Buzz like a Bee with the Z. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /z/, the phoneme represented by Z. Students will learn to recognize /z/ in spoken with the sound analogy of a buzzing bee. They will also practice finding /z/ in words and applying phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading. 

 

Materials: Primary paper and a pencil, colors, chart with “Zack zips the zipper on his zebra jacket”, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin, Jr, word cards with ZIP, ZOO, MEAT, ZAP, PLAY, assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /z/. 

 

Procedures: 1. Say: Our written language is in secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for. Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth /z/. We spell /z/ with the letter Z. Z looks like a zig-zag and sounds like a bee buzzing in your ear. 

 

2. Let’s pretend we hear a bee buzzing. What does it sound like? Zzzzz,zzzzz,zzzz. Notice how your teeth are closed and where your tongue is. When we say /z/, our teeth are touching, and we buzz like a bee. 

 

3. Let me show you how to find /z/ in the word buzz. I am going to stretch buzz out in super slow motion and listen for the bee in my ear. Bbb-u-u-u-zzzzzz. (repeat but slower). Found it! I felt my teeth come together and could hear the bumble bee. /z/ is in buzz. 

 

4. Let’s try a tongue tickler. Zack has a cool zebra print jacket. He likes to wear it every day to school. Here’s out tickler: “Zack zips the zipper on his zebra jacket.” Now let’s all say it 3 times together. Now say it again and this time stretch the /z/ at the beginning of the words. “zzzzzzack zzzzips the zzzzzipper on his zzzzzebra jacket.”. Try again ans this time break it off the word: /z/ ack /z/ ips the /z/ ipper on his /z/ ebra jacket. 

 

5. Instruct students to take out primary paper and a pencil. We use the letter Z to spell /z/. Capitial Z looks like a big zig zag. Now let’s look at the lowercase z. Start at the fence and go all the way down to the sidewalk. After I check your letter and put a sticker by it, I want you to write nine more just like it. 

 

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in Buzz or Work? Zip or Sit? Fizz or Play? Zit or Pan? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move of /z/ in some words. Buzz like a bee (introduce hand gesture) if you hear /z/: the, Buzz, funny, zip, sit, zap, zoo, story, toy. 

 

7. Say: “Lets look at a book that has /z/ in it. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is a funny story about a coconut tree! Has anyone seen a coconut tree? Well in this story all of the letters go racing to the top of the tree! I wonder which letter will win! Have the students draw a picture of a coconut tree with all of the letters on it as a review. Make sure they include Z. Allow time for students to color and share pictures. 

8. Show Zit and model how to decide if it is zit or sit. The Z tells me to buzz like a bee, /z/ so this word is zzzz-it. You try some: Zap or tap? Zoo or Moo? Zag or Wag? 

 

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

 

Reference:

 Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Bill Martin,Jr 

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/voyages/brockel.html.l

Assessments

 https://easypeasylearners.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Letter-Z-Worksheet-Set.pdf

Emme Levins, Mmmm! That’s Good! 

https://sites.google.com/view/ctrdlessondesigns/emergent-literacy-design?authuser=1

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