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                                                                  Count the Ticks the Clock Makes With /t/
                                                                                    By: Maggie Barry 

 

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /t/, the phoneme represented by T. Students will learn to recognize /t/ in everyday language by me showing them something that they can relate the sound too (Clock ticking noise) and the symbol T, practice finding /t/ within words in sentences and alone, and apply phoneme awareness with /t/ in phonetic cue reading by being able to tell the rhyming words in a tongue tickler.

 

Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with "Tim took a toad on his trip"; drawing paper and crayons; Dr. Seuss's The Cat and The Hat; word cards with CAT, HAT, NOT, WET, TAPE, and TASK ; worksheet identifying pictures with /t/ adding the spelling and coloring the pictures (URL below)

 

Procedures: 1. Say: Everyone has to learn the sounds and shapes of letters. When learning new words we need to learn how to move our mouths to make the sound of the letter. Today we are going to work on making the sound /t/. We spell /t/ with the letter T. /t/ is the sound that a clock makes as time ticks on.

 

2.  We are going to practice making the /t/ noise by using both our arms as if we are a grandfather clock. We will move our hands up and down like the hand on the clock does. Notice when we make the /t/ sound, your mouth is moving from the top of your mouth to the bottom.

 

3. Now we are going to work on how to found the letter /t/ in the word Trip. I am going to say trip slow and stretch out the words. As I make the /t/ sound I will move my hands in the ticking form. Tttt- r-I i- p. Try again but slower, : Ttt- rr-iii-pp. When sounding out this word I could feel my tongue moving from the top of mouth to the bottom. I can feel the tick sound in /t/.

 

4. Next we are going to try a tongue twister: “Tim took a toad on his trip”. Lets all say it together, three times please. Now repeat it one more time and say the t in the words slower and more emphasized. “TTTim tttook a tttoad on his tttrip”. Now lets do it again and put the /t/ sound separated from the words  “/t/ im /t/ ook a /t/ oad on his /t/ rip”. 

 

5. Please take out a pencil and primary paper. The letter T makes the sound /t/. /t/ makes the sound t as in the sound of the clock ticking. Everyone write the lower letter t. Start at the top of the line which is the roof top and draw a straight line to the sidewalk. Then once you are done with you vertical lines go to the fence and cross your line with another. This will be a horizontal line crossing a vertical line. I will walk around and look at everyone’s lowercase t. Once I draw a check on your paper then please draw four more lowercase t.

 

6.  I will walk around the classroom and asks students questions. Do you here /t/ in time or ride? From or tom? Mine or tide ? Cat or fish? Now we are going to see if we can identify the mouth movement of /t/. If you here /t/ in the word move your hands like a clock: flop, at, tour, light, dog, word, title, tickle, Tim, lit, more.  

 

7. In the book The Cat and the Hat by Dr. Suess. This book is all about a cat that has a hat. If we read page 1, we see the words the cat and the hat. Could you all come up with another word that has the /t/ sound in it. We are going to create our own cat names such as tttil- tttottt- ttter. Now I want you to draw a picture to show me what your cat looks like with their silly name.

 

8. Show the word TOD and tell me how we know of its tod or rod. The letter T tells you to make the ticking sound for /t/ which is in ttt-od, tod. Let’s try some more: TOD: tod or load, LOT: Lot or mask. FISH: fish or meat, TOUR: tour or door.

 

9. The students will fill out the work sheet provided. They will practice how to write /t/. Then they will identify the pictures that have been provided on the worksheet.  

 

 

 

Reference: 

 Emergent Literacy Design Tick with T by McKee Cornier

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Assessment worksheet  

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