Emergent Literacy Lesson Design


By: Jenna Gore



Rationale: To learn to read and spell words, children need to learn that words are made up of letters and each letter represents a sound. Though most children are familiar with the s = /s/ concept, they do have trouble recognizing it on the end of words, especially plurals. This lesson is aimed to help students locate s = /s/ in the beginning, middle, and end of words. Through letter and phoneme recognition, students should be able to recognize /s/ in spoken words, including plurals, written words, and use it in writing by the end of the lesson.


Poster with the word Miss written on it, with the two s’s decorated like snakes. This poster will also have the tongue twister: “Miss Sam saw a sneaky slimy snake in her sandwich” written in bold. In addition there will be a pocket on the board, which holds picture cards. Some of these picture cars will have /s/ in them and others not, including; spider, school, socks, pants, soccer ball, mouse, and action pictures; including, sing, skate, slide, and jump.

The book, Summer Fun by Lucy Lawrance

Primary paper and pencils

Drawing paper and crayons


  1. Introduce the lesson by saying, “Today we are going to pretend to be sneaky slithering snakes in search of letters that make the same sounds that snakes make.” Explain that snakes make the sound that is on the end of this word hiss (pointing to the word that is on the poster). When snakes feel that they are in danger they hiss, which makes the /s/ sound. Practice the sound together, several times. Then explain that the /s/ sound can show up in all parts of a word, the beginning, the middle, and the end.
  2. “Let’s practice the /s/ sound by trying a tongue twister.” Pointing to the poster, we will say, “ Miss Sam saw a sneaky slimy snake in her sandwich.” “Great job!”
  3. (Give the students primary paper and a pencil.) Let’s use the sound /s/ to spell the letter s. (First, model how to make the letter on the paper.) Let’s write it. Begin with your pencil just below the roof and make a little c so that it sits on the fence. Now, without lifting your pencil make a curve around the backside of the fence and rest it on the sidewalk. Make 5 more. When you see the /s/ sound by itself you know it makes the /s/ sound like a hissing snake.
  4. Now, I am going to hold up a picture card. Some of them have the /s/ in them and some do not. When I show the picture to you, I want you to slither your arm like a snake if the picture has the /s/ in it. If it doesn’t, shake your head no. For example, here is a picture of socks. I am going to slither my arm like a snake and shake my head yes, because this word does have the /s/ sound in it. Okay. Let’s begin. (Teacher shows about 10 cards and talks about them briefly after each one.)
  5. Now it is time to use an easy book to emphasize the snake sound /s/ in texts. Introduce the book, Summer Fun by Lucy Lawrence. You can introduce the book by saying, "Boys and girls, I am going to read you a short story about summer fun and I want you to keep your ears open for words that make the same sounds as snakes.  Every time you hear a word with the snake sound I want you to hiss like a snake, making the /s/ sound!  Okay, listen closely!!!"
  6. For assessment give your students some type of cut and paste worksheet with words that you hear s=/s/ in.  Have one sheet where they cut out the pictures and one with 3 columns.  One column beginning, one middle, and one ending.  Next tell your students what each picture is and have them say back to you what they are.  Now have them cut out the pictures and place them into the correct column according to where they hear s=/s/ in the word.



Adams, Marilyn Jager, (1990). Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print.  pages 51 - 71

"HiSSing Snakes" by Shea Fant

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