Fishing for F!

Cameron Pass

Emergent Literacy


Rationale: The two biggest predictors for reading are phonemic awareness and letter identification.  In this lesson the aim is to help develop both of these for the letter “f” and the phoneme /f/.  The best way for teachers to educate their students in phoneme awareness is coming up with a creative way to help children see the connection between the sound and what it looks like (print). Learning a consonant is different, and easier, than learning a vowel, so beginning with consonants is a good place to start.


-Primary paper and pencil

-paper fish with words on them

- “Fred the fish flew far from the farm.”  Written on chart paper

 -magnetic fishing poles

 -book:  One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish By Dr. Seuss.  Random House Books (1960).



1."Today class, we will be learning about the letter /f/. We will see the /F/ and /f/ both make the same sound.  They both make a "ffff" sound. We will break up into groups and play a "go-fishing game" to learn how to read and spell with words that have the letter "f" in them."

2."When we pronounce words with the letter /f/ in it, our lips and teeth meet to make the sound.  To me, it sounds kind of like when you’re really tired of something and you make this sound, ‘ffffffffff.’  Try it with me.  ‘ffffffffffff.’  Good job!”

3."Let's try a silly sentence to practice on our /f/ sound. “Fred the fish flew far from the farm.”  ' Let's say it together now 3 times. Now say it again, and this time stretch the /f/ at the beginning of the words. “Fffffffred the ffffffffish fffffffflew ffffffffffffar fffffffrom the ffffffarm."

4.Let's take out our paper and pencil; we are going to practice writing big F and little f. Let's practice the big F first. Go down, over his hat, over his belt (but no shoes). Ya'll all did a great job! Now let's do the little f. We start by making a little c up in the air, then straighten it out, go down, and cross at the fence. Awesome job! Now, I am going to come around and give you each a fish sticker. I want you to write big F and little f again. When you see the letter F and f then you will remember it makes that tired sound /f/.

5. Let's practice and see how to find /f/ in the word safe. I am going to say the word slowly and you need to listen to see when you hear that tired sound. Ok listen carefully, saaaaaffffffeeeee.  I heard that sound, did you?

6.Call on students to answer and tell how they know: Do you hear /f/ in life or sad? Safe or harm? Feel or deal? For or nor? Now we are going to play a game that will help us read and write words with /f/ in them. We will get in 4 groups. Each group will have a different color: red, blue, green, and yellow.  When I call on you, you will go to the swimming pool and use the pole to catch a fish out of the pool. Then your group will read the word the best you can. Every color is worth a certain amount of points. After all the fish are caught then the game is over. The team with the most points wins.

7.After we play game, we will read Dr. Seuss', One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish. Every time the children hear the /f/ then they have to turn to their neighbor sitting next to them and make their tired sound. We will write them on the board and then each group can write the words on the board on their own fishes and put them in the swimming pool.

8.For a phoneme awareness assessment, have a worksheet that has many fishes with words that have the phoneme /f/ on them. If it is a word with the phoneme /f/ then they color the fish yellow, red, blue, or green. If not then they do not color it at all. This will help you see which students understand the concept of the phoneme /f/ and who is not.



Fishing Frenzy by Sarah Jane Brock

Dr. Bruce Murray’s Making Friends with Phonemes

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