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Time is Ticking Away With T!
Emergent Literacy Design
By: Tina DiChiara
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 (clock ticking) and the letter symbol T, practice finding /t/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /t/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials: Enlarged copy of Cogsworth (clock) image; primary paper; pencils; chart with “Tim taught Todd to take turns”; drawing paper; crayons; Alphabet City (Johnson, 1995); word cards with the words: TAG, TEN, CAKE, TEACH, and LIME; Assessment worksheet (URL below).
Procedures:
1. Teachers says: For our written language we have to learn what letters stand for. The way we move our mouth as we say words helps us learn our letters. Today we are going to pay close attention to how our mouths move when we say /t/. We spell /t/ with the letter T, and /t/ sounds like a clock ticking.
2. [Place image of Cogsworth on the board.] Teacher says: Look at the image of Cogsworth, the clock. The hands on a clock tick back and forth making the sound /t/, /t/, /t/, /t/. Let’s use our finger to tick like a clock. Everyone say /t/, /t/, /t/ while ticking your finger like a clock. Notice where your tongue is positioned in your mouth when you say /t/? (Tip of tongue touching roof of mouth). When we say /t/, we push our tongue forward.
3. Teacher says: Now that we know how our mouths move when we say /t/, let me show you how to find /t/ in words. For example, let’s use the word kite. I’m going to stretch kite out very slow, be sure to listen for the clock ticking. Kk-ii-t-e. Now I’m going to say it even slower: Kkkk-iii-tt-e. There it was! I felt the tip of my tongue at the roof of my mouth. I can hear the /t/ in kite.
4. Teacher says: Now let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Tim and Todd were playing jacks, but Todd didn’t like to share so “Tim taught Todd to take turns.” Everyone say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /t/ at the beginning of each word. “Tttim tttaught Tttodd ttto tttake ttturns.” Try it again, but this time break off the word: “/t/ im /t/ aught /t/ odd /t/o /t/ ake /t/ urns.”
5. Teacher says: Now everyone take out your primary paper and pencil. We use the letter T to spell /t/. For a capital T draw a line at the rooftop then draw a line from the middle of the line you just made from the rooftop all the way down to the bottom of the sidewalk. Let’s write a lowercase t now. Start at the rooftop and continue in a straight line all the way to the bottom of the sidewalk. Cross your t at the fence. I want to look at your t’s after you have finished. Once I check them and give you a star, I want you to make nine more t's just like it.
6. [Call on students to answer and have them explain how they knew.] Teacher says: Do you hear /t/ in tip or run? Letter or brick? Bag or tote? Sat or slide? Seem or went? Now let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /t/ in some words. Tick your clock if you hear /t/: While, taking, a, drive, to, get, ice cream, Tommy, ate, his, candy.
7. Teacher says: Let’s look at the book Alphabet City by Stephen T. Johnson. Johnson took pictures of things found in the city that look like letters in our alphabet. Some are easy to identify, but others you have to use your imagination to see the letters. [Show the page with the letter T. Give students a minute to find it themselves.] Here is the T. It is made from tall buildings and a breezeway/walkway. Now I want each of you to make up a city whose name starts with /t/, and draw a picture of your made up /t/ city. For example, my city would be called Tenker Tek. [Have students use invented spelling to create a city.]
8. [Show TAG and model how to decide if it is tag or lag:] Teacher says: The T tells me to tick my clock, /t/, so this word is ttt-ag, tag. Now you try some: TEN: ten or hen? CAKE: cake or take? TEACH: teach or beach? LIME: time or lime?
9. [For assessment, distribute the worksheet.] Teacher says: First, you are going to trace the upper and lower case T's. Next, you are going to color the images that start with T. [Call on students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step 8.]
References:
Cogsworth image: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/162129655307835034/
Bruce Murray: Brush Your Teeth with F: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/sightings/murrayel.html
Shelby Pickett: Listen for the Letter T from a Clock: Tick Tock, Tick Tock: http://slp0024.wixsite.com/shelbylynnepickett/emergent-literacy-design-1
Assessment worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-t_WFNTM.pdf
Book: Johnson, Stephen T. Alphabet City. New York, NY: Viking, 1995. Print.
