Emergent Literacy
Mmm, That Tastes Yummy!
Emergent Literacy Design
Hannah Lingerfelt
Rationale: This lesson will help students identify /m/, the phoneme represented by M. Students will learn to recognize /m/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (tasting something yummy) and the letter symbol M, finding /m/ in words, and applying phoneme awareness with /m/ in phonetic cue reading by determining words that rhyme with the beginning letters.
Materials: Primary paper and pencil; a chart with “Mom’s making masterpiece muffins in the morning”; plain paper to draw on with crayons and markers; If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff (1991); index cards with MAKE, LAY, MIX, MOCK, SAIL, and KISS; worksheet with images that include /m/ (url below).
Procedures:
1. Say “Our English language has a special code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for and what sounds they make. Our mouths move certain way for certain letters. Today we are going to work on what our mouths look like when we say /m/. We spell /m/ with the letter M. M looks like the arches of the McDonald’s logo, and sounds like we are tasting something yummy, perhaps their French fries.”
2. “Let’s pretend like we are eating some of their food, /m/, /m/, /m/. (Use hands to bring imaginary food to mouth) Notice what our lips are doing (lips together, fully touching). When we say /m/, we keep our lips shut tight and hum like a humming bird. Mmm!”
3. “Let me show you how to find /m/ in a word. For example, dump. I am going to stretch dump out in slow motion. Listen for the sound we make when we are eating something yummy in our tummies. Dd-u-mm-p. Even slower: Ddd-u-u-m-m-m-p. Did you hear it? I felt my lips come together and heard the sound like a humming bird makes. I can feel the yummy sound /m/ in dump.”
4. “Let’s try a tongue tickler. Mom’s making masterpiece muffins in the morning. Let’s say it together three times. This time when we say it, let’s exaggerate the /m/ in every word we hear. Mmmommm’s mmmaking mmmasterpiece mmmuffins in the mmmorning. One more time! Now this time, separate the /m/ from the word. /m/om’s /m/aking /m/asterpiece /m/uffins in the /m/orning.”
5. “Please take out your packet of primary paper and a pencil from the boxes in the center of your tables. We use the letter M to spell the sound we hear, /m/. Capital M looks like the arches of the McDonald’s logo. Let’s write the lowercase letter m. Start at the bottom line on your paper and make a diagonal line to the top line on your paper. Connect that line by making another diagonal line down, but this time stop at the middle line on your paper. Connect this by a diagonal line going up to the top line on your paper. Finally, connect the last diagonal line to the bottom line on your paper. Hold up your m! After I come around with A+ stickers, I would like you to write 9 more.”
6. “Students, we will now practice listening for /m/ in words. Do you hear /m/ in dad or mom? Milk or take? Chip or mask? May or track? Let’s see if you can spot /m/ in more words. Rub your tummy like you have just eaten something yummy when you hear /m/. The mailman usually brings the mail on Mondays.”
7. “Let’s look at a book. It is about a moose who gets a muffin and insists he needs jam for it. Can you think of other words that have/m/ in them? Think of a new animal but not a moose like mouse or mocking bird. Write what animal you chose and draw a picture to go with it using your plain white paper and crayons. After you are finished, I will hang your artwork in the hallway, along with the book, If You Give a Moose a Muffin.”
8. Show MAKE and model how to determine if it is take or make. “The M tells us to make the sound like we just ate some good food, so the word is mmm-ake, make. You try some. Does the word include an M? LAY: lay or may? MIX: fix or mix? MOCK: mock or clock? SAIL: mail or sail? KISS: miss or kiss?”
9. For assessing the students, distribute the worksheet. Students will trace the words, getting practice with writing the letter M. They must color the corresponding pictures. Have them turn in their worksheets.
Reference: example EL design on canvas
Book: If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff
Yummy Gif: https://gph.is/1Vimkkf
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