Ms. Cieslak's Reading Lesson Designs
Emergent Literacy Design: Mountains of M's
Morganne Cieslak
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /m/, the phoneme represented by M. Students will learn to recognize /m/ in spoken words by using a meaningful representation of closing your mouth and the letter symbol M, practicing finding /m/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /m/ in phonetic cue reading.
Materials: Primary paper, pencils, Millie Waits for the Mail by Alexander Steffensmeier (Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2007), a poster with “Mary’s maid mocked my mouse magnet” in writing and with an illustration, flashcards with man, mango, mouth, mop, mug, meat, worksheets identifying pictures with /m/ and letter formations (URL’s below), crayons
Procedures:
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Say: The alphabet is like a code. In order to break the code, we have to learn what each letter stands for. When we say letters and words our mouth moves in a certain way. Today we’re going to work on spotting when our mouth moves as we say /m/. We spell /m/ with the letter M. When you say /m/, your upper lip curves in such a way that looks like a lowercase m.
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Let’s pretend we just ate our favorite food and we are thinking about how yummy it was. When something tastes good, we say /m/ /m/ /m/ and rub our tummies [Pantomime rubbing your stomach]. I know my mom makes marvelous muffins, /m/ /m/ /m/. Notice where our lips are: do they come together and cave in? (Point to lips). When we say /m/ our lips come together and the sound comes out between them, almost like we’re humming.
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Let me show you how to find /m/ in the word camp. I’m going to stretch camp out in super slow motion and listen for the “yummy in my tummy” /m/. Ccccc-aaaa-mmmp. Slower: cccc-aaaa-mmmmmm-ppp. There it was! I felt my lips come together and hum the sound out between them. I can feel the “yummy” /m/ in camp.
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Let’s try a tongue tickler! [Display poster]. “Mary’s maid mocked my mouse magnet.” Everybody say it with me. Now say it together as a class. Let’s say it again, this time stretching the /m/ at the beginning of the words. “Mmmmmary’s mmmmaid mmmmocked mmmmmy mmmmouse mmmmagnet.” Try it again, and this time break off the /m/ in the word: “/M/ ary’s /m/ aid /m/ ocked /m/ y /m/ ouse /m/ agnet.”
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[Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter M to spell /m/. Capital M looks like two mountains next to each other. Let’s write lowercase m. Start at the fence and go down to the sidewalk, hump around, and hump around. I want to see everyone’s marvelous m! After I stamp your paper, I want you to make nine more just like it.
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Call on students to answer and tell how they know: "Do you hear /m/ in moon or soon? Mold or cold? Dream or sleep? Make or fake? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /m/ in a few words. When you hear /m/, I want you to rub your belly. On, Monday’s, Jake’s, mother, Anne, mostly, mops, the, house."
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Say: “Let’s take a look at this book! This sweet cow, Millie, waits by the mailbox every day to surprise the mailman. Every time you hear a word with /m/ I want you to put your hand on your tummy.” After reading: “Now I want you think of another animal that Millie could be. Draw that animal, and at the top of your paper write ‘Millie the___’” Have them share with a partner.
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Show the flashcard with man and model how to decide if it is man or can: The M tells me to rub my tummy, /m/, so this word is mmmm-an, man. You try some: mango—mango or guava? mouth—mouth or nose? mop—mop or sweep? mug—mug or cup? meat—meat or fish?
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For assessment, distribute the worksheets. Students are to color the correct pictures that begin with M and practice letter writing. Call individual students to practice phonetic cue reading with the words in step #8.
References: Sara Query, Close Your Mouth for M https://sarahquery.wixsite.com/lessondesign/emergent-literacy-design
Haley Miller, M says /m/ Yummy in my Tummy
http://hlm0012.wixsite.com/haleymiller/emergent-literacy
Assessment Worksheets: http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/m.htm
https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-m_WFMNB.pdf?up=1466611200
