Emergent Literacy Design Zipping down a Zipline with Z
By: Cassidy Stephens
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 sound analogy (zipping a zipline) 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; chart with “Zoe zipped down the zipline while zig-zagging through New Zealand.”; drawing paper and crayons; Dr. Seuss’s ABC (Random House, 1963); word cards with ZAP, ZOO, CAT, ZIP, FOG, and ZOOM; assessment worksheet writing the letter z and drawing pictures of items that begin with z. (URL below).
Procedures:
1. Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what sounds letters stand for – the way our mouth moves as we say words. Today we’re going to work on figuring out the way the mouth moves for /z/. We spell /z/ with letter Z. Z looks like a zigzag, and /z/ sounds like zipping down a zipline.
2. Let’s pretend to zip down a zipline, /z/, /z/, /z/. [Pantomime zipping a zipline by pretending to put your hands on the bar overhead and sliding down the zipline while making the /z/ sound] Notice the way you move your mouth to make the zipping sound? (Teeth closed with tongue against top and bottom teeth). When we say /z/, we make a vibrating sound with our tongue against our teeth. Saying /z/ is like saying /s/ but using your voice.
3. Let me show you how to find /z/ in the word fizz. I’m going to stretch fizz out in super slow motion, and I want you to listen for zipline. Ff-i-i-zzz. Slower: Fff-ii-i--i-zzzz. There it was! I felt my tongue touch my teeth and used my voice. Zipline /z/ is in fizz.
4. Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Zoe zipped down the zipline while zig-zagging through New Zealand. Zayne zipped down the zipline and zoomed towards Zoe. Zayne had zero luck reaching Zoe on the zipline. Here’s our tickler: “Zoe zipped down the zipline while zig-zagging through New Zealand”. Let’s say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /z/ at the beginning of the words. “Zzzoe zzzzipped down the zzzzipline while zzzigzzzzagginging through New Zzzzealnd.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/z/oe /z/ipped down the /z/ipline while /z/ig-/z/agging through New /z/ealand.”
5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter Z to spell /z/. Capital Z looks like a zig-zag. Let’s write the lowercase letter z. Start at the fence and draw a short line on the fence. Then draw a diagonal line from the end of the first line you drew to the sidewalk. After that, draw another short line on the sidewalk. I want to see everybody’s z. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make seven more just like it.
6. Ask students to tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in zero or many? zoom or slow? zoo or house? zebra or bear? fizz or flat? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /z/ in some words. Pretend to zip down a zipline if you hear /z/: cat, zoom, buzz, dog, Zayne, zip, blue, butterfly, zoom, fizz.
7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss tells us about a fuzzy creature called a zizzerzazzer-zuzz!” Read page 24, drawing out /z/. Ask the students if they can think of other words with /z/. Next, ask students to make up a creative silly name like zizzer-zazzer-zuzz. Then, have each student write their fun new name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their creature to match the silly name.
8. Show ZIG and model how to decide if it is fig or zig: The Z tells me to zip down the zipline, /z/, so this word is zzz-i-g, zig. You try some: ZONE: phone or zone? CAT: fat or cat? ZIP: hip or zip? LOG: log or dog? BUZZ: buzz or big?
9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet.. Students write the letter z and color in the pictures that begin with the /z/ sound. Call on students to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
References:
Kacey Kilgore, Zipping with Z:
https://kaceykilgore5.wixsite.com/literacydesigns/emergent%C6%92-literacy
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