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Slithering Like a Snake with the Letter S! 

Snake

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /s/, the phoneme represented by S. Students will learn to recognize /s/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (slithering sound made by snakes) and the letter symbol S, practice finding /s/ in everyday words using the cut and paste worksheet, and apply phoneme awareness with /s/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters. 

Materials: 

  • Primary Paper

  • Pencil

  • Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan 

  • Set of small hand mirrors   

  • Chart with “Sara saw some smelly socks.”

  • Stickers

  • Drawing Paper

  • Crayons

  • Dry Erase Board and Marker

  • Assessment Worksheet (Linked Below) 

Procedures: 

  1. Say: Today we are going to get to be my favorite animal, a slithering snake! Our language is almost like a secret code, and it is our job as learners to crack the code. Today we are going to be learning about the letter S and how our mouth moves when we say it! We spell /s/ with the letter S. (Hand out mirrors to each student.) S sounds like the sound that a slithering snake makes when it crawls along the ground, sssssss. 

  2. Say: Now we are going to pretend to be a slithering, slimy snake, /s/ /s/ /s/. (Pantomime being a snake by putting hands together and waving them in a snake like motion). I want you to watch my mouth when I make our snake sound. When we make this sound, the tip of your tongue is going to go right underneath your top teeth (Point to top teeth) and you are going to blow out a hiss of air. Let’s all look in the mirror and practice saying ssssss so we can learn the S sound. 

  3. Say: Let me show you how we can crack the code and find the /s/ sound in the word nest. I am going to stretch my nest out in slow motion and see if I can hear my slithering and slimy snake. Nnnn-eeee-ssss-tttt. I am going to try it again even slower and see if I can hear my snake! Nnnnnnn-eeeeee-ssssssssssss-tttttttt. There it was! I heard the slithering snake and felt my tongue moving and blowing out a hiss of air to make the /s/ sound. 

  4. Say: Now we are going to read a silly tongue tickler to help us practice (Show chart). My friend Sara was helping her little brother, Sam, put away his clothes into his drawers! Oh no! Sam forgot to do his laundry so his clothes were very stinky. Sara saw some smelly socks. Now I want everyone to repeat it after me! Now I want us to say it all again, but this time let's stretch out our snake /s/ sound at the beginning of the words. Sssssara ssssssaw sssssssome ssssssssmelly sssssssocks. Awesome job guys! Did you hear our slithering snake sound? Now I want us to try it one more time, but this time let's break off the /s/ sound from the rest of the word, like /s/ock. Let’s try it together class, /S/ara /s/aw /s/ome /s/melly /s/ocks. Amazing work little snakes! 

  5. (Have students take out Primary Paper and pencils)  Say: We use the letter S to make the /s/  sound. Both the upper and lower case letter S look like a slithering snake crawling on the ground. I want us to try writing both of our S’s. Let’s make a lowercase S! Start by drawing a little c to make the snakes head, and then loop it around to make the rest of the snake’s slimy body. To make an uppercase S, we get to do the same thing, just a little taller! When you have written a lowercase and uppercase S raise your hand so I can make sure that your practice letters look like our snakes! When I say your practice letters look good, I want you to practice writing 5 lowercase and 5 uppercase s’s. When you're done, put your pencil down and I will come around to check! If they look all good, you get a special sticker! 

  6. Call on students to answer and tell how they know: Do you hear our /s/ sound in sick or well? song or tune? test or play? bacon or sausage? Amazing job guys! Let’s try some more! I want you to see if you can tell for which words my mouth makes the /s/ sounds. I want you to wiggle like a slithering snake if you see it! The silly bee stung my best pal Suzie’s skin. 

  7. Say: Now I want us to read one of my favorite books!  It’s called Some Smug Slug, by Pamela Duncan. In this book, a silly little slug is trying to climb up a very slippery slope! Will he make it to the top? We are going to read Some Smug Slug in order to find out! (Read book and point out some of the words beginning with S.) Ask children to take our drawing paper and crayons and allow them to draw a picture of their favorite character and name it using invented spelling. Then have them share with their shoulder partners. 

  8. Using a whiteboard, write out the word SAD, and model how to decide if it is sad or bad. Say: The S tells me to slither like a snake, /s/, so the word is sssss-ad, sad. Awesome job! I want you guys to try some! SIT: sit or hit? SING: sing or ring? SONG: gong or song? SELL: sell or bell? 

  9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet (linked below). Students will color the letter S, circle the uppercase and lowercase letters, color the snake, and trace the letters. Call students up individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8. Walk around and give students stickers as they correctly complete the worksheet. 

Reference: MacKenzie Day, Stir the Soup with S. 

https://mackenzieala.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/el-design

Reference: Emily Anne Beauchaine, Pop Popcorn with P. 

https://emilyannebeau123.wixsite.com/teachingfluency/emergent-literacy

Assessment Worksheet: https://123kidsfun.com/images/pdf/alphabet-worksheets-letter-a-z/alphabet_s.pdf

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Back to Reading Genie: 

http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/breakthroughs/

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Back to Homepage:  

https://lcs0050.wixsite.com/lessons

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Email: 

lcs0050@auburn.edu 

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