Gulp Your Glass with G

by Regan Weakley

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Rationale:

This lesson will help children identify /g/, the phoneme represented by G. Students will learn to identify /g/ in spoken words using a sound analogy (gulping a drink) and the letter symbol G, practice locating /g/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /g/ in phonetic cue reading by differentiating rhyming words using the beginning letters.

 

Materials:

• Primary paper

• Pencil

• Tongue Tickler poster (Grandpa gave Gabby a great gift)

• Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

• Drawing paper

• Crayons or colored pencils

• Word cards with GOT, GATE, GO, LIFT, BAG, and PIT

• Assessment worksheet: identifying pictures with /g/ (link below)

 

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 the class is going to work on spotting the mouth move /g/. We spell /g/ with letter G. G looks like the letter C with an extra hook, and /g/ sounds like gulping a glass of water when you are reallyyy thirst.

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2. “Let's pretend to gulp a drink, /g/, /g/, /g/ [fake drinking from a glass]. Notice where your tongue is? (pointing to back of mouth) When we say /g/, our mouth is open, and our tongue is humped at the back of our mouth.

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3. “Let me show you how to find /g/ in the word rag. I'm going to stretch rag out in slow motion and listen for the gulping sound. rrr-a-a-gg. Now slower: rrr-a-a-a-ggg. There it was! I felt my tongue touch the back of my mouth when my mouth opened. Gulping /g/ is in the word rag.”

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4. “Let’s move on to a tongue tickler [on poster]. Grandpa gave Gabby a great gift. Gabby was so excited to be visiting her grandpa for a week. When she walked into Grandpa’s house, sitting in the middle of the room was a shiny, red bicycle! Her 6th birthday was coming up, and Grandpa surprised her with the new present. Grandpa gave Gabby a great gift. Everyone say that three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /g/ at the beginning of the words. Gggrandpa gggave gggabby a gggreat gggift! Try it again, and this time break it off the word: /g/ randpa /g/ ave /g/ abby a /g/ reat /g/ ift.”

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5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil] “We use letter G to spell /g/. Capital G looks like a C with an extra hook. Let's write the lowercase letter g. Start by writing the little letter a; then continue the right side down into a hook for a g. Remember: If the ball falls, it falls into the basket! I want to see everybody's g. After I put a checkmark on your paper, I want you to write 9 more g's the same way.

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6. Call on students to answer and tell how they know: Do you hear /g/ in blue or green? Rug or mat? Stop or go? Big or small? Good or bad? Say: “Let's see if you can feel the tongue move with the /g/ in some words. Gulp your drink if you hear /g/: Green, grapes, grow, best, planted, in, grassy, groves.”

 

7. Say: “Peggy Ruthmann is the author of Goodnight, Gorilla. [booktalk] ‘Good night, Gorilla,’ says the zookeeper. But mischievous Gorilla isn't ready to go to sleep yet. He'd rather follow the zookeeper on his rounds and let all the other animals out of their cages after stealing the zookeeper’s keys. Where will all the animals go? We will have to read to find out! Remember, listen for /g/.” Ask your students if they hear /g/ in the title and where. This is a predictable book, so the students can share reading with the teacher. After reading, ask students what animals have names with the sound /g/. [Have students get out drawing paper and crayons] Then, ask them to draw and color a picture of an animal with spelling that includes letter g and try to spell the name below the picture. Display art.

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8. Show GOT and model how to decide if it is got or lot: The G tells me to gulp a glass, /g/, so this word is ggg-ot, got. Look at the first letter: GATE: fate or gate? GO: go or no? LIFT: gift or lift? Look at the last letter: BAG: bag or bat? PIT: pit or pig?

 

Assessment:

• Distribute the worksheet. Students circle the pictures that begin with G. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

• Worksheet: https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/alphabet-phonics-g/

 

References:

• Book: Rathmann, Peggy. Good Night, Gorilla. Puffin Books, 2000.

• Tabitha Hadaway, Gulping Grape Juice with Gracie: https://tlh0045.wixsite.com/mysite/emergent-literacy

• Reading Genie website: http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/brockel.html

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