Ms. Webb's Class

Buzz Buzz Goes the Bee with the Letter Z

Emergent Literacy Guide

Kailyn Webb

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale - This lesson will help children identify /z/, the phoneme represented by Z. Students will learn to recognize /z/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (the bee buzzing) and the letter symbol Z, practice finding /z/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters. 

 

Materials - Primary paper and pencil; crayons and drawing paper; chart with “Zoo zebras zig-zag zip zippers” on it; Word cards: BUZZ, LAY, ZIP, ZAP, SAT, and FUZZY; Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! I’m Off to the Moon (Dan Yaccarino); assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /z/.

 

 

 

Procedures: 

1. Say: “Our written language is a secret code. Learning what letters stand for can be a little tricky. By moving our mouths as we say each word, we learn what letters stand for. Today, we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move /z/. We spell /z/ with letter Z. The letter Z sounds like a bee buzzing. 

 

2. Let’s pretend we are bees buzzing around flowers, /z/, /z/, /z/. Notice how your tongue touched the top of your mouth and vibrations were made. That’s what we do when we say the letter /z/.

 

3. Now I’ll show you how to find /z/ in the word zoo. I’m going to stretch zoo out in super slow motion and listen for my vibrations. Zzz-o-o. Slower: Zzzz-o-o-o-o. I heard the vibrations! I felt my tongue touch the top of my mouth. I can feel the /z/ in zoo.

 

4. Now let’s try a tongue twister. “Zoo zebras zig-zag zip zippers” Let’s say it three times together. Now say it once more, but this time let’s stretch out the /z/ at the beginning of each word. “Zzzoo zzzebras zzzzig-zzzzag zzzip zzzippers.” Try it again, but this time, let’s break the /z/ off the word. “/Z/ oo /z/ ebras /z/ ig /z/ ag /z/ ip /z/ ippers.” 

 

5. [Prompt students to take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter Z to spell /z/. Let’s practice writing the letter /z/. We are going to draw a zig-zag like a bee does when they buzz around. With your pencil, start below the rooftop and make a big zig-zag to the sidewalk. Do you see how your /z/ makes a zig-zag? When you’re done, I want to see. After I’ve checked your work, I want you to try to write it just like that nine more times.

 

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in zip or tooth? zoo or goo? zig or wash? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /z/ in some words. Buzz like a bee if you hear /z/: The zookeepers feed the fuzzy zebras with zero stripes. Can you feel your tongue at the roof of your mouth when you say those words?

 

7. Say: Let’s read in the book and see if the little boy makes it to the moon. There are a lot of words that start with /z/ in this story. When you hear them, I want you to put your fingers in the air and together we’ll draw an imaginary /z/ in the air. Each student will make up a word that starts with the letter /z/ with inventive spelling. The children will then get the opportunity to draw a picture of something that starts with the letter /z/. The children will tell about what they drew.

 

8. Show ZIP and model how to decipher whether it is zip or hip. The /z/ tells me to buzzzzz like a bee, so this word is z-z-zip, zip. You try some: ZOOM: zoom or boom? ZAP: zap or tap? TEAL: teal or zeal? ZONE: zone or cone?

 

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spellings and color the pictures that begin with Z. Call on students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8. 

 

Reference: Nix, Lauren. Buzz Like a Bee with the Letter Z.

https://sites.google.com/site/mylessondesigns/home

 

Assessment worksheet: 

http://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/z.htm