Caroline Elizabeth Hall

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 meaningful representation (the ticking sound that a clock makes), the letter symbol T, listening for and pointing out /t/ in spoken words, and applying phoneme awareness with /t/ in phonetic cue reading.

Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with "Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track"; grandfather clock picture with T (URL below); blank drawing paper and crayons or markers; Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat (Random House, 1957); word cards with TIP, TAG, TORN, TALE, TAME, TAKE; assessment worksheet identifying pictures of items that start with /t/ (URL below).

Procedures:

1. We begin by saying: "Our language can be a little tricky! Sort of like a using a "secret code," we must solve the code by learning what letters stand for. These are called phonemes- each of the mouth movements we make as we say words. Today we're going to work on spotting the mouth movement that we make as we say words with /t/. We spell /t/ with letter T. T looks a little bit like a grandfather clock (show picture) and /t/ sounds just like the ticking noise a clock makes!"

2. Say: "Let's pretend we each have a watch on our wrist. Tap your watch with your finger as we make the ticking sounds together, /t/, /t/, /t/. [Pantomime ticking sounds] Each time, think about the movement your mouth is making. Where do you feel your tongue? (tip of tongue touches above your top teeth). When we say /t/, we blow air between our top teeth and bottom teeth, with your tongue gently touching your top teeth. This creates /t/."

3. Say: "Now I will show you how to find /t/ in the word sweet. I'm going to stretch sweet out slowly and listen for the ticking sound of the clock. Ss-w-eee-t. Slower: Sss-w-eeeeee-t. There it was! I felt my tounge touch my top teeth and a quick spirt of air come out. I can feel the ticking clock /t/ in sweet."

4. Say: "Let's try a tongue twister (from chart).'Tommy tricked Tim and took his train off the track.' Let’s all say it three times together.  Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /t/ at the beginning of the words. 'Ttttttommy ttttttricked Ttttim and ttttook his ttttttrain off the ttttttrack' Try it again, and this time break the /t/ off of the beginning of the word: '/t/ommy /t/ricked /t/im and /t/ook his /t/rain off the /t/rack.'"

5. (Have students take out a pencil and a sheet of primary paper). Say: "We use the letter T to spell /t/. Capital T looks like a tall grandfather clock. Let's write the lowercase letter t. Start right at the rooftop. Continue straight all the way down until you reach the sidewalk. Then, cross it right on the fence and you’ve written a lowercase t! I would like to take a quick look at everyone’s ts and if they are correct, I will give you a smiley face. Once you see the smiley face, write nine more ts just like it."

6. Next, call on students to answer the following questions and explain their reasoning: Ask: "Do you hear /t/ in strong or weak? Feet or hands? Finger or toe? Tall or small? Light or heavy? Now let's see if you can spot my mouth movement for /t/ in certain words. Tap your watch when you hear me say /t/: The, tall, tower, had, a, tiny, tip, at, the, top."

7. Say: "Now let's look at The Cat and the Hat by Dr. Seuss! This story is about two children who are stuck inside on a rainy day. Just when they think they have nothing fun to do, they are surprised by a silly visitor! As I read the book aloud, look for the ticking sound of /t/. Each time you hear the sound, tap your imaginary watch." After the story, have students think of an activity that starts with T that would make a rainy day fun! (Ex. play tag, build a tower) Have the children illustrate the activity on a piece of blank, white paper and display their work.

8. Show TIP and model how to decide if it is tip or sip: Say: "The T tells me to tick tock like the clock, /t/ /t/ /t/, so this word is ttt-ip, not sip." (Call students individually while the others are completing the following worksheet and see if they can pick out words that have /t/. Use the following; TAG: tag or rag? TORN: worn or torn? TALE: tale or sale? TAME? tame or lame? TAKE: rake or take?)

9. For an assessment, handout the letter T worksheet. Students are to trace the uppercase T and lowercase t at the top of the worksheet. Then, students color all of the pictures that begin with the letter T. While they are completing activity, call students individually to answer questions from #8.