Rationale:

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

 

Materials: 

• Primary paper and pencil; chart with "Henry the hound huffs home"

• drawing paper and crayons

• Old Hat New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain

• word cards with HOG, HAT, MEAT, HEAR, HAIR, and SOUND

• assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /h/ (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 /h/. We spell /h/ with letter H. /h/ sounds like a dog breathing after playing fetch.

 

2. Say: Let's pretend to we’re the hound dog that just finished playing fetch, /h/, /h/, /h/. [Demonstrate the mouth motions for /h/] Notice you open your mouth slightly, and push air out from your lungs out past your lips.

 

3. Say: Let me show you how to find /h/ in the word head. I'm going to stretch head out in super slow motion and listen for my huffing. Hh-/e/-duh. Slower: Hhhh-/e/-duhhh. There it was! I felt my breath come through my mouth to the outside past my lips. Huffing /h/ is in head.

 

4. Let's try a tongue tickler [on chart]. “Henry the hound huffs home.” The hound dog had been running and playing all day. Henry has chased squirrels, caught frisbees, and played fetch with his owner. Now he’s huffing and out of breath. Here’s our tickler: "Henry the hound huffs home." Everybody say it three times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /h/ at the beginning of the words. "Hhhhhenry the hhhhound hhhhuffs hhhhome" Try it again, and this time break it off the word: "/h/enry the /h/ound /h/uffs /h/ome.

 

5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter H to spell /h/. First, we will write uppercase H. Start at the rooftop and write a straight line all the way down to the sidewalk. Make another straight line just like it beside it with a little space in between. Lastly, connect the two straight lines with a horizontal line right along the fence. Now let’s write the lowercase h. It kind of looks like the tongue of a tired dog, /h/. Start at the rooftop, drawing a straight line down to the sidewalk. Next, curve back up to the fence and back down to the sidewalk, and you have lowercase h! Once I check everyone’s letter, write nine more just like it to practice.

 

6. Call on students to answer the following phoneme awareness questions and tell how they knew: Do you hear /h/ in hat or cap? Feet or head? Hot or cold?  Bound or hound? Kiss or hug?
Say: Let's see if you can spot the mouth move /h/ in some words. Pant like a hound dog if you hear /h/ in the following words: happy, talking, heart, heal, classes, hope, great, schoolhouse.

 

7. Now that we know the letter H and the sound it makes, we will read Old Hat New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain. This bear has an old hat and needs a new one. Will he find a new hat that is just right? Let’s read and see. [Read aloud being sure to show the pictures.] Now on a sheet of paper, draw a hat that is just perfect for you!

 

8. Show HOG and model how to decide if it is hog or fog: the H tells me to huff like a hound dog, /h/, so this word is hhh-og, hog. You try some: HAT: mat or hat? MEAT: heat or meat? HEAR: tear or hear? HAIR: stair or hair? SOUND: hound or sound?

 

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

 

References:

• Murray, Bruce. (2012). Making Sight Words

• Myler, Erin. “Huffing Hounds with H.” http://erinmyler.wixsite.com/mysite/emergent-literacy-design 

• Berenstain, S., & Berenstain, J. (1970). Old Hat, New Hat. New York: Random House. 

 

Assessment worksheet: https://www.kidzone.ws/images-changed/kindergarten/h-as-begins2.gif

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