Vacuum with Virgina
Caroline Colley
Emergent Literacy
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /v/, the phoneme represented by V. This lesson will teach students to recognize /v/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (vacuuming) and the letter symbol V. Students will practice finding /v/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /v/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials: Chart with “Virginia visited Vicky and Veronica and vacuumed vegetables and vitamins”; primary paper and pencil; The Viper by Lisa Thiesting; assessment worksheet identifying which words begin with the letter /v/ (URL below); crayons
Procedures:
1. Say: Our written language, English, is like a secret code but the tricky part is learning what the letters stand for. Our mouths move as we say words. Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth move /v/. We spell /v/ with the letter V. Notice what your mouth does when you make the sound /v/. It looks a little bit like we are biting our lip.
2. Show me how you would use a vacuum and make the noise that it would make. [Pantomime vacuuming]. We can remember that v says /v/ because it is the sound a vacuum makes.
3. Let me show you how to find /v/ in the word violet. I’m going to stretch out violet in super slow motion and listen for my vacuum. Vvv-i-oo-llett. Slower: V-v-v-iii-oo-lll-ee-tt. There it was! I bit my bottom lip lightly with my teeth then slightly breathed out.
4. Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. One day Virginia decided to visit her friends Vicky and Veronica. They were all cooking dinner in the kitchen when Vicky accidentally knocked over the vegetables they had just chopped up. Veronica tried to help her but she slipped and spilled the bottle of vitamins on the counter. Virginia tried to help them but the mess was too big. So “Virginia visited Vicky and Veronica and vacuumed vegetables and vitamins.” This is out tongue tickler. Everyone say it with me three times. Now let’s say it again and this time we will stretch out the /v/ at the beginning of the words. “VVVirginia vvvisited VVVicky and VVVeronica and vvvacummed vvvegetables and vvvitamins.” Great job now lets say it again and break it off the word “/v/ irginia /v/ isited /v/ icky and /v/ eronica and /v/ acummed /v/ egetables and /v/ itamins”
5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil] We use letter V to spell /v/. “Let’s practice writing the capital V. We will start at the roof and make a diagonal line down to the sidewalk and a diagonal line back up to the roof.” Practice while explaining so students have a visual. “For lowercase v, it is almost the exact same but just smaller. We will start at the fence and make a diagonal line down to the sidewalk and then back up to the fence. Now I want you to practice writing capital V’s and lowercase v’s on your own.” Give students a few minutes to practice while walking around and checking their letters.
6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /v/ in volcano or mountain [volcano]? Doctor or vet [vet]? Valentine or card [valentine]? Very or more [very]? Oval or circle [oval]? Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /v/ in some words. Vacuum if you hear /v/: move, over, so, he, can, vote, on, the, oven
7. Say: “Let’s read a book. In The Viper, Peggy gets a mysterious phone call from someone named the Viper who keeps calling to tell her he is coming to her house. Peggy gets more nervous as the Viper keeps calling. Let’s see what she will do if he comes to her house! When you hear the sound /v/ I want you to vacuum the floors”
8. Show VAN and model how to decide if it’s van or man: The V tells me to vacuum, /v/, so this word is vv-an, van. You try some: VASE: vase or case? TEST: vest or test? STOVE: stove or mode? BRAVE: brave or made?
9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Student writes beginning letter for the word that describes each image and only colors the word that begins with /v/.
References:
Ms. Mack’s Classroom, Victoria Vacuums Vehicles
https://ktmack895.wixsite.com/reading/emergent-literacy
Miss Vinson’s Valedictorians, An Emergent Literacy Design
http://clv0005.wixsite.com/caroline-vinson/single-post/2015/11/03/An-Emergent-Literacy-Design
Dr.Murray’s Lesson Designs, Brush Your Teeth With F https://murraba.wixsite.com/lessondesigns2018/emergent-literacy
Assessment worksheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/v-begins2.htm
The Viper by Lisa Thiesing https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1717789.The_Viper
