Sample Lesson for Teaching the Letter-Sound Correspondence for /M/
Lesson Focus
Procedure
Please note:
1. Create awareness of target sound in
the initial position.
My mom likes to spend money. She
buys marshmallows, markers, and
mops.
What does Mom like to buy?
The words Mom, money,
marshmallows, markers, and mops
begin with the same sound: the /m/
sound. Watch my mouth: /m/ (You say
/m/).
Show children the large letter m card.
This is the letter m. The letter m stands
for the /m/ sound in Mom, money, and
marshmallows. Each time I touch the
letter m, say /m/. (Touch m several
times)
This procedure activates phonemic
awareness by focusing attention on the
target sound.
Students will now need their own letter
m cards.
If the word I say begins with the /m/
sound, hold up your m card and say
/m/. If it doesn’t begin with the /m/
sound, shake your head no. (Examples:
mom, money, house, monkey, school,
dog)
When I am at the pool in the summer, I
like to go for a _______. (swim)
Explain that swim ends with the letter
m, the letter that stands for the /m/
sound. Say some more words that end
with the letter m, and have the students
repeat them. (Examples: drum, him,
Sam)
I’ll say some words. If the word ends
with the /m/ sound, hold up your m
card. If it doesn’t end with the /m/
sound, put your m card behind your
back. (Examples: ham, cup, broom,
dream, cat, gum)
This step provides additional practice
in identifying the /m/ phoneme at the
beginning of words and saying the
sound in the presence of the letter m.
Students will need their Word Pockets.
If the word begins with /m/, put your
letter m at the beginning of the Word
Pocket. If the word ends with /m/, put
your letter m at the end of the Word
Pocket. (Examples: mouse, slam, them,
mall)
In addition to providing practice, the
requirement that they place their letters
at the beginning or end of their Word
Pockets connects with phonemic
position with the visual position.
2. Connect the printed letter with the
sound the letter represents.
3. Discriminate among words that start
with /m/ and those that do not.
4. Develop phonemic awareness of
target sound in the final position.
5. Distinguish words that end in /m/
from words that do not.
6. Compare words that have /m/ in the
initial and final positions.
The point of the whole lesson is to
connect a printed letter with its sound,
which happens in this step. However,
this doesn’t provide enough practice to
solidify the learning. Thus, it is
important to proceed to the next step.
This step, which moves the targeted
letter to the final position, helps
children learn that a given letter often
represents the same sound in other
positions in words.
In this step students identify /m/ at the
end of words and say /m/ in the
presence of the letter m.
This step is similar to step 3 except that
the focus is on the final position.
Zimmerman, B. S., Padak, N. D., & Rasinski, T. V. (2008). Evidence-Based Instruction in Reading: A Professional
Development Guide to Phonics. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Resource provided by AEA 267 © 2010 — Permission granted to educational organizations to copy and use
http://www.aea267.k12.ia.us/
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