Miss Kinney' reading lessons

 Rationale:

In this lesson we will help children identify /z/, the phoneme represented by
Z. Students will learn to recognize /z/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (zipping of a zipper) and the letter symbol Z, practice finding /z/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

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Materials:

Primary paper and pencil; chart with “Zack’s zippy zebra zips around the zoo"; crayons; word cards with ZINC, ZOO, ZIP, ZAP, CAT; assessment worksheet practicing identifying and writing Z. (URL below); class set of book Ziggy the Zebra

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Procedures:

1. Say: Today we are going to crack the code of our language! The trick is to learn the way our mouth moves when we say the words. Let’s see how our mouth moves when we say /z/. We write /z/ with the letter Z. Z looks like the zippers on our jackets and make the same sound as our zippers.

2. Say: Let’s make the noise our zippers make! When we make this noise notice I felt my tongue touch the back of my teeth when we make the sound. This is what happens when we say /z/.

3. Say: Let’s find /z/ in the word crazy. I’m going to stretch out the word crazy really slow and you listen for my zipper. C-c-c-rrr-aa-az-y. Slower: c-c-c-rrr-aaa-zzz-y. There is was! I felt my tongue touch the back of my teeth. Zipper /z/ is in crazy.

4. Say: Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Zack has a zebra, a large horse like animal with black and white stripes. The zebra’s racing stripes make him feel super fast. Every time Zack comes to visit him at the zoo he gets very excited and starts running around. Zack has arrived early this week and his zebra is very excited. Heres our tongue tickler: “Zack’s zippy zebra zips around the zoo.” Let’s all say it three times together. Now let’s say it again stretch out the /z/ in the beginning of the words. “Zzzack’s zzzippy zzzebra zzzips around the zzzoo.” Let’s do it again and break of the /z/ in the words: “/z/ack’s /z/ippy /z/ebra /z/ips around the /z/oo.”

5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. Say: We use letter Z to spell /z/. Capital Z looks like a zipper. Let's write the lowercase letter z. Start by making a straight line across the fence to the right. Draw a slanted line down to the left of the sidewalk. Then make a line across the sidewalk to the right. I was to see everyones. After I give you a star make 10 more like it.

6. Show ZAP and model how to decide if its or cap. Say: The Z tells me to zip my zipper, /z/, so this word is zzz-ap, zap. You try some: ZIT: zit or fit? ZAG: bag or zag? ZAX: fax or zax? ZOOM: zoom or broom? ZONES: drones or zones?

7. Say: we are now going to read Ziggy the Zebra! This book is about a zebra named Ziggy who cannot find his stripes!  Lets read to find out how and if he ever finds his stripes

8.  Show ZIP and model how to decide if it is zip or tip: The Z tells me to zip up my jacket, /z/, so this word is zzz-ip, zip. You try some: ZONE: zone or bone? HERO: hero or zero? ZIT: zit or fit? FUZZ: fuzz or fun? BIG: big or zig?

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Assessment: 

For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students work on coloring in the pictures that begin with Z. Call on students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step 8.

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References:

Which Pictures Have Z Worksheet 

Brush Your Teeth with F

Ziggy the Zebra by Isabella Garcia  

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