Rationale:

 

       This lesson will help children identify /z/, the phoneme represented by Z. The students will learn how to identify /z/ in spoken words through a representation (zipping up your coat) with the letter symbol Z. Students will practice finding /z/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

 

Materials:

 

Primary paper and pencil; chart with “Zoe zoomed past Zach the zebra at the zoo;” drawing paper and crayons; Dr. Seuss’s On Beyond Zebra! (Random House, 1955); word cards with ZOOM, ZIP, HERO, BONE, ZING, and ZAP; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /z/ (URL below).

 

Procedures:

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1. Say: Our written language is like a secret code. The hard part is learning what each letter stands for, our mouth moves as we say words. Today we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move /z/. We spell /z/ with the letter Z. Z looks like the teeth of a zipper, and /z/ sounds like zipping a zipper.

2. Let’s pretend to zip up a coat. /z/ p, /z/ p, /z/ p. [pull a pretend zipper from the bottom of your shirt to the top]. When we say /z/ our teeth are touching and our tongue goes to the top of our mouth, and then we blow air through our teeth.

3. Let me show you how to find /z/ in the word faze. I’m going to stretch faze out in super slow motion and listen for the zipper sound. Fff-a-a-aze. Slower: Fff-a-a-a-zze. There it was! I felt my tongue touch the top of my mouth and air blow between my teeth. I can feel the zipper /z/ in faze.

4. Let’s try a tongue twister [on chart]. “Zoe zoomed past Zach the zebra at the zoo.” Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /z/ at the beginning of the words. “Zzzoe zzzoomed past Zzzach the zzzebra at the zzzoo.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/z/ oe /z/ oomed past /z/ ach the /z/ ebra at the /z/ oo.”

5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use the letter Z to spell /z/. Capital Z looks like the teeth of a zipper. Let’s write the lowercase letter z. Start on the fence and make a line across the fence. Then cross from the end of the line on the fence to below the start of the line on the sidewalk. Then make a line along the side walk going back towards the point where you crossed. I want to see everybody’s z. After I put a sticker on your page I want you to make five more just like it.

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in zebra or horse? Zero or two? Zipper or button? Zoo or boo? Zing or ring? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /z/ in some words. Zip up your coat if you hear /z/: The, soft, zebra, zig-zagged, past, the, zoo, keeper.

7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss teaches us about the alphabet with lots of words with /z/. Read the first few pages and draw out /z/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /z/. Ask them to make up a silly creature name like zilly-zolly-zip or zooder-zap-zoon. Then have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly creature. Display their work.

8. Show ZOOM and model how to decide if it is zoom or room: The Z tells me to zip up my coat, /z/, so this word is zzz-oom, zoom. You try some: ZIP: zip or hip? Zero: hero or zero? Zone: zone or bone? Zing: sing or zing? Zap: lap or zap?

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spelling and color the pictures that begin with Z. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

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References:

 

Ansely Salter, Zip Up with Z.  http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/realizations/salterel.htm

Morgan Dunn, Buzz like a Bee with Z. http://lmd0015.wixsite.com/literacy-designs/blank 

Assessment Worksheet: ​http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/z-begins2.htm

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Cultivation Link: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/cultivations.html