top of page

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /m/, the phoneme represented by M.

Students will learn to recognize /m/ in spoke words by using meaningful representation of closing your mouth and rubbing your stomach, practicing finding /m/ in spoken words, and apply phoneme awareness with /m/ in phonetic cue reading.

 

Materials:

  • Poster board with the tongue tickler on it

  • A copy of the story “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” (New York,1985)

  • Notecards with the words, “TAKE, BAKE, RAMP, SUN, MOON, BET”

  • Primary paper

  • Pencil

  • Assessment Worksheet with various words, some containing the letter M and others not.

 

Procedures:

  1. Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for, and how our mouth moves as we make sounds. Today, we’re going to watch our mouths move as we say /m/. We spell /m/ with the letter M. M looks like two mountains, and /m/ sounds like we just ate something really yummy.

  2. Say: I want everyone to close your eyes and picture your favorite food. Now pretend you just had a big spoonful of that yummy food, and rub your stomachs and say “Mmmm”. What do your lips look like when you make that sound? Look at the person next to you and rub your stomach and say “mmmm”. Watch their lips to see what they look like!

  3. Say: Now we’re going to practice finding /m/ in different words. I’m going to say a word in super slow motion, and I want you to listen for the /m/ sound. When you hear the /m/ sound, I want you to rub your stomach like you just ate yummy food. The first word we’re practicing with is “ramp.” Rrrr-a-a-mmmmmmp. Did you hear the /m/ sound? I’m going to stretch it again; watch my lips! Rrr-a-a-mmmp. (Continue this process with other M words)

  4. Say: Now we’re going to practice with a tongue tickler! (Take out poster with tongue tickler) “Mary makes muffins on Mondays” Now let’s say it three times together. (Repeat tongue tickler 3 times). Let’s do our tummy rub whenever we hear the /m/ sound! Ready? “Mmmmm-a-rrr-y  mmmm-a-k-e-s mmmm-u-ff-i-n-s on mmm-o-n-d-a-y-s-“

  5. (Have students take out primary paper and pencil) Say: We use the letter M to spell /m/. Watch me as I write the lowercase and uppercase letter M. To make the uppercase M we start at the bottom of the mountain, climb all the way to the top, then slide down the half slide, climb back to the top, and end at the bottom of the mountain. To write a lowercase M, we start at the bottom of the mountain and do two quick hikes to the top of the mountain and back again. I want everyone to make 5 uppercase M’s and then 5 lowercase m’s. I’ll walk around and help friends who need it.

  6. Use the word cards to test students to identify the words with M. For example, hold up the card with “TAKE” on it and ask if the hear the /m/ sound in that word. Tell them if they hear that word to do the stomach rubbing gesture.

  7. Say: Now we’re going to read the book called "If You Give a Moose a Muffin". This book tells the story of the adventures the author and his Moose friend go on once you give the moose a muffin.  So what happens when you give a moose a muffin? He asks for jam, of course, and when he's finished eating all the muffins, he'll want you to make more. That entails a trip to the store. Of course the moose would like to go, but he may need to borrow a sweater; he might notice a button is loose, in which case he'll require a needle and thread. Let's read the rest of the story to find out what happens!

  8. At the conclusion of the lesson I’ll distribute worksheets that will count for an assessment. In the worksheet, the students with trace and then rewrite only the words with the letter M in it.

 

Muffin Madness

Emergent Literacy

Katie Wickes

bottom of page