Emergent Literacy

Emergent Literacy Design: Click the Camera with C!

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /k/, the phoneme represented by the letter C. Students will learn to recognize /k/ in spoken words by learning to associate the sound a camera makes (c-lick) and the letter symbol C, practice finding /k/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /k/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

Materials: Primary paper and pencil, chart with “Carly and Catherine cook crazy, curly carrots”, word cards with CAT, COLD, CATCH, MOP, COURT, WILD, scissors, assessment worksheet linked at the reference section, Clara Caterpillar book.

Procedures:

1. Say: Our written language can be difficult sometimes- kind of like a secret code. The hard part is learning what each letter stands for- the way our mouth moves when we say words. Today, we are going to work on spotting the mouth move /c/. We spell /c/ with the letter C. C looks like half of the camera lens and makes the sound “c-lick” when you take a picture.

2. Let’s pretend like we are photographers! We are taking a lot of pictures for the red carpet, /c/, /c/, /c/, /c/. When we say /k/, our tongue is at the top of our mouth. To make the /k/ sound, we move our tongues near the back top of our mouth and let out a puff of air. That makes the /k/ sound.

3. Let me show you how to find /k/ in the word cool. I’m going to stretch out the word cool super slowly and listen for my c-lick. Cccccc-o-o-ool. Now even slower: cccccccc-ooooo-oooo-ooool. Did you feel that puff of air in between your teeth? I sure did! Camera /k/ is in cool.

4. Now, let’s look at the chart for a tongue tickler! Carly found some interesting looking carrots at the grocery store. When she gets home, she shows them to her daughter, Catherine. Catherine wonders what will happen if they cook the carrots. So, they do! Here’s our tongue tickler: Carly and Catherine cook crazy, curly carrots”. Now let’s say it three times together. Now this time, we are going to stretch the /k/ at the beginning of each word! “Cccccarly and Ccccccatherine ccccccook cccccrazy ccccccurly cccccccarrots.” Now let’s do it one more time, but this time we are going to break the /k/ off each word. “/c/arly and /c/atherine /c/ook /c/razy /c/urly /c/arrots”.

5. [Students take out their primary paper and pencil]. Remember, we use the letter C to spell /k/. The letter C looks like half of a camera lens. Let’s start by writing a lowercase c. We start like little a: go up and touch the fence, then around and up.

6. Say: “If you know the answer, raise your hand. If I call on you, tell me the answer and how you knew it” Do you hear /k/ in cat or dog? Rock or roll? Text or call? “Now, everyone is going to participate in an activity! If you hear /k/, I want you to hold up your ‘camera’”. And, cliff, fuzzy, charm, clean, movie, cheer, color, green, cloud, sun, shine, cold.

7. Show COLD and model how to decide if it is cold or bold. The C tells me to click my camera, /k/, so this word is cccc-old, cold. Now you try: CAT: cat or rat? CATCH: catch or fetch? MOP: cop or mop? COURT: court or port? WILD: child or wild?

8. Read Clara Caterpillar aloud to the class. Have them make the “camera” motion with their hands every time they hear /k/. Say: “Now we are going to read a book called Clara Caterpillar. Clara is a caterpillar who feels sad about her common appearance, until one day it comes in handy. Every time you hear the /k/ sound, I want you to quietly hold up your “camera” and take a picture”.

9. Lastly, the students will complete a worksheet to demonstrate understanding of the material.

Students will cut the words out with scissors and sort into two piles: words that start with c and words that do not.

Reference:

Assessment: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/sort-c-startswithc.pdf?up=1466611200

Book: Edwards, Pamela Duncan. Clara Caterpillar. Pamela Duncan Edwards, 2001.

John David Phillips, Climbing Clowns with C https://johndavid2332.wixsite.com/jdp0058/emergent-reading