ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Anna Reid Dove
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“Mr. Monkey says Mmm.”
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale: This lesson will help students identify /m/, the phoneme represented by M. Students will learn to recognize /m/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (Mr. Monkey says Mmmm) and the letter symbol M, practice finding /m/ in words, and applying phoneme awareness with /m/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
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Materials: Primary paper, Pencil, Assessment worksheet, Colored pencils, Blank sheet of paper, Tape, Flashcards with: MEAT, MESS, MOST, MASK, & MILK, and the book, “A Nap and a Map (Henderson).”
Procedures:
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Say: Our language is full of amazing letters that stand for certain sounds. Although, it is tricky sometimes to remember what each letter stands for! Today in this lesson we are going to work on spotting the mouth moves when we say words. Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth move /m/. We spell /m/ with the letter M. M looks like two mountain peaks. M also sounds like when you say Mmmm after you have eaten your favorite kind of dessert. Can everyone say Mmmmm with me? Pretend like you just ate your favorite food and you are rubbing your belly.
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Say: Say the letter M with me again. Do you feel your lips touching together and your tongue up against your teeth to make a humming sound? That Mmm sound sound like you just ate something yummy and you are saying mmmmhhh. Can everyone say Mmm with me again? That is the correct way to say the letter M!
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Say: Now let’s try to say some words with the letter M! I am going to say a word very slow and I want you to stop me when you hear the Mmm sound. Ready? Tttt – uu -mmmm- y. Tummmmy. Did you feel your lips touching together and your tongue against your teeth?
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Say: Let’s try a tongue tickler! Say this with me, Mr. Monkey makes my mommy mad. Mr. monkey always makes a mess. Mr. Monkey is a messy Monkey. Here’s out tickler: “Mr. Monkey makes my mommy mad.” Lets say it three more times together. Great job students! Now let’s say it once stretching out the /m/ sound at the beginning of the words. “Mmmr. Mmmmonkey mmmakes mmmommy mmmad.” Now let’s try and break if off the word. /M/r /m/onkey /makes/ /m/ ommy /m/ ad.
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Say: Students can you take out your primary paper and a pencil please? We use the letter M to spell /m/, remember the mmm sound when something is yummy to you? Capital M looks like two mountain peaks. Let’s write lowercase m, which looks like two mountain peaks but smaller mountains. Go down, hump around, hump around. That is how you write a lower-case m! I want to see everyone’s m’s. After I put a sticker on your paper, I want you to write five more m’s just like that!
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Say: Now I am going to call you to answer these questions. I am going to say some words, and I want you to tell me which word you hear the /m/ sound in. Ready? Do you hear /m/ in mess or nest? Mom or Dad? Mane or cane? Now let’s see if you can recognize my mouth move /m/ in these next words. Rub your tummy if you hear /m/: Mommy, Monkey, made, a, mess.
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Say: Now let’s look at an alphabet book, “A Nap and a Map,” by Lili Henderson. This story is about Pap and Pam who both love to take naps. I am going to read page six to you. Every time you hear me say the /m/ sound I want you to stop me and repeat the /m/ sound back to me. After listening to this page, I want you to think about food that start with the letter m. For example, meatballs, macaroni, and mango. I am going to pass out paper and colored pencils, I want you to write your word you thought of and draw a picture under it. Then I want you to bring these pictures to me so I can tape them around the room.
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Say: I want you to sit at your desks and I am going to show a word on the board, for example, MEAT, and I am going to model on how to decide if it’s meat or greet. Let’s try! If I put MESS on the board how would you decided if this is MESS or TEST? The M tells me to say mmmhh like when you eat something yummy, so the right word is mmm – ess, mess! Now you try some: MOST: most or host? MASK: mask or task? MILK: milk or wilt? MIND: mind or hind?
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Say: Lastly, I am going to pass out a worksheet, where I want you to circle and color the pictures that begin with the letter m. Then I want you to write ONLY the lower-case letter m under each picture you circled and colored. While you all are doing this, I am going to call you one by one to my desk to go over the words from step number eight.
References:
Assessment Worksheet:
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Reference: Kimberly Payne, Ice Cream is Mmm – mmm Good! https://kimberlypayne512.wixsite.com/mysite/emergent-literacy-design
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Book: A Nap and a Map. Henderson, Lili. Learning A – Z page 6
https://bcisgrade1.weebly.com/uploads/3/7/9/3/37932301/napandmap_clr.pdf
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Lesson Design: - Dr. Bruce Murray: “Brush Your Teeth with F”
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