Emergent Literacy Design | Reading Lesson Site

Emergent Literacy (EL) Design: Pam Pops Puffy Popcorn

Rationale: This lesson will help students identify /p/, the phoneme represented by P. Students will learn to recognize /p/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (the sound of popping popcorn), practice find /p/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /p/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

Materials:

Primary paper and pencil
Image with girl and popping popcorn
Chart with tongue tickler: “Pretty Pam pops plenty of puffy popcorn for her pals!”
Word cards with PIG, POT, PANT, PACK, PINK, PUNCH, PLANT
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
Whiteboard
Assessment Worksheet Identifying Pictures with /p/ (URL below)

Procedures:

Say: Learning what letters stand for can be very tricky! It is a kind of secret code that we must solve. We must move our mouths a certain way as we say words. Today, we are going to learn how our mouth should move when we make the sound /p/. We spell /p/ with the letter P. When we say the sound /p/, it reminds us of the sound that corn makes when it is popping.
Let’s pretend we are popping corn, /p/, /p/, /p/. [Pantomime the /p/ sound of popping corn while using explosive hand gestures] Notice where your lips are. (Both lips pressed together and then released with a puff of air). When we say /p/, we blow air when we release our upper and bottom lips after pressing them together.
Let me show you how to find /p/ in the word trip. I am going to stretch the word trip out super slowly. Try to listen for the popping /p/ sound that we hear while making popcorn. Ttt-r-r-i-i-i-ppp. Slower. Ttt-r-r-r-i-i-i-i-pppp. I heard it!! I pressed my lips together and blew air out when I released my lips. Popping /p/ is in trip.
Let’s try a tongue tickler (on the chart)! Pretty Pam is having a party with her pals. She prepared a plate full of food and a bowl of puffy popcorn. Her pals were listening as she emptied the popcorn into a pot. Pam and her pals began to hear the corn pop! Our tongue tickler is: “Pretty Pam pops plenty of puffy popcorn for her pals!”
1. Say: We are going to say it all together three times. (Say it normally the first time)
2. Say: Now this time we are going to say it while stretching out the /p/ at the beginning of each of the words. (Pppretty Pppam pppops ppplenty of pppuffy pppopcorn for her pppals!)
3. Say: Lastly, now we are going to separate the letter /p/ from each word. (P/retty P/am p/ops /p/lenty of p/uffy p/opcorn for her p/als!)
[Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use the letter P to spell /p/. Capital P can be drawn by starting at the rooftop and going down. Then, go back to the rooftop and curve around to the fence. So, we go down from the rooftop, pick up, and curve around to the fence! Lowercase letter p can be drawn by starting at the fence and going straight down to the ditch. Then, come back up to the fence and put his chin on the sidewalk. So, we start at the fence, go straight down into the ditch, come up and out chin on the sidewalk! I want to see everybody’s p. Great! I want you to make nine more just like it!
Call on students to answer and how they knew. Say: Now, I want you to tell me which word you hear /p/ in! Do you hear /p/ in pool or snack? Map or moon? Desk or Lamp? Pond or grass? Cow or sheep? Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /p/ in some words. Say: Pop your fingers like popcorn by making your closed fist explode into an open hand when you hear the /p/ sound in these words: “The, pink, penguin, gave, Polly, the, cute, purple, pens.”
Say: “Let’s look at the book, Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss.” Introduction Booktalk: “Dr. Seuss tells us the story about a character named Pup. Pup is a silly dog that likes to do all sorts of things. Let’s read to find out what Pup likes to do!” Read pages 1-5 of the book, drawing out the /p/ sound. At the end of the story, say “Let’s give Pup a new name that starts with the sound /p/! For example, I am going to give Pup a new name of Patrick.” Have children write their new name for Pup with invented spelling and draw a picture of him on their paper. Display their work proudly for all to see.
Say: Show PIG and model how to decide if it is pig or wig. The P makes a /p/ sound like popping corn, so this word is ppp-ig, pig. You try some! POT: pot or cot? PACK: track or pack? PINK: think or pink? PUNCH: punch or lunch? PLANT: plant or chant?
For assessment, give out a worksheet. Have students color the pictures that begin with the /p/ sound that demonstrates the letter P. Call students individually to read the phonetic cues from step #8.

References:

Catherine Harrison, Pat Pops Popcorn. https://catharrison0035.wixsite.com/my-site-2/emergent-literacy

Claire Payne, Popping Perfect Popcorn https://claire3129.wixsite.com/mysite-1/emergent-literacy

Seuss, D. (1963). Hop on Pop. New York: Random House.

Pictures/ GIFS: https://www.clipartmax.com/middle/m2K9A0b1Z5K9H7b1_popcorn-susie1-scrappin-doodles-popcorn/

& https://tenor.com/view/popcorn-munchies-hungry-popping-food-gif-5513090

Assessment worksheet: https://www.myteachingstation.com/beginning-sound-of-the-letter-p

Reading Genie Awakenings Index Link: https://wp.auburn.edu/rdggenie/home/classroom/awakenings/