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Mmm, Mmm, Mmm, Yummy in My Tummy

Emergent Literacy Design

By: Destiny Knight

Rationale: This lesson teaches children that m says /m/. Children must learn to recognize the spellings that map word pronunciations in order to read. In this lesson children will learn to recognize, spell, and read words containing the spelling /m/. They will learn a meaningful representation (rubbing tummy and saying /m/), they will listen for /m/ and read words from a phonetic cue reading word list, as well as read a decodable book that focuses on the correspondence m=/m/.

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Materials:

  • Whiteboard and dry-erase markers

  • Primary paper and pencils

  • Regular paper and crayons

  • Picture of Pooh (attached to document)

  • Chart with tongue tickler “Mary made mittens with Megan on Monday.”

  • Stickers to put on papers

  • “Mouse Mess” by Linnea Riley

  • List of words for step 8 and 9 (mat, hat, mint, tint, fake, make, still, mill, munch, lunch)

 

Procedures:

  1. Say: In order to become expert readers we need to learn the code that tells us how to pronounce words. It is important to know that each letter stands for a movement our mouth makes. The letter m (teacher draws m on the board) makes a /m/ sound like the sound you make when you finish eating something yummy!

  2. Say: To make the sound /m/ you have to close your lips together tightly and make a deep sound from your throat toward your mouth. Just like this picture of Winnie of the Pooh (show them picture of Pooh), when I say so, I want you all to put your hands on your tummies and say /m/. Ready? Go! (make the movement and sound with them)

  3. Say: Now I am going to show you how to find /m/ in stamp. I am going to stretch out the word stamp so I can hear each sound: ss-tt-aa-mm-pp. I am going to do again but slower this time: ssss-tttt-a-a-a-a-mmmm-pppp. There, I found it! I could feel the /m/ when my lips were together and I sent a deep vibrating sound to the front of my mouth.

  4. Say: Now we are going to try out a tongue tickler (use chart): “Mary made mittens with Megan on Monday.” Mary and Megan’s hands were cold when they were playing outside so they decided on Monday to make themselves some mittens. Mary made mittens with Megan on Monday. I want everyone to say it together three times (students state tongue tickler). Now let’s say it and stretch out the beginning of the words starting with /m/: “Mmmary mmmade mmmittens with Mmmegan on Mmmonday.” Great job! Now let’s say it and break off the first /m/ sound. “/m/egan /m/ade /m/ittens with /m/egan on /m/onday.”

  5. (Have students take out primary paper and pencils) Say: Like I said earlier, the letter m makes the /m/ sound. An uppercase m looks like this (draw m on the whiteboard). It looks like big, pointy ears. A lowercase m looks likes this (draw m on the whiteboard). It looks like the capital m but smaller and instead of pointy ears, they look like round humps. I want everyone to practice writing a lowercase m on their paper. (Demonstrate this next part) First, start at the fence and draw a straight line down to the sidewalk. Next, draw a hump up to the fence and back down to the sidewalk again. Then draw another hump up to the fence and then back down to the sidewalk again. I am going to walk around looking at you m’s. After I give you a sticker on your paper, I want you to draw 10 more m’s just like the one under the sticker.

  6. Say: Now we are going to play a listening game. Make sure you listen for the /m/. Do you hear /m/ in mall or ball? Top or mop? Milk or silk? Ram or rat? Now let’s play a game. Whenever you hear the /m/ I want you to rub your tummy like you just ate something really good. The monkey made a banana monster.

  7. Say: Now we are going to read a book. What is your favorite food to eat? Do your parents ever let you eat in the middle of the night? Well the mouse in the book “Mouse Mess” does just that. He wakes up hungry in the middle of the night hungry for a snack and makes a huge mess! Let’s read it and see what he eats and how his family reacts to the huge mess. (After reading, hand out paper and crayons) Now I want you all to write down something you like to eat or drink that starts with the letter m and draw a picture of it. (You can hang the artwork up around the classroom or in the hallway).

  8. (Show mat on the board) Say: Now we are going to practice identifying m in some words. I'm trying to read the word on the board. Does it say mat or hat? The first thing I'm going to do is look at the first letter. I see the letter m and I now know that m says /m/. So, let's listen: is /m/ in mat or hat? /m/m/m/-at or /f/f/f/- at? I hear the m in mat! Now you try! Do you hear /m/ in mint or tint? Fake or make? Still or mill? Munch or lunch?

  9. For assessment, have students work on worksheet where they draw a line from the mice to the picture that begins with the letter m. Then they can color the pictures. While they are doing this, call each student up to your desk to read the m words used in step 8.

 

Resources:

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