Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /b/, the phoneme represented by B . Students will learn to recognize /b/ in the spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (beating a drum) and the letters symbol B, practice finding /b/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness with /b/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

 

Materials: Primary paper, pencil; chart with “Bill and Betty baked bread for Barbra’s baby”; word cards with BALL, BIKE, BAG, BOOK, RIB, BRAKE, BRICK assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /b/ (URL below). Ross MacDonald Bad Baby (Roaring Book Press, 2005)

 

Procedures: Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for- the mouth moves we make as we say words. Today we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move /b/. We spell /b/ with the letter B. B looks like two small drums, and sounds like beating on a drum.

 

1. Lets pretend to beat on a drum /b/, /b/, /b/. [Pantomime beating a drum] Notice how your top and lower lips are pushed together. (Touching where your lips are touching). When we say /b/, we push our lips together and let the sound out when we open our mouth.

 

2. Let me show you how to find /b/ in the word bubble. Im going to stretch bubble out in super slow motion and listen for my drum. Bbb-u-u-b-b-le. Slower Bbb-uu-bb-bb-le. There it was! I felt my lips press together and sound come out when I opened them. Drum /b/ is in bubble.

 

3. Lets try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Barbra just recently had a baby. She didn’t have time to make food since she was busy with her baby. Her two friends Bill and Betty decided to help out and bake her a loaf of bread. Heres out tickler “Bill and Betty baked bread for Barbra’s baby.” Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time stretch the /b/ at the beginning of the words. “Bbbill and Bbbetty bbbaked bbbread for Bbbarbra’s bbbaby”. Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/b/ill and /b/etty /b/aked /b/read for /b/arbra’s /b/aby.”

 

4. [Have your students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use the letter B to spell /b/. Capital B looks like two drums. Let’s write the lowercase letter b.

 

Say to students: “I am going to show you how to write a lower case b, Start at the roof, go down, b-bbounce up and around. Now say it with me as you practice. Start at the roof, go down, b-bbounce up and around. Let us try again. Start at the roof, b-bbounce up and around. I want to see everyone’s b. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.”

 

Say to students, "I am going to show you how I write the uppercase letter B. First, watch me write B and then you can practice on your own paper. (Write as you talk) Go straight down the sidewalk; around for his big chest, and around for his big tummy. Now say it with me as you practice. Go straight down the sidewalk; around for his big chest, and around for his big tummy. Great, let us try again. Go straight down the sidewalk; around for his big chest, and around for his big tummy. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.”

 

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /b/ in bug or cat? Girl or boy? Ball or stick? Purse or bag? Sister or brother? Lets see if you can spot the mouth move /b/ in some words. Beat the drum if you hear /b/: The, big, brother, bear, jumped, in, the, bush.

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7. Read Bad Baby a loud to students. Each time that students hear a word with the /b/ sound, the students will silently do the hand gesture, beating a drum for /b/.

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Say:, "Lets look at the alphabet book Bad Baby. Jack's wants someone to play with. One day, he gets a new baby sister. He is so excited and everyone loves her. Then Jack notices that she likes to explore and sometimes gets into trouble. Maybe Jack doesn’t want someone to play with after all? Let's read to find out. While I read, each time that you hear the /b/ sound, I want you to silently make the motion that we use for /b/. (Show motion) Let's practice with the title. Read Bad baby. Remember to only do the motion when you hear the /b/ sound."

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8. Show BAG and model how to decide if it is bag or rag: The B tells me to beat the drum, /b/, so this word bbb-ag, bag. You try some: BIKE: bike or kite? BEAT: meat or beat? BIND: find or bind? WALL: ball or wall?

 

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin with B. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

 

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References 

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Thumbs up for Expert Readers, Tara Greene 

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/elucid/greenebr.html

 

Assessment worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-b_WFFMM.pdf?up=1466611200

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MacDonald, Ross. Bad Baby. Roaring Brook Press. Connecticut. 2005.