Rationale: This lesson will help children to recognize the phoneme / m/, which comes from the letter M. These children will learn how to recognize / m/ in spoken words with the sound analogy that I provide(the noise you make when food is yummy), learn what everyday words have / m/ in it by coloring pictures that have this phoneme, learn how to write the letter M, and apply phoneme awareness in phonetic cue reading by deciphering which rhyming words have the phoneme / m/ in the beginning or end of it.
Materials: The / m/ coloring sheet I have linked below, crayons, the letter M writing practice worksheet, pencil, I will have my own separate paper where I say rhyming words to each child and have them decipher which one has /m/, the M short story, stickers
Procedures:
1. Say: We have so many fun letters in the alphabet with lots of fun ways to remember each letter! I hope y’all are excited because today we will be learning all about the letter “M”. The letter “M” makes the noise / m/. Just like when your mom has made delicious macaroni you say / m/ ( I will be rubbing stomach) because it’s yummy in your tummy.
2. Say: Let’s all practice making the sound / m/ together! Our mom just brought us delicious macaroni. What noise do we make? (I say / m/ with them). That’s right! And does anybody notice what our mouth is doing while we make this noise? Our lips are pressed together!
3. Say: Now let me show you how to find / m/ in a word. Let’s stretch out the word some super slowly and let’s see if we can hear our oh so yummy / m/ sound. Sss-oo-mm-ee. Let’s say it even slower: Sss-oo-mmmm-eee. Did y’all hear that?! I heard the yummy / m/ in some! Now listen to this story and every time you hear / m/ you will rub your tummy. Okay, let’s go! On Mondays Michael’s mother Mary mostly mopped. (Rub tummies at all / m/ with them while I read and then we will all read together and rub tummies at the words with / m/).
4. [I will then get each child to get out their pencil and I will pass out the writing M sheet] First I will show you all how to write these letters on the board and then I want you to practice on your own. For the upper case M you go down straight, down the slide, up the slide, [I will be demonstrating both of these step by step on the board as I say each step] and down straight and for the lowercase m, you go down, hump around, hump around. Now it is yall’s turn! Take some time to practice what I have just shown you and write these letters yourself on the sheet I have provided! Make sure to remember the steps I just taught you[I will then demonstrate one more time.] After you practice tracing each, I want you to write these letters on your own on the spot provided right under it. After you have traced all of the letters and wrote one big M and one little m I want you to raise your hand and if I give you a sticker then you will write three more of each letter.
5. [have children get out their colors as well] Now I want everyone to flip over their sheets of paper. I want everyone to make up a funny food that has / m/ in it and then draw what this funny food looks like. My food is Mi-Mo-Moodles!
6.[ I will then put the short M story on the board] Okay everyone now I have a funny little story about a little man who is marching on the moon! Isn’t that so silly?! So first I will read the story out loud and then we will read it together. Every time you hear / m/ let’s all rub our tummies. [ I will read the story and emphasize the / m/ and then we will all emphasize the / m/ together when they read along with me]. Great job! Now let’s stretch out this story in slow motion as we did earlier with the word some and our fun tongue tickler. Make sure we still rub our tummies every time we hear / m/. [We will then reread the story slowly, making sure to emphasize / m/ even more].
7.[pass out coloring sheet that is linked below] Say: Okay everybody, this fun coloring page has lots of pictures. Your job is to look at each picture and decide if it has our yummy / m/ sound. If it does then you will color it in and if not then you will skip it. While you color your sheets I will be calling you one by one to my desk to decide which words have our yummy / m/ in it.
8. [when each student comes to my desk I will assess them and ask them which word has / m/ in it out of the two words I provide. Mad...Sad? Cake….Make? More...Sore..? House...Mouse?] Okay so I am going to say two words and you tell me which one has our yummy / m/ sound in it. For example: if I say map and lap the / m/ sound is in mmmmmap. Now it’s your turn!
References:
"Monkey Munches with M" Haleigh Johnson:
https://haleighraeh.wixsite.com/website/emergent-literacy
Practice writing M worksheet: https://www.myteachingstation.com/tracing-and-writing-the-letter-m
M short story: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/329888741445358955/
M coloring sheet: http://www.kidzpark.com/worksheet/Kindergarten-Learning-Alphabets-Beginning-Sound-M-Worksheet/2086/betaDefault.aspx
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