Rationale: This lesson will help students to identify /z/, the phoneme represented by Z. Students will learn to recognize /z/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (zipping a jacket) and the letter symbol Z. They will also practice finding /z/ in words and apply phoneme awareness with /z/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.

 

Materials: Primary paper and pencil; large chart paper with “Zizzie zipped her zipper while zagging through the zoo” written on it (or on white board); drawing paper and crayons; Barbara deRubertis’s Zachary Zebra’s Zippity Zooming (Kane Press, 2011); word cards with ZIP, ZONE, HERO, ZIT, FUZZ, BIG; assessment worksheet identifying pictures of words with /z/ (URL below).

 

Procedures: 1. Say: "When we write, we write in a secret code that not everyone in the world can understand. Sometimes, we have to learn what letters stand for and the way our mouth moves when we say different letters and words. Today we are going to practice spotting the mouth move /z/. We spell /z/ with the letter Z which is the last letter in the alphabet. Zlooks like we drew a really short zipper line and sounds like we are zipping a zipper."

2. "Let’s pretend to zip a zipper on a jacket, /z/, /z/, /z/. Notice where tour teeth are doing (touching), what your tongue is doing (touching the back of your teeth), and what your lips are doing (spreading apart). When we say /z/, we close our teeth, touch our teeth with our tongue and open our lips and turn on our voice box to blow air to make a buzzing sound."

3. "Let me show you how to find /z/ in the word whiz. I am going to stretch whiz out in super slow motion and listen for my zipper. Ww-i-i-z. Slower: Www-i-i-i-zzz. There it is! I felt my teeth touch and buzz. We hear out zipper /z/ in whiz."

4. "Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart paper]. Zizzie just got a new jacket for her birthday. She loved her new jacket and wanted to wear it on her trip to the zoo. She loved to hear the sound of the zipper moving up and down. Here’s our tickler: “Zizzie zipped her zipper while zagging through the zoo”. Everyone say it together 3 times. Now say it again and this time, stretch the /z/ at the beginning of words. “Zzzzzzizzie zzzzipped her zzzzipper while zzzzagging through the zzzzzoo.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: /z/ izzie /z/ ipped her /z/ ipper while /z/ aging through the /z/ oo."

5. [Have students take out primary paper and a pencil]. Say: “We use letter Z to spell /z/. Capital and lowercase Zz look like a short zipper line. Let’s start by making a capital Z. Start by making a short line on the rooftop, then draw a diagonal line to the left down to the sidewalk. Last, we draw a short line on the sidewalk.” Model how to write on the board a few times so students can see how to write the letters. Have students practice on their own by writing 5 capital Zs.  Then say: “Now we are going to practice lowercase z. It looks the same as capital Z except its smaller. This time, we start at the fence. We draw a short line on the fence, draw a diagonal line to the left to the sidewalk then make a short line on the sidewalk to the right.” Again, model on the board then have them practice by making 5 lowercase zs on their own. Say: “I want to see everybody’s Zs! I will come around to check on you and your writing.” Walk around and draw a smiley face on students’ work if they are making good progress.

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in zebra or lion? Zone or area? Soft or cozy? Roar or buzz? Zoo or park? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move for /z/ in some words. Act like your zipping a zipper on your jacket if you hear /z/: The, zebra, slid, to, her, zone, with, the, fuzzy, bear, in, the, zoo."

7. Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book called Zachary Zebra’s Zippity Zooming. The author of the book, Barbara deRubertis, tells us about a zebra who is usually super-fast and lucky. One day he wakes up late and has a bad day of school. What caused it? During reading, have students zip their imaginary zipper when they hear /z/. 

8. Show ZIP and model how to decide if it is zip or tip: The Z tells me to zip up my jacket, /z/, so this word is zzz-ip, zip. You try some: ZONE: zone or bone? HERO: hero or zero? ZIT: zit or fit? FUZZ: fuzz or fun? BIG: big or zig?

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students work on coloring in the pictures that begin with Z. Call on students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step 8.

 

References:

Assessment Worksheet: “Which pictures have Z” https://www.sparklebox.co.uk/previews/sb12310-phoneme-z-picture-colouring-worksheets/

Zipper Gif

https://gfycat.com/unrealisticfoolhardydeviltasmanian

Emma Kirkpatrick, Zack the Zebra Learns to Zip with Z, https://emk0029.wixsite.com/mysite/emergent-literacy

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