Heartbeats with B
Maggie Boles
Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /b/. This phoneme is represented by B. The students will learn to recognize the /b/ phoneme in spoken words by learning a sound analogy and the letter symbol B, practice finding /b/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /b/ in phonetic cue reading by practicing saying such words in order to discover how they are making the phoneme sounds with their mouths.
Materials: A chart with “Ben’s beautiful butterfly’s heart beats”; primary writing paper and a pencil; Chris Van Allsburg’s The Z was Zapped (1987); flash cards with the words BAD, BIT, FEET, BEAT, DUCK, BUCK; a worksheet identifying word with /b/ (URL below), colored pencils.
Procedures: 1. Say: All words written have a message. The hard part is knowing what all of the different letters stand for — our mouths move when we say words but they are all different movements. For this lesson, we are going to try and spot the mouth movements for /b/. We spell /b/ with the letter B. The letter B looks like a butterfly wing, and when butterflies bat their wings to fly it sounds like a beating heart.
2. Now lets point to where our heart is and make the sound of a beating heart, /b/, /b/, /b/. What did you do with your lips while saying /b/? (Lips start out together, then open and a puff of air comes out). When we say /b/, our lips start out together, then opened and a puff of air came out!
3. Now let me show you how to find /b/ in the word jobs. Let’s stretch the word jobs out so it is easier for us to listen for our beating sound. Jjj-o-o-b-b-s. Let’s go a little slower: Jjj-o-o-o-b-b-b-s. Did you feel your lips start out together then open and a puff of air came out? Cause I did! I started with my lips together then a puff of air came out making the sound of a beating heart.
4. Now let’s try our tongue tickler (on chart). Ben has a butterfly, a beautiful animal. The butterfly had broken a wing, but Ben helped heal it. Now he his heart beats big again. Now, here is our tickler “Ben’s beautiful butterfly’s heart beats”. Now lets everyone say it four times together! Let’s say it again, but this time lets stretch the /b/ at the beginning of the words. “Bbbbens, bbbbeautiful bbbbutterfly’s heart bbbbeats”. Let’s try it again, but we are going to break it off of the word: “/b/en’s /b/eautiful /b/utterfly’s heart /b/eats.
5. (Instruct student’s to take out primary pencil and paper). The letter B is used for spelling /b/, the sound of a beating heart! The capital B looks like a butterfly wing. But we can start by writing the lowercase b. First you can draw a straight line, then just draw half a circle at the bottom of the line. After you draw your first b and I check it off, draw four more like it!
6. Ask your students questions similar to these and call on them for answers: Do you hear /b/ in rub or run? Pat or bat? Buddy or funny? Now say: Look and see if you can spot the mouth movement for /b/ in a few words. Point to you heart if you hear /b/: bad, mad, buddy, muddy, fan, fab, blue, sky.
7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book! Dr. Seuss tells us about a cute baby.” Read page three drawing out /b/. Ask your students if they can think of any other words with /b/. Ask them to make up a funny name for the baby starting with /b/ like Bbben or Bbbarb. Get each student to write down the name they came up with and draw a picture of a their new friend!
8. Show BAD and model how to decide if it is bad or mad. The letter B tells me the sound of a heart beating, so this word is bbb-ad, bad. Now it’s your turn: BED: bed or fed? BEAT: beat or meet? BEND: bend or mend?
9. For an assessment, you can distribute the worksheet attached. Students are to say the name of each picture on the worksheet, and listen for /b/. Students are to color in the pictures that start with /b/.
Reference: Brush Your Teeth with F, https://oad0004.wixsite.com/mysite/gallery
Assessment Worksheet: https://www.kidzone.ws/prek_wrksht/learning-letters/b.htm