Emergent Literacy
Dana the Dizzy Dinosaur Stomps and Falls
By: Ashley Rella
Rationale:
This lesson will help children identify /d/, which is the phoneme represented by D. Students will learn to recognize /d/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (when a dinosaur stomps and falls it sounds like ddd ddd ddd) and the letter symbol D, practice finding /d/ in words, and apply phoneme awareness /d/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials:
Primary paper and pencil
Chart with “Danny’s dad saw a dog, deer, and a duck.”
Drawing paper with the letter d on it and crayons
“Detective Dog and the Disappearing Doughnuts” by Valerie Garfield.
Word cards with DAD, DOG, DUCK, DEER, and DANNY.
Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /d/ (URL below)
Procedures:
Say: Our written language can be tricky and confusing. There are 26 different letters! The mouth moves as we say words, so we need to know what the different letters stand for. Today we are going to work on spotting the mouth move for /d/. We spell /d/ with the letter D. D looks like a dinosaur, and /d/ sounds like a dinosaur stomping or falling.
Let’s pretend we are a dinosaur stomping, /d/, /d/, /d/. [Pretend to dinosaur stomp] Now, as we stomped like a dinosaur, did you notice where your tongue was? (Touching the roof of our mouth, behind our teeth). When we say /d/, we bring our tongue to the roof of our mouth.
Let me show you how to find /d/ in the word damp. I am going to stretch damp out in super slow motion and listen for a dinosaur stomping. Dd-a-mm-p. Slower this time: ddd-a-a-m-p. There it was! I felt my tongue touch the top of my mouth. So, dinosaur /d/ is in damp!
Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Danny’s dad walks his dog next to a lake. By the lake he sometimes sees a duck and a deer. Let’s see what Danny’s dad sees when he walks by the lake today. Here is our tongue tickler: “Danny’s dad saw a dog, deer, and a duck” Now let’s say it three times together. Now let’s say it again, and this time, stretch the /d/ at the beginning of the words. “Dddanny’s dddad saw a dddog, dddeer, and a ddduck.” Let’s try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/d/ anny’s /d/ ad saw a /d/ og, /d/ eer, and a /d/ uck.”
[Students will take out primary paper and pencil]. As we know, capital D looks like a dinosaur. We use letter D to spell /d/. Let's write the lowercase letter d. Start by writing the letter c and draw a straight line behind it. After you do this, I will check it. After I check it, I want you to make ten more just like you made the first lowercase d. When you are done, I will put a dinosaur sticker on your paper.
Let’s listen to see if we can hear /d/ in some words. [Call on students to answer and ask:] Do you hear /d/ in lunch or dinner? desk or carpet? Up or down? Open or closed? [Ask how they knew which word had /d/] Say: Let's see if you can spot the /d/ in some words. Stomp like a dinosaur if you hear /d/: Dana the Dizzy dino stomped while dashing through the dark daisy field at dawn.
"Now let's look at the book “Detective Dog and the Disappearing Doughnuts” by Valerie Garfield. In this book, Detective Dog went to Dave’s diner all the time. His favorite dessert was a doughnut. When one day the doughnut disappeared, he went searching for it. We will have to read and find out what happens on Detective Dog’s journey. While we are reading we will stomp like a dinosaur when we hear the /d/ sound. After reading we will make dogs or dinosaurs out of the letter d. The work will be displayed.
Show DAD and model how to decide if it is dad or mad: The D tells me to dance like a dinosaur, /d/, so this word is ddd-aa-ddd. Now you try some: DUCK: duck or muck? DOG: hog or dog? DEER: deer or fear? DANNY: fanny or Danny?
For assessment, hand out the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin with D. Then students will be called individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
References:
Meredith Bodie, Dan The Dino Stomps
https://mlb0133.wixsite.com/ctrd3000/emergent-literacy
Book: Valerie Garfield. "Detective Dog and the Disappearing Doughnuts." 2001.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx-48ZIcxt8
Assessment Worksheet: https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-d_WFFZB.pdf?up=1466611200