Mrs. Daniel
Emergent Literacy Design
Buzzing Around with Z
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Rationale: This lesson aims to help identify the grapheme and phoneme, z= /z/. Students will learn to identify /z/ in spoken words by memorizing a meaningful sound description (the sound of a bee buzzing) and the letter symbol Z, practice finding /z/ in words, and utilize phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading by differentiating between rhyming words.
Materials: Primary paper with dotted Z to trace and pencil; chart with “Zoe zigs and zags to see the zebra at the zoo;” drawing paper and crayons; Fuzz and the Buzz (Educational Insights, 1990); word cards with ZOO, ZAP, BOOM, ZONE, ZIPS, and PING.
Procedures:
1. Say: “All of the letters that we use to make words look and sound different. It can be hard to tell what each letter stands for. As we are using different sounds, our mouth moves to make the sounds. Today we are going to see if we can spot the moth move /z/. We spell /z/ with the letter Z. Think about a bee flying around in a zigzag [show picture of bee with Z pattern]. /z/ sounds like a bee buzzing around.
2. Say: Let's pretend to be bees, /z/, /zzzzzzzzzzzzzz/. [Move finger around to mimic a bee flying around]. Notice that your top teeth are touching your bottom teeth, and your tongue vibrates.
3. Say: Now, let’s take the word buzz and see if we can slow it down to find the /z/. I’m going to stretch it out and see if I can feel my tongue vibrating to make the bumble bee sound. Bbb-u-u-u-zzzz. Bb-u-u-zz. I heard and felt the /z/ in buzz. Now you try! Did you feel it?
4. Say: Let's try a tongue twister now. “Zoe zigs and zags to see the zebra at the zoo.” Everybody say it together. We’ll say it two times. [Repeat tongue twister twice]. Now, let's say it again, but this time stretch the /z/ sound when you hear it.
5. Say: [Have students take out pencil and pass out primary paper with letter Z to trace on it]. We use letter z to spell /z/. The letter Z looks like a bee flying in a zigzag pattern. Let's write the lowercase Z. Start on the fence and draw a straight line across. Now draw a line on the sidewalk right under the first one. Connect the two lines by drawing a line from the end of the top line to the beginning of the bottom line. Here's mine. Let's me see yours! After I give you a sticker, I want you to write nine more just like that one.
6. Say: Now, I am going to tell you two words and I want you to tell me which word you hear the /z/ sound in. Raise your hand if you think you know, and I'll call on someone. Do you hear /z/ in fuzz or fan? lazy or lucky? zebra or horse? zip or flip? Great job! Okay, now let's see if you can find the mouth move /z/ in a few words. I want you to fly your bee around if you hear /z/: Zazu, the, fuzzy, zebra, zoomed, around, the, zoo.
7. Say: Let’s look at a book about a bear named Fuzz who goes on an adventure but gets into some trouble with some buzzing bugs. Uhoh! Read Fuzz and the Buzz, stretching the /z/. Have you ever had a bad day like Fuzz? What makes you feel better? [Call on a few students to answer].
8. Say: Okay, now we are going to practice making our Z’s some more. [Pass out the playdough mat and play dough. Let the kids trace the Z.]
9. Show the ZOO card and show the kids how to sound it out to see if it is zoo or boo. Say: The Z tells me to buzz like a bee, /z/, /zzzz/, /ew/. This word is zoo. Now you try some: ZAP: zap or map? BOOM: zoom or boom? ZONE: bone or zone? ZIPS: zips or tips? PING: ding or ping?
10. For the assessment, I will pass out the complete the word worksheet. The words are partially completed, and students have to fill in the rest of the word. I will ask them to color the pictures of objects that start with Z. While the students are working, I will have them come to me individually to read the phonetic cue cards from the previous step. If any students finish early, I will have them a do-a-dot activity sheet for the letter Z.
References: Fuzz and the Buzz.
Assessment sheet: http://www.kidzone.ws/kindergarten/z-begins2.htm
Activity sheet: https://www.funnycrafts.us/alphabet-do-a-dot-printables/do-a-dot-letter-z-printable/
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