Emergent Literacy Design: Tick Tock with T 

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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 sound analogy (tick-tock) 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

  • chart with “Ted the Tiger tricked Tiger Tom.”

  • The Giant Turnip

  •  word cards with TEN, TAKE, FIND, PORK, and TIME

  •  assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /t/ (URL below).

• Procedures:

  •  1. Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters sound like and how our mouth moves as we say words. Today we're going to work on spotting how the mouth moves when we say /t/. We spell /t/ with the letter T. /t/ sounds like a ticking clock “tick-tock, tick-tock *show finger moving back and worth*.”

  • 2. Let's pretend we are a ticking clock, /t/, /t/, /t/. [swinging finger back and forth like a ticking clock.] Notice where your tongue is? (point to top teeth). When we say /t/, the tip of our tongue touches our top teeth, and then it goes back down.

  • 3. Let me show you how to find /t/ in the word time. I'm going to stretch time out slow and listen for my ticking clock. Ttt-i-i-ime. Now, let’s do in super slow motion: Ttt-i-i-i-mmm-e. There it was! I felt the tip of my tongue touch my top teeth. Tick Tock /t/ is in time.

  • 4. Let's try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Ted the Tiger tricked Tiger Tom. Here’s our tickler: "Ted the tiger tricked Tiger Tom." Everybody say it three times together. Did you feel your tongue touch your top teeth? Let’s say it again, but this time, stretch the /t/ at the beginning of the words. "Tttted the Ttttiger Ttttricked Ttttiger Ttttom." Try it again, but this time break it off from the word, and swing your finger clock every time you hear /t/: "/t/ ed the /t/ iger /t/ ricked /t/ iger /t/ om.

  • 5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use the letter T to spell /t/. Capital T looks like a table. Let's write the lowercase letter t. Start just below the rooftop and draw a straight line, then go all the way down to the sidewalk. Then cross it at the fence. I want to see everybody's t. After I put a star on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.

  • 6. Call on students to answer and tell where the /t/ is in the word: Do you hear /t/ in bed or Ted? Arm or toe? Sing or Sat? Lift or drop? Stiff or sore? Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /t/ in some words. Act like a ticking clock if you hear /t/: Ten, apple, bug, train, truck, to, Town, pink, Tent.

  • 7. “Let’s find a book that has the letter T in it!  Today we are going to read The Giant Turnip. Grandpa has planted a turnip. There’s just one problem… grandpa can’t get it out of the ground… Will grandpa be able to pick it?

  • 8. Show TURN and model how to decide if it is turn or burn: The T tells me to tick like a clock, /t/, so this word is ttt-urn, turn. You try some: TIRE: tire or wire? TIN: tin or bin? Top: top or bop? TAP: tap or lap? TAKE: take or make?

  • 9. To assess the students, distribute the work sheet. Students color the pictures that begin with T. Call students individually to identity /t/ in the pictures. 

 

References:

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

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Theigantic-Turnip-audiobook/dp/B00113BZ9U/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1354415/files?preview=177838113

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/

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