Daily Lesson Plan -- Lesson 22

Letter v

Subject: English | Class: Playgroup | Series: Skillford

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Overview

This lesson introduces the letter "v" and its sound /v/. Learners watch a van driving along a path in a green valley, say the words van, valley, vacuum, violin and vase, listen to a simple sentence, and trace the letter "v" with a finger and then a pencil. All work is oral, playful and hands-on. Learners are not expected to read or write words.

Learning Objectives

• Recognise the letter "v" and say its sound /v/
• Learn simple words that begin with the letter "v": van, valley, vacuum, violin, vase
• Trace the letter "v" with a finger and a pencil
• Listen to and repeat the sentence "The blue van is in the beautiful valley."
• Hold a pencil and a crayon with growing control

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Day 1: Look and Say (30 minutes)

Materials

• Textbook page 62, a large letter "v" card, picture cards of a van, valley, vacuum, violin and vase

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Sit the learners in a circle
• Put top teeth gently on the bottom lip and make a buzzing "vvvvv" sound, like a van engine
• Learners copy the sound and "drive" a steering wheel
• Say: "Today our letter makes the buzzing sound, vvvvv. Its name is v."

Main Activity -- Meet the Letter (10 minutes)

• Hold up the big "v" card. Say: "This is v. v says /v/."
• Show learners how to feel the buzz: fingers on lips while saying "vvvvv"
• Open page 62. Point to the big red "v" at the top of the page
• Point to the van. Say: "Van. /v/ /v/ van." Learners drive their steering wheels
• Point to the valley. Say: "Valley. /v/ /v/ valley." Explain: "A valley is low land between hills." Learners make hills with their arms and point to the low part in the middle
• Point to each picture card at the bottom of the page:
  • vacuum -- learners say "vacuum" and push an imaginary vacuum cleaner, buzzing "vvvvv"
  • violin -- learners say "violin" and pretend to play one under their chin
  • vase -- learners say "vase" and hold a pretend vase of flowers carefully

Main Activity -- The Speech Bubble (5 minutes)

• Point to the speech bubble and say slowly: "The blue van is in the beautiful valley."
• Say it in small parts; learners echo each part:
  • "The blue van"
  • "is in"
  • "the beautiful valley"
• Ask: "Where is the van?" (in the valley) "What is on top of the van?" (bags)

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Play "Vroom and Stop": learners drive around slowly saying "vvvvv"; when the teacher holds up a picture, they stop and say the word
• Ask: "What sound does v make?" Learners answer "/v/"

Differentiation

• Support: Let learners feel the teacher's lips buzz gently with a finger (or their own) to find the sound
• 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 63, crayons, pencils, a large "v" drawn on the board

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Show page 62 and ask learners to name the pictures
• Buzz "/v/" for each picture

Main Activity -- Finger Tracing (8 minutes)

• Follow the Teacher's Note: let the learners run a finger along the big pink "v" on page 63
• Model on the board while describing the stroke:
  • "Start at the top on the left."
  • "Slide down to the bottom, like going down into a valley."
  • "Slide back up to the top on the right."
• Learners draw a big "v" in the air, then on the table with a finger
• Learners colour in the big "v" 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 "v", then trace the dotted letters, starting at the red dot
  • Row 2: trace the dotted letters, saying "/v/" for each one
  • Rows 3 and 4: with the teacher's help, try a "v" starting at each red dot
• Praise effort: "You went down into the valley and up again. Well done!"

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Start the Little Artists art activity: colour the vase on page 63, keeping inside the outlines
• Learners say "vase, /v/" while colouring

Differentiation

• Support: Trace hand-over-hand; let the learner make a "v" with two fingers first
• Extension: Learners who finish can colour the flowers in the vase in different colours

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Day 3: Little Activities and Review (30 minutes)

Materials

• A carrot and a pea pod, a tablet or screen showing a big "v", playdough, crayons, five toy vans, Activity Book

Warm-Up (5 minutes)

• Show the page 62 pictures; learners say each word and buzz the /v/ sound

Main Activity -- Activity Boxes (20 minutes)

Choose three or four of the activities from page 62 to fit the time:

• Little Explorers: Pass round a carrot and a pea pod. Let the learners snap them open and look inside.
• Little Innovators: Show a big letter "v" on the screen. Each learner traces it with one finger, down and up.
• Little Builders: Press playdough into a box shape, add four round wheels and one small window at the front. Say "van, /v/".
• Little Artists: Colour the vase on the next page, keeping inside its outlines.
• Little Thinkers: Line up five toy vans. Point to the first van, then the last, then count them all.

Wrap-Up (5 minutes)

• Finish with the matching pages in the Activity Book
• Circle time: each learner says one "v" word from the page
• Everyone drives home buzzing "vvvvv"

Differentiation

• Support: For Little Thinkers, count the vans together while touching each one
• Extension: Ask learners to point to the second or fourth van as well as the first and last

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Teaching Tips (from textbook)

• Let the learners run a finger along "v", 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 /v/ sound is often mixed up with /w/ or /f/; let learners feel the buzz on their lips