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Z Zips Up the Alphabet!
Emergent Literacy Design
Samantha O’Neill
Rationale:
This lesson will help guide children in identifying /z/, the phoneme presented by Z. Children will be able to recognize /z/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (zipping a coat), and the letter symbol Z, practice finding /z/ in words then apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
primary paper; pencil; assessment worksheet: Color the pictures that begin with z; word cards with ZEAL, ZIP, TOO, ZIG, ZIT, HERO; colored pencils or crayons; scissors; animal coloring sheet; glue stick; If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at The Zoo by Mary Jean Hendrick
Procedures:
1. Say: There is so much to learn about our language and the way it works! Today we are going to learn about the letter Z. We spell /z/ with letter z. Z can look like a zipper and /z/ zounds like a zipper being zipped!
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2. Say:Let’s all pretend to zip up our coats /z/, /z/, /z/ [mime zipping a coat]. Where is your tongue when you make that sound? When we say /z/, we press our tongue to the roof of our mouth with pressure and breathing!
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3. Say: Now we will learn how to find /z/ in the word crazy. I will stretch crazy out in a super slow motion and listen for the zipper! Ccc-rrr-a-azy. Now a little bit slower, ccc-rrr-a-a-zzz-y-y. I heard it! I hear the sound when I felt my tongue put pressure on the roof of my mouth and the air came out! Zipper z is in crazy!
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4. Say: Let’s try a tongue twister now! A tongue twister is a phrase that has lots of alliteration! My friend Zack works at the zoo. This zoo is not like normal zoos, its zany and the zebras walk in zig zags! Here is our tongue twister: “Zack works at the zany zoo with the zig zagging zebras”. Let’s say it three times together and we’ll stretch out the /z/ sound! “Zzzzzack works at the zzzzany zzzzoo with the zzzig zzzzzagging zzzzzebras”. Let’s try it one more time and this time we’ll break the word up. “/Z/ack works at the /z/any /z/oo with the /z/ig /z/agging /z/ebras”!
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5. Say: [Students take out primary paper, pencil]. Remember that we use letter Z to spell /z/. The letter z can look like a zipper. Now let’s write out z in lowercase and uppercase. For lowercase, we start at the middle line. Draw a line going to the right, then slide down to the left, and scoot right back over to the right on the bottom line. For the uppercase Z, start at the top line and scoot to the right, slide your pencil down to the left, and then scoot back right again. I want to see everyone’s uppercase and lowercase Z’s. If I put a star on your paper, you can write 5 more uppercase and 5 more lowercase letter Z’s.
6. Next, I will call on students and ask them: do you hear z in buzz or bump? Hazy or happy? Cold or cozy? Serious or crazy? Where do you feel your mouth move /z/ in some words? I will model this by sounding out the words like so: bbb-u-u-zzz or bbb-u-u-mmm-p. I hear z in buzz! Next I will ask students to show me how you zip your coat if you hear /z/. The, bee, buzzed, all, through, the, hazy, crazy, zoo.
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7. Say: Let’s look at a book. We will read If Anything Ever Goes Wrong at the Zoo by Mary Jean Hendrick. This story is about a girl, Leslie, who goes to the zoo with her mom. She tells the zookeepers that if anything ever goes wrong at the zoo, the animals should be sent to her house. One day, something goes wrong and all the animals show up at her house! After the book, we will color a picture and create a zoo pen for all of the animals!
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8. Say:Show ZAP and model how to decide if it is zap or tap: The Z tells me to zip my coat, /z/, so this word is zzz-ap, zap. You try next! [Call on students individually to read the phonetic cue words]. ZEAL: zeal or meal? ZIP: sip or zip? TOO: too or zoo? ZIG: zig or pig? ZIT: zit or sit? HERO: hero or zero?
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9. Say: The assessment with this lesson is a worksheet. Color the pictures with the letter z. Students will each receive a worksheet and color which pictures start with the letter z. This worksheet may require some explanation. Students may need to be informed of the picture in the top left corner, a zucchini.
References:
This Crafty Mom
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/300333868896589271/
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Emily Education
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Easy Peasy Learners: (page 1)
https://easypeasylearners.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Letter-Z-Worksheet-Set.pdf
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