Kathryn Ivy Gilley
Bouncing a Bouncy Ball with B
An Emergent Literacy Lesson
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /b/, the phoneme represented by B. Students will learn how to recognize /b/ when words are spoken by learning the symbol B and the representation (bouncing a bouncy ball), practicing listening for /b/ in spoken words, and develop phoneme awareness with /b/ in phonetic cue reading by using the beginning letters of the words.
Materials: Primary paper and pencil Crayons Maybe borrow a bouncy ball so children can hear it bounce Poster with tongue tickler: Bill and Betty baked brown bread for Barbara's baby Flash cards with the words: BALL, BAT, BAKE, FAN, HAIR, MEET, BUS, BET The book ABC by Doctor Seuss with emphasis on the B page. Activity sheet (URL listed under reference).
Procedures:
1. “Our written language is a secret code- the tricky part is learning what letters stand for- the mouth moves we make as we say words. Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth move /b/. We spell /b/ with letter B. B sounds like a ball bouncing and we will be using a bouncy ball to demonstrate this.”
2. “Let’s pretend to bounce a ball, /b/,/b/, /b/. So as a bounce this bouncy ball I want you to say the sound with me and think of what your mouth is doing as you say it. You can see our mouth is closed and then open as we say /b/.”
3. “Now let’s see if we can find the “bouncing” sound in ball. Listen as I say it slowly and see if you can hear the “bouncing” sound. BBBBBB-AAAAA-LLLL I found it! Right at the beginning I felt my lips were closed tightly then opened and pushed the air out of it again. Let’s say it one more time, BBBBB-AAAAA- LLLL.”
4. Now we are going to say a sentence that sounds a little funny but has the sound /b/ in many words. “Bill and Betty baked brown bread for Barbara’s baby.” (Displayed so that everyone can see it. We are going to go through and say this sentence twice together slowly. Every time you hear the /b/ sound hold a pretend bouncy ball up while I hold mine up Now let’s say it one more time but this time stretch out the /b/ sound as much as you can. BBBBBILL AND BBBBBAETTY BBBBBAKED BBBBBROWN BBBBREAD FOR BBBARBARA’S BBBBABBBBY.Now let’s try and separate /b/ from the rest of the word, /b/-ill and /b/-etty /b/-aked /b/-rown /b/-read for /b/-ar /b/- aras /b/-aby.
5. “Now students please take out your primary paper and pencil.” We use the letter B to spell /b/. Now let’s write a lowercase b. Draw a straight line down to the sidewalk. Then bring the line back up to the fence then curve it down to the sidewalk so it looks like a bubble. I want to see everyone write a b. After I put a ball sticker on it I want you to go ahead and make 9 more just like it.
6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /b/ in cub or cone? Ball or chair? Dog or bat? Meet or bet? Fan or bus? Now let’s see if we can spot the move mouth /b/ in some words. Bounce the ball when you hear /b/ : Billy bought a blue basketball and a big bowl.
7. In Dr. Suess’s ABC Alphabet Book, he tells us about some words that start with the /b/ sound. He has some funny pictures that go along with the words, so let’s look at page 7 and see if we can find some things that start with /b/. Now draw a bouncy ball on your paper with crayons, then inside of it write words that start with /b/. Then show it to your neighbor when you get finished.
8. Show bog and fog model on how to decide if it is bog or fog: The B tells me to bounce the ball, /b/, so this word is bbb-og, bog. You try some BELL: bell or cell? BOOK: Book or look? BAKE: bake or make? BIND: bind or mind?
9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to finish the spellings of the pictures above the word that start with B as well as coloring with their crayons. You could also call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step number 8.
Reference: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/b-begins2.htm
Internet Site: Shelton, Hannah. Bouncing the "B" Ball. http://hbs0006.wixsite.com/readingdesigns/emergent-literacy-
Entries Index: http: //www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/entries.html
