Fixing Flats with F

Emergent Literacy


Lindsay Phillips


Rationale: The goal of this lesson is to aid students in learning to recognize the phoneme /f/ in spoken words by associating it with a meaningful representation (head dropping to side emulating a deflating tire), identifying the letter symbol F in written words, and practicing phonemic awareness skills by distinguishing the /f/ sound in rhyming words.  


paper with upper and lower case Ff

chart with "Freddy's father fixed five flats."

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss Random House, Inc., New York, 1988

marker board with primary lines

dry-erase marker

primary paper


cards with the words fox, fan, red, fix, mind, fun

"Letter F," (Beginning Consonant Sounds) (downloaded from KidZone link below)

"Letter F," (Ending Consonant Sounds) (downloaded from KidZone link below)


1.  Say, "Our alphabet is made up of different letters and sounds. When you see a letter of the alphabet, you know that there is a special sound that that letter makes.   To learn to read, you must learn the sound that each letter stands for.  It's like learning to use a secret code.  Today we're going to learn a new letter and the sound that it makes.  The letter we're going to learn today is the letter F, and we're going to learn its special sound." 

2.  (Show students the upper and lower case Ff.)  "This is the upper case letter F, and this is the lower case letter f.  The sound that this letter makes is /f/, sort of like the sound that a tire makes when it is going flat.  When you make the /f/ sound, you're forcing air out of your mouth between your teeth.  Watch me.  Just put your upper front teeth on your bottom lip and force air through your teeth to make the /f/ sound.  This is just like the air that is being forced out of a tire though a small hole when it goes flat.   When all of the air goes out of a tire, it can't hold itself up anymore.  It looks deflated, like this."  (Show students the gesture, dropping your head to the side like a deflated tire.)

3.  Let's practice making the /f/ sound together.  (Hold up the upper and lowercase Ff.) What sound does this letter make?  Make sure to show me what your mouth is doing when you make the /f/ sound.  Show me your flat tire look!

4.  Now let's see if we can find the /f/ sound in the word leaf.  I'm going to stretch the word very slowly.  I'll know the /f/ sound is in the word if I feel air being forced out between my teeth.  Listen carefully.  L-l-l-eee-f.  L-eee-fff. Did you hear it?  I just forced some air out between my teeth, like the air coming out of a flat tire.    That was /f/!  We do say /f/ in leaf! Do you hear the flat tire f in leaf?  I'll say it again very slowly, and you give me a flat tire look when you hear the /f/ sound.  L-l-l-eee-fff.  Good job!  You found the /f/ sound!

5.  Here's a tongue twister that has words with the /f/ sound.  Read the words with me as I point to them.  (Hold up chart and read Freddy's father fixed five flats several times with students as you point to each word.)  "Now let's stretch out the /f/ sound in each word as I point to it, Fffreddy's fffather fffixed fffive ffflats.  Now, break the /f/ sound apart from the rest of the word as I point to it, /f/ reddy's /f/ ather /f/ ixed /f/ ive  /f/ lats.  Great job making the /f/ sound!

6.  Now we'll practice making the letter symbol F that goes with the /f/ sound.  Take out your paper and pencils.  Make sure you're sitting up straight and your feet are on the floor.  (Demonstrate letter writing using dry erase board.) To make an uppercase F, begin at the rooftop.  Come straight across like this.  Pick up your pencil and make a straight line like this, going down from the rooftop to the sidewalk.  Go back to the fence and make a line straight out sideways.  Put a finger space, and then we'll make a lower case f.  You'll need to start just below the rooftop and come up and over like this, going straight down to the sidewalk.   Make a straight line across at the fence.  I'm going to come around and look at your work, and then you can fill up your line with upper and lower case Ffs.

7.  Great job!  Now, put your eyes on me again.  Let's listen for the /f/ sound some more. After I say the two words, tell me the one that has the /f/ sound and how you knew it had the /f/ sound.  Do you hear /f/ in fish or whale?  In cat or fox?  In leaf or tree?   Now listen as I say a sentence and show me a flat tire look when you see my mouth making the /f/ sound and hear the flat tire F:  Frances -- found -- two -- silly -- foxes -- running --through -- the -- forest.

8.  Now I'll name some animals. I'll go real slowly.  Watch my mouth and listen for the /f/ sound.  Let me see your flat tire look if you see my mouth make the /f/ sound:  fox, monkey, lion, fish, giraffe, bear, and frog.

9.  We were just talking about animals, and one of my favorite authors, Dr. Seuss, writes about animals a lot.  Sometimes the animals he writes about are made up in his imagination.  The title of this book by Dr. Seuss shows an animal that lives in water that begins with the flat tire F.  What kind of animal is that?  Do you think fish can be different colors like this?

(Book talk on One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss.)

Do you have any pets at home?  In this story, a boy and a girl that are about your age will meet many different kinds of animals.  Which animal will be their favorite?  What will they do with all these animals?  We will have to read to find out!  Will you help me read all the words that start with the letter F? 

10.  Let's practice finding words that have the letter F making the /f/ sound in them.  (Hold up the card with fox on it.)  Look at this card.  Do you think it says fox or box?  I see the letter F that looks like the one we just wrote on our paper, and I know it says the /f/ sound.  This word is fff-ox.  (Hold up fan.)  Fan or man?  (Hold up red.)  Fed or red?  (Hold up fix.)  Fix or mix?  (Hold up mind.)  Find or mind?  (Hold up fun)  fun or run?   

11.  Now I want you to put these words back together for me.  I am going to break them apart, and you blend them back together into a word.
What am I saying: hu-ff? li-fewi-fe?
What am I saying: f-ind? f-eed?

Evaluation:  For evaluation, hand out Beginning Letter Ff sheets and Ending Letter Ff sheets.) Now I'm going to give you a paper that has pictures of words that begin with F.  After you color the pictures, circle the letter f in the words below and see if you can make the /f/ sound. Then trace and write the letter Ff. 


Pop, Pop, Pop Goes the Popcorn! by Susan Grimes, Projects, Lessons Designs 2009, The Reading Genie,

Brush Your Teeth with F by Bruce Murray, Sightings, Lessons Designs 2008, The Reading Genie,

Return to Solutions index.