Procedure:

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 the letter H. H looks like a ladder, which is used to put up a Christmas tree when it is cold. It sounds like /h/ when we blow on our hands to warm them up in the cold.

2. Let’s pretend to be out in the cold putting up a Christmas tree, /h/, /h/, /h/. [Pantomime blowing into “cold” hands] Notice where your breathe blows? (Comes out the front of your mouth) When we say /h/, we blow air out of the front of our mouths.

3. Let me show you how to find /h/ in the word house. I’m going to stretch house out in super slow motion and listen for that breathing. Hhhh-ouse. There is was! I felt the breathe on my hands blowing the air. Warm air /h/ is in house.

4. Let’s try a tongue clicker [on chart]. “Henry the hippo had a happy holiday”. Everybody say it five times together. Now say it again, but this time, stretch out the /h/ at the beginning of the words. “Hhhhhenry the hhhhippo hhhad a hhhhappy hhhholiday.” Awesome! Now try it again, and this time break it off the word: “/h/enry the /h/ippo /h/ad a /h/appy /h/oliday.”

5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter H to spell /h/. Capital H looks like a ladder. Let’s write the lowercase letter h. Start at the rooftop, come down, and jump like a leap frog to make a hill. I want to see everyone’s /h/. Once I put a smiley sticker on your paper, I want you to make 10 more just like it!

6. Call on students to answer and tell how they knew; Do you hear /h/ in bone or home? Hungry or full? Hot or cold? Happy or sad? Say: let’s see if you can spot the mouth move /h/ in some words.  Blow warm air into your hands if you hear /h/: The, hungry, boy, went, home, for, some, hot, soup.

7. Say: “let’s looks at an alphabet book. The Berenstain’s tells us about a bear who has a really old hat, but he needs a new one. Will the bears help him find one? Let’s read to find out. [Read out loud and be sure to point out the pictures in the book]. Then have each student draw a silly or fun hat that they would wear. Display their work on a bulletien board outside the classroom.

8. Show HOT and model how to decide if it is hot or not: The H tells me to blow warm air on my hands as I put up the Christmas tree, /h/, so this word is hhhh-o-t, hot. You try some: LEDGE: ledge or hedge? HAM: ham or jam? DEN: den or ben? HUSH: hush or bus?

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