/k/ sound Lesson Plan

Children learn through explicit instruction, continued exposure, supportedscaffolding with cueing and prompts, and opportunity for individual practise. We can support speech sound development in the classroom by integrating these principles. We must explicitly teach a child how a sound in produced, provide them many opportunities to hear the sound, help them learn to produce it, and then prompt as they practise until they reach a level of mastery. This lesson plan seeks to provide an example of how we can teach the /k/ sound (and by extension /g/). There are ideas on how to teach the sound, coach the child to say it, and ideas of how we can increase the number of exposures and productions within the classroom environment. More opportunities to hear and say the sound provide more opportunities for teachable moments where we can help our students learn. Providing cues on proper articulation during exposure and production will help students learn proper articulation and reflect on their own productions.

Sound Stimulation and instructional Ideas for teaching /k/:

  • Give the sound a name:
  • Crow sound – “caw, caw”
  • Car Crash sound – “kshhh”
  • Coughing sound – “kuh, kuh”
  • Provide a visual cue to represent the sound
  • Touch your throat – children can feel their throats move as they pronounce this sound
  • Hold your hand to your throat, then move it forward to simulate the forward flow of air
  • Use your hand to represent your tongue raising at the back but staying low at the front while you produce /k/.
  • Provide verbal instructions and reminders for how to produce /k/
  • “Use the back of your tongue”
  • “Don’t let your tongue jump up at the front”
  • “The tip of my tongue is behind my bottom teeth”
  • “I feel a puff of air”
  • “My voice is turned off when I make a /k/”
  • “I can feel it in my throat when I say /k/”
  • Other sound shaping tricks:
  • Ask the child to “anchor” their tongue tip to the bottom teeth (or “glue” it there)and make the back of their tongue into a hump like a camel.
  • Ask the child to lie on their back. Gravity will help the back of the tongue move toward the proper placement spot.
  • Ask the student to open his mouth as wide as possible (it is harder to make a /t/ sound this way
  • If the student can produce /g/ but not /k/, ask them to whisper /g/.
  • If the student can produce “ng”, ask them to say “ing” and then explode the air out of their mouth.

Materials:

  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
  • Who Took the Cookies from the Cookie Jar

by Bonnie Lass (alternate book)

  • Music: Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar (I used music from 52 Sing-A-Long Silly Songs by Cooltime Kids. Other versions are definitely available on CD or through iTunes.
  • Scissors & glue
  • Paper plates or pictures of plates. Pictures of /k/ and /g/ objects (optional)
  • Markers, crayons, pencil crayons
  • A cookie for the game – real, plastic, or paper

Activities:

  • Introduction and warm-up
  • Tell the students
  • “We will practise a special sound today. (Point to your throat as you say /k/). I call this the crow sound because a crow says ‘caw! Caw!’. Now I want you to try it. Very good! When I make that sound, I can feel the back of my tongue lift up. The crow sound looks like this (draw the letter “k” on the board). There is another letter that can make the crow sound – who knows what it is? (draw the letter “c” on the board. Does anybody in this room have the crow sound in their name? Who can think of a word that starts with the crow sound? Who can think of a word that ends with one? Can anyone think of a word with a crow sound in the middle?
  • Book Share –The Very Hungry Caterpillar or Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar
  • Encourage participation in the book
  • Emphasize /k/ sounds as you encounter them. Point to your throat to reinforce or do an alternate visual cue (I use visual phonics) to prompt and increase awareness
  • Craft – Bake a Cookie(for the caterpillar)
  • Students will take a paper plate and cut out pictures of cookies to glue to their plate. Then they will colour on their cookies to decorate them. They may cut out pictures and glue them on the cookies. Students will be instructed to choose ingredients that have a /k/ or /g/ sound in them.
  • When they finish each cookie, they will show it to another student and say, “Would you like a cookie? I just baked it. Careful, it’s hot!” The student will then responded, “mmmm ... good, thanks!” or “ewwww, gross, yuck!”.
  • Teacher may provide an example of some ingredients or some pictures to cut out such as sprinkles, chocolate chunks, kraft dinner, candy, cashews, crabs, cucumber, steak, kraft dinner, gum, goblins, bugs, frogs etc.
  • Game – Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?
  • Teacher asks everyone to close their eyes, and then gives the cookie to one student who hides it. Teacher then initiates the song, asking a child if they stole the cookie. When the child denies, they then accuse another student. E.g.:
  • Teacher – Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? Was it you?
  • Student – who me?
  • Teacher – Yes, you!
  • Student – couldn’t be!
  • Teacher – then who?
  • Student – Johnny stole the cookie from the cookie jar!
  • Johnny – Who me?
  • Student – Yes, you!

Extension Activities:

  • Have the students make and bake cookies out of play-doh
  • Encourage the students to make cookies or play the cookie jar game during centre time in the kitchen play area.
  • Pin the Tail on the Cow or Stick the Key on the car (like pin the tail on the donkey)
  • Sorting activities – sort pictures into /k/ and non-k categories (e.g., “hot” and “cold”)
  • Sort words or pictures by sounds (e.g., /k/ words and /g/ words)
  • Make a “cave” with a sheet over a table. Hide pictures of objects containing the /k/ sound. Have the students enter the cave with a flashlight and tell the class what they found.
  • Math
  • Here are some ideas for using the cookie template for working on counting, adding, and subtracting. Roll the dice to determine how many chocolate chips are on each cookie (then do the math to determine how many chocolate chips there are in total.) For subtracting, try starting with a certain number of chocolate chips (e.g. 10) and then roll the die to determine how many chocolate chips the cookie monster eats (then do the math to determine how many chocolate chips are left). If you would like to use it as a counting activity, simply roll the dice for each cookie to determine how many chocolate chips are on each cookie and then count them for a total. Environment:
  • Create a sound centre that children can access during centre time. Fill it with /k/ sound pictures and objects.
  • Have a classroom pet or mascot; find a /k/ name for the animal/character.
  • Have a “sound search” each day where children find words, pictures, and objects from around the room that contain the /k/ sound.
  • Ask children to listen for and raise their hand when they hear the /k/ sound during book reads.
  • Have a Show and Tell where students must bring a picture or object from home containing the /k/ sound (not just at the beginning of the word!)
  • Create board games and card games using the /k/ sound. Place /k/ pictures cards in a place where children can access them and have them play memory, go fish, or sorting games with them.
  • Designate a “word of the day” that has a /k/ in it.
  • Find sound-loaded books and stories