Emergent Literacy Design
Nuts about “N”
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /n/, the phoneme represented by N. Students will learn to recognize /n/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (buzzing gnat) and the letter symbol N, practice finding /n/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /n/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words with beginning letters.
Materials: primary paper and pencils; “Eating the Alphabet” by Lois Ehlert; note cards with the words NEST, NECK, NET, NAP, NICE; chart with “Ned’s nice nephew needs noodles now;” assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /n/.
Procedures: (1) Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for—the mouth moves as we say words. Today we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move /n/. We spell /n/ with letter N. N looks like a gnat buzzing around, and /n/ sounds like one too. (2) Let’s pretend there’s a gnat buzzing around /n/, /n/, /n/. Notice where your tongue is—at the roof of your mouth. When we say /n/, we touch our tongues to the roof of our mouths. (3) Let me show you how to find /n/ in the word nest. I’m going to stretch out nest in super slow motion and listen for a gnat buzzing around. Nnnn-eee-sss-ttt. Slower: Nnnn-eeeee-sssss-tttt. There it was! I felt my tongue touch the roof of my mouth. Gnat /n/ is in nest. (4) Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Ned’s brother had a baby named Nick. This is Ned’s nephew. He is nice. He is hungry and he needs noodles now. Here’s our tickler: “Ned’s nice nephew needs noodles now.” Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /n/ at the beginning of the words. “Nnnned’s nnnnice nnnnnephew nnneeds nnnnoodles now.” Try it again, and this time, break it off the word. “/n/ ed’s /n/ ephew /n/eeds /n/oodles /n/ow.” (5) [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter N to spell /n/. Capital N looks like a gnat buzzing all around. Let’s write the lowercase letter n. Start just below the fence. Go straight down to the sidewalk. Then, go up and curve as you approach the fence again and back down to the sidewalk. I want to see everybody’s n’s. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it. (6) Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /n/ in neat or fun? Name or steak? Crane or nail? Say: let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /n/ in some words. Buzz around like a gnat if you hear /n/. The, fairy, nanny, navy, snow, bear, night, north. (7) Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book. This book shows yummy fruits and vegetables for all the letters of the alphabet!” Then read page about “N” and draw out /n/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /n/. (8) Show NEST and model how to tell if its nest or best: the N tells the gnat to buzz around, /n/, so this word is nnn-est. You try some: NECK, neck or peck? NET, net or pet? NAP, nap or tap? NICE, nice or mice? (9) For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students circle the pictures that begin with N.
Reference: Assessment worksheet-- https://www.turtlediary.com/worksheet/identify-words-that-start-with-n.html
Lesson Design—Dr. Bruce Murray: “BrushYour Teeth with F”
