Zig-Zag "Z "

Say: Our written language is a secret code. The sticky part is learning what letters stand for- our mouth moves as we say words. Today we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move z. We spell z with the letter Z. Z looks like the teeth of a zipper, and /z/ sounds like zipping up your zipper.

Let’s pretend to zip up our jacket, /z/, /z/, /z/. [zip up your pretend jacket] Notice where your tongue is? (touching the roof of the mouth). When we say /z/, our teeth are touching and our tongue goes to the roof of our mouth, and then we blow air through our teeth.

Let me show you how to find /z/ in the word cozy. I’m going to stretch cozy out in super slow motion and listen for my zipper. Ccc-o-o-ozy. Slower: Ccc-o-o-o-zzz-y There it was! I felt my teeth touch and my tongue touch the roof of my mouth. I can feel the zipper /z/ in cozy.

Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. “Zero zoo zebra’s zapped Zoe.” Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /z/ at the beginning of the words. “Zzzero zzzoo zzzebra’s zzzapped Zzzoe.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/z/ ero /z/ oo /z/ ebra’s /z/ apped /z/ oe.”

[Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter Z to spell /z/. Capital Z looks like zipper teeth. Let’s write the lowercase letter z. Start on the fence making a line across the fence. Then cross from the end of the line on the fence to below the start of the line on the sidewalk. Finally, make a line along the sidewalk going back towards the point where you crossed. I want to see everybody’s z. After I put a star on your paper I want you to make 5 more just like it.

Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: do you here /z/ in zebra or tiger? Zoo or park? Zipper or button? Zoom or walk? Zero or five? Say: Let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /z/ in some words. Zip up your jacket if you hear /z/: The, zebra, was, zooming, past, Zoe, in, the, Zoo.

Say: “Let’s look at an alphabet book. Dr. Seuss tells us about a lot of words with /z/.” Read some pages and draw out /z/. Ask the children to make up a silly creature name like zong-zome-zank. Then have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly creature. Display their work.

Show ZERO and model how to decide if it is zero or hero: The Z tells me to zip up my jacket, /z/, so this word is zzz-ero, zero. You try some: ZIP: zip or tip?  BOO: zoo or boo? CONE: cone or zone? ZAP: cap or zap? ZOOM: zoom or room?

For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spellings and color the pictures that begin with Z. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.