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Emergent Literacy Design: Vacuum Your Room with V!

Rationale: This lesson will help children identify /v/, the phoneme represented by V. Students will learn to recognize /v/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (the sound a vacuum makes), and the letter symbol V, practice finding /v/ in spoken words, and apply phoneme awareness with /v/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

Materials: Primary paper and pencil; chart with “Our vacuum went to visit Vivian Vance”; drawing paper and crayons; Olivia Becomes a Vet (Alex Harvey, Simon Spotlight, August 2011); word cards with VET, VIEW, CAN (VAN), VAIL, LINE (VINE); assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /v/ (URL below).

Procedures: 1. Say: Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for – the mouth moves we make as we say words. Today we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move /v/. We spell /v/ with the letter V. V is easy to make with your first two fingers *hold up pointer and middle finger in a v shape* and it sounds like a vacuum when it’s on.

2. Let’s pretend to vacuum, everyone stand up!, /v/, /v/, /v/. [Pantomime pushing vacuum back and forth on the floor] Notice where your top teeth are? (Touching lower lip). When we say /v/, we push on our bottom lip.

3. Let me show you how to find /v/ in the word love. I’m going to stretch out love in super slow motion and listen for the vacuum. Lll-o-o-ove. Slower: Llll-o-o-o-vvvvv-e. There it was! I felt my teeth touch my bottom lip and make a vibrating sound and feeling in my mouth. Vacuum /v/ is in love.

4. Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Oh no! Vivian’s vacuum broke. She called and asked if she could borrow ours. My mother was very kind and told Vivian yes. Here’s our tongue tickler: “Our vacuum visited Vivian Vance.” Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /v/ at the beginning of the words. “Our vvvvvacuum vvvvisited Vvvvvivian VVVVance.” Try it again, and this time break off the word: “Our /v/acuum /v/isited /V/ivian /V/ance.”

5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use the letter V to spell /v/. Capital V looks like your first two fingers held up like a peace sign. Let’s write the lowercase letter v. Start on the fence line and draw a diagonal line down to the sidewalk. Once you get to the sidewalk, draw another diagonal line going back up to the fence! I want to see everybody’s v. After I put a smile on it, I want you to make nine more just like it.

6. Call on students to answer and tell you how they knew: Do you hear /v/ in stop or have? vacation or shirt? vail or kite? hive or car? Say: let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /v/ in some words. Push your vacuum on the ground if you hear /v/: The, very, vivacious, vulture, visited, the, tour, van.

7. Say: Let’s look at a book about Olivia becoming a vet! Read the book and ask children what type of animal they would like to work with if they were a vet. Either have this written on the paper, or write it on the board for them to copy *If I were a vet, I would help…” Let them write the name of the animal on their own. Display their work.

8. Show VET and model how to decide if it is vet or pet. The V tells me to push my vacuum, /v/ so this word is vvvv-et, vet. You try some: VIEW: view or few? CAN: can or van? VAIL: vail or pail? LINE: line or vine?

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students circle the pictures the begin with V. You could change the directions and have them color the picture instead. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.

References: Dr. Bruce Murray, Brush Your Teeth with F: https://auburn.instructure.com/courses/1359717/files?preview=180998272

Alec Harvey, Olivia Becomes a Vet. https://www.amazon.com/Olivia-Becomes-OLIVIA-BECOMES-Paperback/dp/B00QO3MQ0E/ref=sr_1_3?crid=175OYGQ8QQXNQ&dchild=1&keywords=olivia+becomes+a+vet&qid=1631816071&sprefix=olivia+becomes%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-3

Assessment worksheet: https://free4classrooms.com/free-beginning-sounds-worksheet-letter-v/

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