Daily Lesson Plan -- Lesson 19

Letter s

Subject: English | Class: Playgroup | Series: Skillford

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Overview

This lesson introduces the letter "s" and its sound /s/. Learners meet a happy green snake playing with a smiling sunflower, say the words snake, sunflower, sheep, ship and shirt, listen to a simple sentence, and trace the letter "s" with a finger and then a pencil. All work is oral, playful and hands-on. Learners are not expected to read or write words.

Teacher tip: snake and sunflower begin with the clear /s/ sound. Sheep, ship and shirt begin with the letter "s" but make the "sh" sound. Use snake and sunflower to teach the sound, and simply say that sheep, ship and shirt also start with the letter "s".

Learning Objectives

• Recognise the letter "s" and say its sound /s/
• Learn simple words that begin with the letter "s": snake, sunflower, sheep, ship, shirt
• Trace the letter "s" with a finger and a pencil
• Listen to and repeat the sentence "A happy green snake is playing with a sunflower."
• Hold a pencil and a crayon with growing control

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Day 1: Look and Say (30 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 52, a large letter "s" card, picture cards of a snake, sunflower, sheep, ship and shirt

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Sit the learners in a circle
• Make a long hissing sound like a snake: "sssss"
• Wiggle one arm like a snake and ask the learners to join in
• Say: "Today our letter makes the snake sound, sssss. Its name is s."

Main Activity -- Meet the Letter (10 minutes)

• Hold up the big "s" card. Say: "This is s. s says /s/."
• Learners repeat: long snake sound, short sound, whisper sound
• Open page 52. Point to the big red "s" at the top of the page
• Point to the snake. Say: "Snake. /s/ /s/ snake." Learners repeat and wiggle
• Point to the sunflower. Say: "Sunflower. /s/ /s/ sunflower." Learners repeat and stretch up tall like a flower
• Point to each picture card at the bottom of the page:
  • sheep -- learners say "sheep" and say "baa"
  • ship -- learners say "ship" and rock side to side like a ship on the sea
  • shirt -- learners say "shirt" and touch their own shirt or top

Main Activity -- The Speech Bubble (5 minutes)

• Point to the speech bubble and say slowly: "A happy green snake is playing with a sunflower."
• Say it in small parts; learners echo each part:
  • "A happy green snake"
  • "is playing"
  • "with a sunflower"
• Ask: "What colour is the snake?" (green) "Is the snake happy?" (yes)

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Play "Snake Says": when the teacher points to a picture, learners say the word; when the teacher holds up "s", learners hiss
• Ask: "What sound does s make?" Learners answer "/s/"

Differentiation

• Support: Let shy learners hiss together with the whole group before saying a word alone
• Extension: Ask confident learners to say all five words from the page in a row

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Day 2: Trace and Write (30 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 53, crayons, pencils, a large "s" drawn on the board

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Show page 52 and ask learners to name the snake, sunflower, sheep, ship and shirt
• Make the /s/ sound while "slithering" hands across the table

Main Activity -- Finger Tracing (8 minutes)

• Follow the Teacher's Note: let the learners run a finger along the big pink "s" on page 53
• Model on the board while describing the stroke:
  • "Start at the top, near the right side."
  • "Curve round to the left."
  • "Then curve back round to the right."
  • "Finish at the bottom on the left. It looks like a wiggly snake!"
• Learners draw a big "s" in the air, then on the table with a finger
• Learners colour in the big "s" with crayons

Main Activity -- Pencil Tracing (12 minutes)

• Hand out pencils and check each learner's grip
• Work through the traced rows together, one line at a time:
  • Row 1: look at the solid black "s", then trace the dotted letters, starting at the red dot
  • Row 2: trace the dotted letters, hissing "/s/" for each one
  • Rows 3 and 4: with the teacher's help, try an "s" starting at each red dot
• Praise effort: "Your snake is wiggling the right way!"

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Start the Little Artists art activity (see note below)
• The colouring picture on page 53 is a ship. Learners colour the ship and say "ship"

Differentiation

• Support: Trace hand-over-hand; let the learner trace a large "s" drawn in thick marker first
• Extension: Learners who finish can make an "s" shape with a piece of string or their arm

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Day 3: Little Activities and Review (30 minutes)

Materials

• A sunny window, a tablet with a camera, yellow playdough, crayons, a few pairs of shoes, Activity Book

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Show the page 52 pictures; learners say each word and hiss /s/ for snake and sunflower

Main Activity -- Activity Boxes (20 minutes)

Choose three or four of the activities from page 52 to fit the time:

• Little Explorers: Stand the learners in the sunshine at the window. Ask each one to say what the sun feels like (warm, hot, bright).
• Little Innovators: Turn on the tablet camera. Every learner photographs one thing in the room that begins with /s/. Help them find ideas and say the word together.
• Little Builders: Press a yellow playdough ball flat, then pinch out pointed rays all the way round the sun. Say "sun, /s/".
• Little Artists: The book asks learners to colour the snake green on the next page and fill in every circle along its long body. As page 53 shows a ship, colour the ship instead, or use a simple snake outline if one is available.
• Little Thinkers: Count all the shoes in the room together, then say how many pairs of shoes that makes.

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Finish with the matching pages in the Activity Book
• Circle time: each learner says one "s" word from the page
• Everyone ends with one long snake hiss: "sssss"

Differentiation

• Support: For Little Thinkers, let learners put shoes side by side in pairs before counting
• Extension: Ask learners to name the photographs they took with the /s/ sound

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Teaching Tips (from textbook)

• Let the learners run a finger along "s", then colour it in
• Hand out pencils and work through the traced rows together, one line at a time
• When the writing is done, start the Little Artists art activity
• Finish with the matching pages in the Activity Book
• The "s" shape is tricky for young hands; lots of air-tracing and finger-tracing helps before the pencil