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Emergent Literacy Design:

Talk Like a Pirate with Rrrrr

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By Rachael Conley

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Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /r/, the phoneme represented by R. Students will learn to recognize /r/ by learning a meaningful representation (talking like a pirate) and the letter symbol R, practice finding /r/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /r/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters. 

 

Materials:

  • Primary paper and pencil

  • Chart with “Rachael ran on the right of a red Range Rover”

  • Dr. Suess’s ABC by Dr. Suess (Random House, 1963)

  • Word cards with RAT, RED, ROCK, RIGHT, RACE, and RASH

  • Assessment worksheet identifying words with /r/ and crayons

 

Procedures:

  1. I’ll begin by explain that each of the 26 letters in the alphabet make different sounds.  Say: “Today we are going to be learning about how we make the /r/ sound! The letter “R” makes the /r/ sound. /r/ also sounds like a pirate talking!”

  2. Let’s pretend we are all pirates, /r/, /r/, /r/. Notice how your mouth moves to make /r/ sounds.  When we make that sound with our mouths, it sounds similar to a pirate talking.  When you are making the /r/ sound, you can feel the back of your tongue on the back of the roof of your mouth. 

  3. Let me show you how to find /r/ in the word rocket. I’m going to stretch rocket out in super slow motion and listen for my pirate voice.  Rrr-o-o-ck-et. Did you hear it? Slower: Rrrr-o-o-o-ck-ck-et-et-et.  There it was! I felt the back of my tongue on the back of the roof of my mouth. 

  4. Now let’s try a tongue twister.  “Rachael ran on the right of a red Range Rover.” Everybody say it three times together.  Now say it again, and this time, stretch out the /r/ at the beginning of the words. “Rrrrachael rrran on the rrright of a rrred Rrrrange Rrrover.” Let’s do it one more time, and this time break the /r/ off the word. “/r/achael /r/an on the /r/ight of a /r/ed /r/ange /r/over/”

  5. *Have students take out primary paper and a pencil.* We use the letter R to spell /r/. Capital R looks like a pirate’s eye patch. Let’s write the uppercase R.  Start at the rooftop and go straight down to the side walk.  Then, go back up to the rooftop to same spot you started at before.  Make a backwards c until you reach the fence.  Then, from the fence, make a diagonal line all the way down to the sidewalk. Now let’s write the lowercase letter r.  This will look a little different than the uppercase R. Start at the fence and go down to the sidewalk.  Then go back up the same line you just drew, but before you get to the fence curve your line to make an upside down c.  *Make sure to be showing the letters on the board so they can see it before they start.* I want to see everybody’s first try! After I give you a check, I want you to write five more uppercase and five more lowercase just like it.

  6. Call on students to answer and ask how they know: Do you hear /r/ in rock or pebble? fall or rise? rain or shine? daisy or rose? rake or shovel? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /r/ in some words. Talk like a pirate if you hear /r/: Rachael, ran, on, the, right, of, a, red, range, rover.

  7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book where Dr. Suess tells us about a creature whose name starts with R.  Let’s see what this creatures name is and let’s see what they are doing!” Read page 42, drawing out /r/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /r/.  Ask them to make up a silly creature name like Radical Rosy or Ravishing Randy.  Then have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly creature.  Display their work. 

  8. Show RAT and model how to decide if it is rat or sat: The R tells me to talk like a pirate, /r/, so this word is rrrr-at, rat.  You try some: RED: red or bed? ROCK: sock or rock? RIGHT: right or might? RACE: face or race? RASH: rash or mash?

  9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet.  Student are to complete the partial spellings and color the pictures that being with R.  Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8. 

 

 

References:

Perry, Jessica, Slither Like a Snake With S: http://jmp0052.wixsite.com/jessica-perry/emergentliteracy

 

Assessment worksheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/r-begins2.htm

 

Dr. Suess’s ABC: https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Seusss-ABC-Amazing-Alphabet/dp/0679882812

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