Emergent Literacy Design

Clicking to Find Curly C

Katherine Apel 

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Rationale

Students will begin to focus on identifying the phoneme /k/ represented by the grapheme c. We will focus on listening, reading, and writing the phoneme and grapheme. Phoneme awareness is essential for decoding and students will continue their learning with C. In order to learn to identify C says /k/, students will find the sound in a sentence, decipher which words do and don’t start with C, and begin reading. 

 

Materials:

• Projector

• Computer 

• white board

• Markers

• primary paper

• Pencils

• large cards with the printed words (Candy, Fact, Can, Cast)

• Stickers

• powerpoint for word choices in decoding c says /k/

• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina,

 

Procedures:

1. How do we let someone know what we are thinking? How do we have a conversation with someone? We do this for speaking or writing (reading)! In order to do these two things, we have to understand our alphabet with all of its sounds and letters. Today, we are going to focus on c says /k/. C looks like a curled cat’s tail and it sounds like a click when we take a photo with our cameras. 

2. We make a /k/ sound by touching the back of our tongue with the top of our mouth. We say (/k/, /k/, /k/) click! Let’s look through or camera lense to find our c sound! Put your camera up to your eye and click when we hear /k/! Let’s practice. Put your cameras up to your eye! /k/, /k/, /k/. (Clicking the camera for a photo each time)

3. I am going to look for our /k/ sound in a few words. (These are printed on cards, clear for the students to see). I am going to look through my lense and click when I hear /k/! Words: Candy, Fact, Can, Cast.  I hear C-C-C (click, click, click)-andy. Candy! Next, Fffff-aaaaa-C-C-C-ttt. Faster, Ffff-aa-CCC-tt, fact! There it is! That one is in the middle. Next, CAN. I feel the back of my tongue touch the top of my mouth when I begin to say this word. C-C-C-A-N. Can! Next, Cast. C-c-c--ast. It is at the beginning too! Hmmmmm, now what about dog? Do I hear /k/ in dog? No! Our /k/ sound belongs to our cat! Remember it also looks like a curled cat’s tail. 

4. Let’s search for our C in a tongue tickler. (Written on the board)  (Story before) There is a cat that has an unusual talent and causes a mess in the kitchen! Her kitten food just isn’t enough for her. Here is our tongue tickler: “Carol’s clever cat can cook a casserole.” Let’s hold our cameras up and click to take a picture every time we hear our c sound. Let’s hold it out! “C-c-c-arol’s c-c-clever c-c-cat c-c-can c-c-cook a c-c-casserole.” Let’s say it again together, Carol’s clever cat can cook a casserole. We can look for a curly cat’s tail to find our C that says /k/!

5. (Everyone goes to their desk with primary paper and a pencil.) Let’s look at how we write our cat’s curly tail C. We will start with lowercase c. (Teacher is projecting their own primary paper on a projector so all students can see). We start right under our fence and curl our tail backwards and downwards to touch our sidewalk. Our curl will go back up towards our fence, but with a space in between. Let’s practice that! I want to see everyone’s c. Once I see it, I want you to do five more! (time for students to practice) Okay, let’s look at uppercase C! It looks the same as our lowercase c, but it will right under the rooftop, curl backwards and upwards to touch the rooftop, and down to touch the sidewalk. I want you to practice uppercase C five times and then let me see! (Once students have done both uppercase and lowercase, they get a sticker) 

6. Let’s continue searching for c says /k/… (Present two options on the board - through a powerpoint) Do you hear /k/ in dog or cat? Yes, cat! C-C-Cat! I see the cat’s tail making our /k/ sound! Do you hear /k/ in hip or cup? Cook or girl? Okay now I want you to look through your lenses and click when you hear /k/. (say these words): Mac & Cheese, orange, cabin, crane, guitar, complete, class, rest. 

7. Everyone is doing a great job and locating our clever cat’s tail, C! Now, we are going to read a story, Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. (Booktalk) A man is selling all kinds of different caps. He doesn’t have a shop, though, he wears them on his head! All of the caps are stacked on top of his head. He gets tired one day and takes a nap outside with the caps on his head. While he is sleeping, monkeys take his caps! What will he do? Let’s read to find out! While we read, I want you to have your lenses reading to click to take a picture whenever you hear our c says /k/! After the story, the students write a sentence of how they would get their caps back using invented spelling. 

8. Show the word cup and model how to decide if it is cup or mop. I can see our curled cat’s tail, so it means that I need to make our /k/ sound by putting the back of my tongue to the top of my mouth. You try some: COT: lot / cot, CAT: cat / mat, CAKE: make / cake. 

9. Assessment: Students will receive an oral assessment where the teacher says two words and the student has to decipher which word has C says /k/. Then, they will write the word down. 

 

Worksheet: 

 

Resources:

 Bolton, Anna. “Tick, Tick, Tick Goes the Clock” https://abolt833.wixsite.com/lessondesigns/emergent-literacy