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Zigzag the Zebra
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Emily Johnston

Emergent Literacy

 

 

 

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

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Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with "The zebra zoomed zigzag in the zoo"; drawing paper and crayons; Dr. Seuss's ABC (Random House, 1963); word cards with ZIP, ZAP, BOO, ZERO, ROOM, and ZONE; assessment worksheet identifying word and pictures with /z/ (URL below).

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Procedures: 1. Say: 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're going to work on spotting the mouth move /z/. We spell /z/ with letter Z. Z looks like a zigzag [demonstrate zigzag motion], and /z/ sounds like a zipper [demonstrate zipper motion]

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2. Let's pretend to zip a zipper, /z/, /z/, /z/. [Pantomime zipping zipper up and down] Notice you’re your top and bottom teeth are touching (Pointing to teeth). When we say /z/, we blow air between our top teeth and bottom teeth.

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3. Let me show you how to find /z/ in the word buzz. I'm going to stretch buzz out in super slow motion and listen for the zipper sound. B-u-u-uz. Slower: B-u-u-u-zzzzz There it was! I felt my top teeth touch my bottom teeth and blow air. Zipper /z/ is in buzz.

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4. Let's try a tongue tickler [on chart]. A zebra lives in a zoo. One day, the zebra got out of his cage and found a skateboard. He can’t control the skateboard because he’s a zebra, so he is zigzagging [demonstrate zigzag motion] though the zoo. Here’s our tickler: "The zebra zoomed zigzag through the zoo" Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /z/ at the beginning of the words. "The zzzzebra zzzzzoomed zzzzzigzag through the zzzzzoo.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: "The /z/ ebra /z/ oomed /z/ igzag through the /z/ oo.

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5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter Z to spell /z/. Z looks like a zigzag. Let's write the lowercase letter z. Start at the fence. Draw a line on the fence and then cross diagonally down to the sidewalk. Then finish with a line on the sidewalk. I want to see everybody's z. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.

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6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in zebra or lion? Zoo or park? Tie or zip? buzz or bite? furry or fuzzy? Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /z/ in some words. Zip your imaginary zipper if you hear /z/: The, zipping, zebra, fell, when, he, zigzagged, in, the, zoo.

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7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss tells us about a crazy creature with a checkerboard body! Read the Z page and draw out /z/. Ask the children to make up a silly creature name like zong-zome-zank. Then have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly creature. Display their work.

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8. Show ZIP and model how to decide if it is zip or whip: The Z tells me to zip my zipper, /z/, so this word is zzzz-ip, zip. You try some: ZAP: zap or lap? BOO: zoo or boo? ZERO : zero or hero? ROOM: room or zoom? ZONE: zone or tone?

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9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin with Z. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

 

Reference: Kelly Jones, Zig-Zag “Z”  : https://kmj0039.wixsite.com/creativelessondesign/emergent-literacy-design
Assessment worksheet:  http://www.kids-pages.com/folders/worksheets/Alphabet/page26.htm

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http://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/applications/

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