Emergent Literacy

Emergent Literacy Design: Bounce the Basketball Bobby!

Cassidy Pilcher

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /b/, the phoneme represented by B. Students will learn to recognize /b/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (bouncing a ball) and the letter symbol B, practicing finding /b/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /b/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

Materials: Primary paper and handwriting pencil; “Bounce the Basketball Bobby!” chart; David McPhail’s A Bug, A Bear, and A Boy; word cards with BIN, BARK, BAND, BEAK; assessment worksheet and crayons.

Procedures:

1. Say: Our written language is like a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for. The mouth moves as we say words. Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth move for the sound /b/. We spell /b/ with the letter B. The letter B is a line written with two balls connected to it. A lowercase b is a line written with only one ball connected to it. /b/ makes the sound like we are bouncing a ball

2. Let’s pretend to bounce a basketball, /b/, /b/, /b/. Notice how when you say /b/ your lips are closing together and you are opening to make a voiced sound.

3. Let me show you how to find /b/ in the word robe. I am going to stretch robe out in super slow motion and I want you to listen for the sound the ball makes when it bounces. Rrr-o-b-e. Rrr-o-bbb-e. There it was!

4. Let’s try a tongue tickler! (on chart). Bounce the basketball, Bobby! Bobby is playing a basketball game and likes to dribble the ball, or bounce it. Here is our tongue tickler: “Bounce the basketball, Bobby!” Now let’s say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /b/ at the beginning of each word beginning with the letter B. “Bbbbounce the bbbbasketbbbball, Bbbbobbbby.” Try it again, and this time, break it off of the word: /b/ ounce the /b/ asket /b/ all, /b/ o /b//b/ y.

5. *Have students take out primary paper and pencil* We use the letter B to spell /b/. Capital B has a line with two balls connected to it. A lowercase b has a line with only one ball connected to it. Let’s write the lowercase letter b. Start just below the rooftop and make your way to the sidewalk. Now make a ball on the lower half of the line. I want to see everyone’s lowercase b. Once everyone has been checked by me, I want you to make nine more just like it.

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they know: Do you hear /b/ in fall or ball? Bored or snored? Rain or brain? Blue or you? Bead or read? Say: let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /b/ in some words. Bounce the ball if you hear /b/: Bounce, the, basketball, Bobby!

7. Say: “Let’s look at A Bug, A Bear, and a Boy by David McPhail. David tells us about a bug, bear, and a boy and the life that they live compared to one another. Read page 4, drawing out /b/. Ask the children if they can think of any other words with /b/. Ask them to make up silly and crazy creature names like Billy-Bob-Bernstein. Then have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly creature. Display their work.

8. Show BALL and model how to decide if it is ball or fall. The B tells me to make the sound of a ball bouncing, /b/, so this word is bbb-all, ball. You try some: BIN: bin or tin? BARK: bark or dark? BAND: band or sand? BEAK: seek or beak?

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin with B. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

References:

Bruce Murray, Brush Your Teeth with F

https://murraba.wixsite.com/lessondesigns2018/emergent-literacy

*original assessment worksheet by Cassidy Pilcher*

Book: A Bug, A Bear and A Boy, David McPhail

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