Hank the Hot Dog Pants with H!
Emergent Literacy Design
Rationale: This lesson will help students be able to identify the letter /h/, the phoneme represented by H. Children will learn to recognize /h/ in spoken words by learning a sound analogy (hot dog Hank panting) and the letter symbol H. They will also practice finding /h/ in words and applying phoneme awareness with /h/ in phonetic cue reading by distinguishing rhyming words from beginning letters.
Materials: primary paper and pencil; chart with “Harry hung his hat high”; drawing paper and crayons; Hide and Seek Harry at the Beach (Candlewick Press, 1997); word cards with HIT, HAT, NINE, HOT, TALK, and HOME; assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /h/ and filling the blank in with /h/ (URL below)
Procedures: 1. Say: "Our written language is a secret code. The tricky part is learning what letters stand for, which are the mouth moves we say as we speak/make words. Today, we’re going to work on spotting the mouth move of /h/. We spell /h/ with letter /h/. The lowercase /h/ looks like a chair, and /h/ sounds like Hank the hot dog panting."
2. "Let’s pretend to be hot like Hank the hot dog. Hank’s mouth is open with his tongue out, making the sound of letter /h/. Let’s be Hank. Do you notice the air coming out of our mouths? Saying /h/ makes you blow air out of your mouth."
3. "Let me show you how to find /h/ in the word hot. I’m going to stretch hot out in super slow motion. Listen for Hank the hot dog panting. Ready?! Hh-o-o-tt. I hear all of you! I hear Hank! Slower: Hhh-o-o-o-ttt. There it is! We all feel the air coming out of our mouths. Hot dog Hank panting is /h/ hot."
4. "Let’s try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Ever since Harry was a kid, he had the goal to be able to reach the top of the coat hanger to hang his hat. This would mean that Harry is finally tall! He was always the shortest in class and hated it. Year after year passed. As each year went by, he got closer and closer to the top. Then, one day, finally, he did it! He hung his hat high! Here’s our tongue tickler: “Harry hung his hat high.” Everybody say it three times together. Now, say it again, but this time, stretch the /h/ at the beginning of the words. “Hhharry hhhung hhhis hhhat hhhigh.” Try it again, and this time, break it off from the word: “/h/ arry /h/ ung /h/ is /h/ at /h/ igh”
5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil.]. "We use letter H to spell /h/. Capital H looks like two people playing tug of war. While we can't do that in class, let us try something else fun during class time. Write the lowercase /h/. Start below the rooftop. Draw a line all the way down to the sidewalk. Now, go back to the fence and draw a curved line back to the sidewalk. I want to see everybody’s /h/. After I put a smile on it, I want to see nine more just like it."
6. Call on the students to answer and tell how they knew. "Do you hear /h/ in hip or elbow? hair or bald? here or gone? home or car? hey or bye?" Say: "Let’s see if you can spot the hot dog Hank panting sound in these words. Pant like Hank if you hear /h/: good, happy, heat, bunny, hand, just, when, him, hello, ring."
7. "Let’s look at Hide and Seek Harry at the Beach. Kenny Harrison tells us about Harry, a hippo, and his friends playing their favorite game, hide and seek, while they are at the beach. Read pg. 5 drawing out /h/." Ask children if they can think of other words that start with /h/. Ask them to make up a silly or cute pet name like 'Hilda Hen' or 'Him Harrison'. They will enjoy the creativity they get to use! Then, have each student write their silly name with invented spelling and draw a picture of their silly pet name. Display their work.
8. Show HIT and model how to decide if it is hit or pit. "The H tells me that hot dog Hank is panting /h/, so this word is hhh--it, hit. You try some: HOME: home or nome? HAT: hat or tat? HOT: hot or not? HAWK: talk or hawk?"
9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students color the pictures that begin with H. Call students individually to read the phonetic cue words from step #8.
Reference:
Brandy Price, Henry the Panting Hound!
https://pbrandy95.wixsite.com/mysite-1/emergent-literacy-design
