Gulping a Glass of Gatorade with G

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale: Students will learn to recognize /g/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (gulping Gatorade) and the letter symbol G, practice finding /g/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /g/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

 

Materials: Picture of a person gulping Gatorade, Primary paper and pencil; chart with “Gus got gum going to the game"; drawing paper and crayons; Dr. Seuss's ABC (Random House, 1963); word cards with GAP, GOT, GAME, GATE, GOLD; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /g/ (URL below).

 

Procedures:

• Today we are going to learn about the letter G and the sound that it makes, /g/. There are many different letters and sounds in our language, and it is important to learn to recognize them so that we can begin to read. For our lesson today, we are going to work on spotting the mouth move /g/. We spell /g/ with letter G. /g/ sounds like you are gulping down a glass of Gatorade.

 

• Let’s pretend we are gulping a glass of Gatorade, /g/, /g/, /g/. (Demonstrate to the class how to gulp a drink or show a picture). Notice that your mouth is open and your tongue is bent at the back of your mouth.

 

• Now let me show you how to find /g/ in the word gum. I’m going to stretch out gum slowly. Gggg-uuu-mmm. Now you try it with me. Gggg-uuu-mmm. There it was! Did you feel your tongue bent at the back of your mouth and hear the /g/?         

 

• Let's try a tongue twister [on chart]. “Gus got gum going to the game." Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /g/ at the beginning of the words. "Gggus gggot gggum gggoinggg to the gggame." Try it again, and this time separate the /g/ at the beginning of the word: "/g/ us /g/ ot /g/ um /g/ oing to the /g/ ame.

 

• [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter G to spell /g/. Let's write the lowercase letter g. Start just below the fence. Start to make a little c, then go back up to the fence and add a fishhook all the way down to the ditch. I want to see everybody's g. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.

 

• Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /g/ in grape or berry? box or bag? game or work? cat or dog? Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /g/ in some words. Gulp your Gatorade if you hear /g/: The, girl, grabbed, the, bag, going, to, the, garden.

 

• Now we are going to read an alphabet book by Dr. Seuss. He tells us about an animal whose name starts with G. Can you guess what animal it is? Read page 17, stretching out /g/. Ask your students to write about an animal wearing something goofy. Then ask them to draw a picture. When they are finished, they can share their work.

 

• Show GAP and model how to decide if it is gap or lap: The G tells me to gulp, /g/, so this word is ggg-ap, gap. You try some: GOT: pot or got? GAME: game or fame? GATE: late or gate? GOLD: gold or hold?

 

• For an assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spellings and color the pictures that begin with G. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

 

References:

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

 

Dr. Seuss's ABC. New York: Beginner, 1963. Print.

 

Gardner, Catherine. “Gulping with G” http://www.auburn.edu/~czg0014/gardnerel.htm

 

Roebuck, Caitlin. “Gulping Grape Soda with G” http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/awakenings/roebuckel.htm

 

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