter T to spell /t/. Capital T looks like a person standing with their arms out trying to tap on something. Let’s write the lowercase letter t. Start at the rooftop. Make a straight line from the rooftop down to the sidewalk. Then cross the straight line you just made at the fence. I want to see the great t’s you did! 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 how they knew) Say:

a. Do you hear /t/ in lit or with?

b. Do you hear /t/ in bad or tad?

c. Do you hear /t/ in lid or hat?

d. Do you hear /t/ in spot or spoon?

Now, let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /t/ in some words

e. Put your arms out in a T if you hear /t/: Tommy, sat, two, spots, away, from, that, tiny, cat.

7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss tells us about turtles on a tree!” Read page 39, drawing out and focusing on /t/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /t/. Have them come up with a silly name for a turtle like Toddy-Twiddle-Tetter-Tim. Then get each student to write their silly name with the invented spelling and draw a picture of their turtle. Display each student’s work.

8. Show the word TIME and model how to decide if it’s tag or lag. Say: “The T tells me to stick my arms out straight like the letter /t/, so this word is ttt-ag. You try some! (Use the word cards).

a. TIM: tim or win?

b. TON: bun or tun?

c. TAN: tan or san?

d. TOE: toe or loe?

e. TEAR: fear or tear?

f. TWO: woo or two?

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students trace the uppercase and lowercase T. Then, have the students color the pictures that begin with T. Ask students individually to read the phonetic cue words from #8.

References:

ABCMouse, “The Letter T Song,” https://youtu.be/WDjlIdI_Wdc

Bruce Murray, The Reading Genie, http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/

Seuss, Dr. Seuss’s ABC, Random House, 1991

Super Teacher Worksheets, “Words that Start with T

t,” https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-t_WFNTM.pdf?up=1466611200

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