Grade: K-1
Skill: POE
Theme: Letter S
Key Vocabulary: S words
Materials: large pieces of construction paper with uppercase and lowercase S’s written on them, over-cooked spaghetti, letter S worksheets (try this link: http://www.starfall.com/n/N-info/abcprint.htm?n=downloadcenter)
**Cook the spaghetti at home the night prior and overcook it so that is very flexible. Drain and rinse spaghetti with cold water. Spoon spaghetti in Ziploc bags and add water to spaghetti – this keeps it soft and flexible.
Resources: Letter S pictures or picture cards
Lesson Objective: The students will be able to identify the sound the letter S makes and make the sound correctly. (listening & speaking) The students will be able to read the written letter S. (reading) The students will be able to write the letter S. (writing) The students will be able to follow oral directions to complete spaghetti activity. (listening)
Procedure:
Activity 1
The teacher will open class through a review of the letter S. The teacher will show S picture cards. The students will verbally identify the names of the S pictures. The students will identify the S sound in each word.
Activity 2
The teacher will model writing the upper and lowercase S on the chalkboard or dry erase board. The teacher should model writing the letter S in the air while making the S sound. To “skywrite” the uppercase S, students stand on their tip-toes and reach as high as they can to start writing the letter S and finish at the floor. (This involves a lot of body movement which is important.) To write a lowercase S, students stand in place and write S in the air directly in front of their chest. The students can make the S sound while writing it in the air.
The teacher will distribute a piece of paper with the letter S on it. The students will practice tracing, then writing the letter S.
Activity 3
The teacher will introduce spaghetti activity. The teacher will distribute large pieces of construction paper. The students will take a piece of cooked spaghetti and lay it over a written letter S. The students will make upper and lowercase S’s out of spaghetti independent of the written letter S. The students then may make S pictures out of the cooked spaghetti (snake, star, snail, sock, sailboat, sun, etc.) The spaghetti usually dries and sticks to the paper, but you may want to put some glue down to keep it in place.
*The students will each state an S word prior to leaving classroom and receive a sticker.
Evaluation: Teacher observation of identification of letter S, S words & S sound. Correctly writing letter S. Following oral directions. Completion of letter S spaghetti activity. Independently stating a word starting with the letter S.
Modifications and Extension Activities:
This is a great hands-on, tactile kindergarten letter activity. Different groups of students react differently to the pasta. Some students love working and manipulating the pasta, other kids are “grossed-out” by it. Most of the students are surprised that making the pasta into the letter S is more difficult than it looks.
*More advanced students can copy or write the names of the S pictures they make with the spaghetti.