Ticking with T
Rationale: In this lesson, we will be focusing on the letter t. Students will learn how to recognize t orally with a sound analogy (ticking clock) and visually with its letter symbol. Students will also be given opportunities to prove their letter recognition with an appropriate list of words, as well as practice phoneme awareness with /t/ in phonetic cue reading.
Materials:
Procedures:
Say: “Before we learn to read, we must learn how to speak first. We must be able to understand the sound each letter makes and how we create that sound with our mouths. In today’s lesson, we will learn how to move our mouths into creating the sound, /t/. We use /t/ with the letter t! An easy way to remember t-t-t [Move arm left to right to mimic a pendulum] is with a ticking clock.
“Now you make a ticking clock with your hands! [Move arm left to right, and at each stop make the /t/ sound]. To make the /t/ sound, we place the tip of our tongue behind our top teeth and release our tongue back into our mouth. You try!
“Alright, so now that we can say /t/, let’s see if we hear it. I’m going to show you how to find /t/ in the word soft. I’m going to stretch out the word soft in super slow motion and were going to listen out for our ticking clock. Ss-o-oft. Sss-o-o-o-fff-ttt. There it is! I felt the tip of my tongue touch my top teeth. Ticking t is in soft!
“Now let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Taylor rides her bike every day to school. If she wants to make it to school on time, she has to leave at 7:20 each morning. On Tuesday, she wakes up super late and isn’t going to make it to school on time. Here’s our tickler: “Taylor tells time to make it to class.”
[Have students take out primary paper and a pencil].
Say: “We use the letter t to make /t/. Let’s write it. To write a lower case t, we start at the rooftop and draw a straight line all the way down to the sidewalk. then cross it at the fence. I want to see everybody's t. After I check it, I want you to make 6 more just like it.”
Call on students and ask them: “Do you hear /t/ is pot or log? kite or cup? Small or tall? Cool or tool? Task or mask? Say: “Let’s see if we can feel our mouths move when we make the sound /t/. If you feel your tongue touch your top teeth and it releases, we’re gonna move our arm left to tight like are ticking clock. Okay: High, lot, tell, juice, lamb, too, and, cross, lit, speak, and type.”
Say: “Now let’s look at an alphabet book. In ABC, Dr. Suess tells us about the many funny people, animals, or things that begin with the many letters of the alphabet. For our letter, t, Dr. Suess describes to us a family of turtles and the unusual place they like to rest.” [Reads page 42 out loud normally once, then again drawing out the /t/]. Ask students to think of any other object or animal that starts with the letter t. Have them write their new word with invented spelling and draw a picture that matches their object.
Moving on, let's apply phonemic awareness in phonetic cue reading. Show TOP on a notecard and model how to decide if it's top or cop: “The t tells me to t-t-tick [Move arm left to right] like a clock. So this word is t-t-top, top. Now you try: TAB: tab or cab. TOW: tow or low. SKIP: skip or tip. SHAPE: tape or shape. TOUR: tour or floor.”
For individual assessment, pass out the worksheet (URL below). Students will circle all the pictures that begin with t. Call on students separately and have them read the phonetic cue words from point H.
References:
Murray, B. Brush your Teeth with F. https://murraba.wixsite.com/reading-lessons/el
Seuss. Dr. Seuss’s ABC Book. Random House, 1963.
Letter T assessment worksheet: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/23292123047645987/
Clich here to return to Awakening Index
Materials:
- Primary paper and pencil
- Drawing paper and crayons
- A chart with “Taylor tells time to make it to class.”
- Dr. Seuss's ABC (Random House, 1963)
- Word cards with TAB, TOE, SKIP, SHAPE, TOUR
- Assessment worksheet identifying pictures that start with /t/ (Attached below).
Procedures:
Say: “Before we learn to read, we must learn how to speak first. We must be able to understand the sound each letter makes and how we create that sound with our mouths. In today’s lesson, we will learn how to move our mouths into creating the sound, /t/. We use /t/ with the letter t! An easy way to remember t-t-t [Move arm left to right to mimic a pendulum] is with a ticking clock.
“Now you make a ticking clock with your hands! [Move arm left to right, and at each stop make the /t/ sound]. To make the /t/ sound, we place the tip of our tongue behind our top teeth and release our tongue back into our mouth. You try!
“Alright, so now that we can say /t/, let’s see if we hear it. I’m going to show you how to find /t/ in the word soft. I’m going to stretch out the word soft in super slow motion and were going to listen out for our ticking clock. Ss-o-oft. Sss-o-o-o-fff-ttt. There it is! I felt the tip of my tongue touch my top teeth. Ticking t is in soft!
“Now let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Taylor rides her bike every day to school. If she wants to make it to school on time, she has to leave at 7:20 each morning. On Tuesday, she wakes up super late and isn’t going to make it to school on time. Here’s our tickler: “Taylor tells time to make it to class.”
[Have students take out primary paper and a pencil].
Say: “We use the letter t to make /t/. Let’s write it. To write a lower case t, we start at the rooftop and draw a straight line all the way down to the sidewalk. then cross it at the fence. I want to see everybody's t. After I check it, I want you to make 6 more just like it.”
Call on students and ask them: “Do you hear /t/ is pot or log? kite or cup? Small or tall? Cool or tool? Task or mask? Say: “Let’s see if we can feel our mouths move when we make the sound /t/. If you feel your tongue touch your top teeth and it releases, we’re gonna move our arm left to tight like are ticking clock. Okay: High, lot, tell, juice, lamb, too, and, cross, lit, speak, and type.”
Say: “Now let’s look at an alphabet book. In ABC, Dr. Suess tells us about the many funny people, animals, or things that begin with the many letters of the alphabet. For our letter, t, Dr. Suess describes to us a family of turtles and the unusual place they like to rest.” [Reads page 42 out loud normally once, then again drawing out the /t/]. Ask students to think of any other object or animal that starts with the letter t. Have them write their new word with invented spelling and draw a picture that matches their object.
Moving on, let's apply phonemic awareness in phonetic cue reading. Show TOP on a notecard and model how to decide if it's top or cop: “The t tells me to t-t-tick [Move arm left to right] like a clock. So this word is t-t-top, top. Now you try: TAB: tab or cab. TOW: tow or low. SKIP: skip or tip. SHAPE: tape or shape. TOUR: tour or floor.”
For individual assessment, pass out the worksheet (URL below). Students will circle all the pictures that begin with t. Call on students separately and have them read the phonetic cue words from point H.
References:
Murray, B. Brush your Teeth with F. https://murraba.wixsite.com/reading-lessons/el
Seuss. Dr. Seuss’s ABC Book. Random House, 1963.
Letter T assessment worksheet: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/23292123047645987/
Clich here to return to Awakening Index