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Emergent Literacy

Brrrr, Said the Big Polar Bear

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Rationale: 

This lesson will help identify /b/, the phoneme represented by B.  Students will learn to recognize /b/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (saying brrr when it’s cold) 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.

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Materials: 

  • Primary paper and pencil

  • Poster with Tongue tickler “Bill the big bear baked bread for Bailey’s birthday”

  • Dr. Suess ABC book for emphasis on B

  • flashcards with BOP, BUS, PLAY, BOOK, NEST

  • Crayons

  • assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /b/ (URL below)

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Procedures: 

  1. Say: Our written language is a secret code.  The tricky part is learning what letters stand for the mouth moves we make as we say words.  Today we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move /b/. We spell /b/ with the letter B. Big polar bears get cold in the snow.  They say brrr which starts with a B and makes the sound /b/.

  2. Lets pretend to be big polar bears, /b/, /b/, /b/, brrr.  Notice how we use our lips to make the /b/ sound? When we say /b/, we blow out air between our top and bottom lips.  

  3. Let me show you how to find /b/ in the word club.  I’m going to stretch club out in super slow motion and listen for the /b/ sound you hear in brrr.  Cc-lll-u-u-ub. Slower: C-ll-u-u-bbb There It was!  I blew air out between my top and bottom lips!

  4. Lets try a tongue twister [show the student the poster with the tongue twister and say it together].  I’ll read it first, then we will read it together.  “Bill the big bear baked bread for Bailey’s birthday.” Lets say it three times together!  Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /b/ at the beginning of the words. Try it one more time and this time break it off the word: /b/ bill the /b/ ig /b/ ear /b/ aked /b/ read for /b/ ailey’s /b/ irthday.

  5. Now we will practicing writing the letter.  [Student needs primary paper and pencil] We use the letter B to spell /b/.  I will demonstrate how to write a lowercase b.  First, you start at the roof and draw a line straight down, bounce up and then go around.  Now you try one.  That’s it!  Now fill up the rest of the line with lowercase b’s.  Looks like you have the hang of that, so lets move on to something a little more tricky!  Uppercase B.  I will demonstrate how to write an uppercase B just as I did lower case b, then the student will finish the line.

  6. To practice our /b/ sounds I will have hold up two cards with pictures on them.  One card will have a word with a b sound and the other will not.  Say: Do you hear /b/ in fox or bird? ball or toy? green or brown? girl or boy? Now lets see if you can spot the mouth move /b/ in some words.  Shiver and say brrrr if you hear /b/: bike, bounce, dirt, stub, nice, dot, tribe, lab, run

  7. Next we are going to read a fun book!  Dr. Suess’ alphabet book teaches us all of our letters including B!  He includes funny pictures and words that make the /b/ sound.  Read pg. 10 and have the student read the b words.  Tell the children to make up sill words that start with B and have them write the words down.

  8. Show BOP and model how to decide if it is bop or cop: Say: The B sounds like what the polar bears say when they are cold, brrrr.So this word is bbb-op, bop.  You try some: Bake or cake? Ball or tall? Bad or sad? Bye or Cry?

  9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to finish the spellings of the pictures above the word that start with B as well as coloring with their crayons. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

 

 

 

Internet Site: Gilley, Kathryn. Bouncing a Bouncy Ball with B. 

https://julieclark216.wixsite.com/ctrdlessondesigns/emergent-design

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Clary, Julie. Bouncing the Ball with a B. https://julieclark216.wixsite.com/ctrdlessondesigns/emergent-design

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Entry Index: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/horizons.html

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Reference: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/b-begins2.html

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Return to Applications Page: http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/applications/

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