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Moo with M!

cow image .jpg

An Emergent Literacy Design 

                                                                                                                                                            

Rationale: This lesson with help children identify/m/, the phoneme presented by M. Students will recognize /m/ in spoken words, and the letter symbol M by learning a sound analogy (cows “mooing”), by practice finding /m/ in words then applying phoneme awareness with /m/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from all beginning letters, and 

 

Materials: Primary paper and pencil; crayons or color pencils; assessment worksheets: “Words that Start with M”; Letter M Tracing Worksheet for extra help; word cards with MOP, BUG, MOUSE, CAT, MAIL, MAD; Book: If You Give a Moose a Muffinby Laura Numeroff.

 

Procedures: 

  1. Say: There is a lot to learn about our language and sometimes it can be tricky. Today we are going to learn about the letter M. Does anyone know what sound the letter M makes? (take a second to see if anyone knows and if they are wrong correct them) We spell /m/ with the letter M./m/ sounds like a cow, moo!

  2. Say: Let’s all pretend to be cows, /m/ /m/ /m/ moo. (really exaggerate the /m/ in moo) What face do you make when sounding out the letter M? Your lips should be pressed against each other blocking all the air in until you open your mouth (show them and let them try it). 

  3. Say: Let’s try to find the /m/ in the word milk.I am going to stretch it out and say it really slow. Mm-ii-ll-kk. Now a little bit slower Mmm-iii-lll-kkk, I can hear the M, can you? I hear it when I press my lips together then let out the air with a hum. 

  4. Say: Now we are going to try a tongue tickler! I have a friend named Maggie and she is a mouse, she isn’t normal mouse, she likes to bake muffins. Here is the tongue tickler: “Maggie the messy mouse made mini-muffins.” Now everyone let’s say it together three times… Now let’s stretch it out: “Mmmaggie the mmmessy mmouse mmmade mmini-mmmuffins” Great! Now we are going to do it one more time, but we are going to break it off the word: “/m/ aggie the /m/essy /m/ouse /m/ade /m/ini-/m/uffins”.

  5. Have your students get their primary paper and pencils out. Say: We use the letter M to spell /m/. Capital M looks like two mountains and lower-case m looks like two smaller mountains with no point at the top. Let’s write lower case m. Put the point of your pencil at the sidewalk and bring it up the fence, then back down to the sidewalk, then back to the fence, and back down to the sidewalk again. Now, for the capital M we are going to start with our pencil at the sidewalk and go all the way up to the rooftop, then down to the sidewalk, then all the way back up to the rooftop and back down to the sidewalk. I want to see everyone’s M. I’m going to around and if I put a stamp on your paper I want you to go ahead and write five more capital M’s and five more lower-case M’s. (If a student is struggling give them a Letter M Tracing Worksheet).

  6. Now call on students to answer the following questions. Say: I am going to call on some of my friends and ask a question, think about the sound letter M makes and answer it the best you can! Do you hear /m/ in mop or hop? Bug or mug? Mouse or house? Cat or mat? Mail or nail? Mad or sad? Let’ see if you can spot the /m/ in any of these words. If you hear /m/ in any of the words I want to hear you moo like a cow! Mandy, made, her, bed, every, Monday, morning.

  7. Say: Let’s look at this book. If You Give a Moose a Muffin .This book is about a moose who loves muffins, but if you give him a muffin he will want something else too (give a book talk and get the children interested). Read page 1 aloud and draw out the /m/. Ask the children what other words they can think of with /m/. Then let groups of students read it together (let them read in small groups so they can help one another and so they can practice the sound /m/). Then get them to make up a fun name for their moose like Mayo-margo-mate or Mandy-mia-milo. 

  8. Show MOP and model how to decide if it is mopor hop: The Mtells us to moo like a cow, /m/, so this word is mmm-op, mop. Now it’s your turn to try some! MAD: mad or sad? BUG: Bug or mug? MOUSE: Mouse or house? CAT: Cat or mat? MAIL: mail or nail? 

  9. For the assessment you will pass out a worksheet, for this the children are supposed to color the pictures of things that begin with the letter M.During this time of individual work, call one child at a time to read over the phonetic cue words that were discussed in #8. 

 

Reference: 

Assessment Worksheet 

https://www.superteacherworksheets.com/phonics-beginningsounds/letter-m_WFMNB.pdf

Letter M Tracing Worksheet

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/c4eb8e_b59a4dab5e72409d96526829829fee38.pdf

If You Give a Moose a Muffin 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDY3hcoVyaA

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