Emergent Literacy Design
By: Julie Clark
Bouncing the Ball with a B!
Rationale: This lesson with help children identify /b/, the phoneme that is represented by B. The students will learn to see the letter /b/ in words by learning that a ball bounces (b for bounce). They will practice finding the /b/ and apply it to their phoneme awareness with the letter /b/ to see the rhyming words in the phrase.
Materials:
-Primary paper and pencil
-Bouncy ball so students can hear the bouncing sound
-Paper with tongue tickler: Betty baked bread for Bailey’s baby shower.
-Flash cards with the following words: Ball, Bake, Brown, Beet, Bus
-Dr. Suess’ ABC book for emphasis on B
Procedures:
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The language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what the letter stands for-some student’s get confused with b and d. The mouth gives a hint of what we are saying. The letter /b/ sounds like a ball that is bouncing, which is why we use the bouncy ball to represent this.
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Let’s pretend to bounce the ball, /b/, /b/, /b/. As the bouncy ball bounces, you will say ball. You start with your mouth closes and then push air out.
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Let me show you how to find the /b/ in the word, “ball”. Now, we will stretch out the word and listen for the /b/. B-A-LL. Do you hear the /b/ sound? Did you have your mouth closed and said /b/ as you pushed the air out of your mouth? It sounds just like it should.
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Let’s try the tongue twister. Betty baked bread for Bailey’s baby shower. Now, lets say it three times together. On the second time, make sure to stretch the /b/ sounds at the beginning of the words. Bbbetty bbbaked bbbread for Bbbailey’s bbbaby shower. Try it once more and break the /b/ sound off when you hear it: “/b/ etty /b/ aked /b/ read for /B/ ailey’s /b/aby shower.
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Now let’s take out our primary paper and pencil. We use B to spell /b/. A capital B looks like 2 basketballs on top of each other. Let’s write the lowercase b. Start at the rooftop and come down all the way to the sidewalk, bounce back up and to the fence then curve it back down to the sidewalk to make it look like a bubble. After I put a ball sticker on there, continue to write 9 more like that.
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Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear the /b/ in bed or dead, pet or bet, brown or tan? Let’s see if you can spot the way my mouth is moving when I say /b/. Bounce the bouncy ball when you hear the /b/ sound: Betty borrowed Bekah’s bike for the break race.
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Let’s look at an alphabet book. Dr. Suess tells us about some words that start with a /b/ He has funny pictures to go with it. Read page 10 and hear the sound /b/. Ask children if they can hear the /b/ sound. Make up a silly creature name like, baby bell bat. Write out the silly name on you primary paper and draw a picture with it.
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Show bag and gag model on how to decide which is correct. The /b/ tells me to bounce the ball and there is a /b/ sound in bag. You try some. BELL: bell or snail? BIKE: Bike or sike? BACK: back or rack? BEG: beg or peg?
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For the assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spelling and also color every picture that they see a word beginning with B. You can also ask students individually to read the words in step 8 to see if they understand.
Reference:
http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/b-poem.htm
Internet site: Gilley, Kathryn. “Bouncing a bouncy ball with B”. http://kk31895.wixsite.com/kgilley0318/imergent-literacy-design
Return to Horizons Website
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/horizons.html
