top of page

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rationale: This lesson will help students to identify /h/, the phoneme represented by h. Students will learn to recognize /h/ in spoken words by learning a meaningful representation (tired dog) 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, copy paper, and pencils for each student

  • chart with "Hundreds of hummingbirds hovered in heavenly harmony"

  • word cards with hot, heat, hat, fair, bold, hit, fill, him 

  • Old Hat New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain 

  • assessment worksheet identifying and coloring pictures with /h/ (URL below)

  • crayons or markers for each student

​

Procedures:

​

1. Say: "Today we will learn the letter h. We will work on what it sounds like and how our mouth moves to say /h/. We spell /h/ with the letter h, and it sounds like a hound dog that has run for a long time and is breathing heavily with its mouth open because it is tired, /h/.

​

2. Say: "Let’s pretend to be a really tired dog that is panting, /h/, /h/, /h/. Your mouth should be slightly open, pushing air from the bottom of your lungs and out past your lips. It feels a lot like you are sighing, /h/."

​

3. Say: "Now, let me show you how to find /h/ in the word heart. I'm going to stretch heart out in super slow motion and listen for my panting dog sound. Hhh-ea-rr-t. Slower: Hhhhh-eaa-rr-t. There it was! I had my mouth slightly open and air was pushing out of my mouth like a tired hound."

​

4. Say: "Let's try a tongue tickler [on chart]. I'm going to tell you a little story about a herd of hummingbirds. Henrietta loved to watch hummingbirds from her back patio. She bought several hummingbird feeders, and as her collection grew and grew, more and more hummingbirds kept visiting her home. Pretty soon, hundreds of hummingbirds hovered in heavenly harmony. Repeat that last sentence with me: Hundreds of hummingbirds hovered in heavenly harmony. Everybody say it two more times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /h/ sound out every time you hear it in a word. Hhhh-undreds of hhhh-ummingbirds hhhh-overed in hhhh-eavenly hhhh-armony." Try it again, and this time break the /h/ sound off of the word: " /h/ undreds of /h/ ummingbirds /h/ overed in /h/ eavenly /h/ armony.”

​

5. [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. Say: "We use the 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? Foot or hand? Hot or cold? Home or school? Love or hate? 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: Harold, carried, his, heavy, backpack, to, the, schoolhouse.

​

7. Now that we know the letter H and the sound it makes, we can read Old Hat New Hat by Stan and Jan Berenstain. This bear has a really old hat and needs a new one. Will the gang of bears help him 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 the word card with the word hot and model how to decide if it is hot or dot: "The H tells me to pant like a dog, /h/, so this word is hhh-ot, hot. Now you try some. Once I show you a card I will give you two options and you have to tell me which one is correct." [Use the word cards listed in materials] "Is this word heat or beat? Is this hat or fat? Does this say fair or hair? Is this word bold or hold? Is this hit or fit? Does this say fill or hill? Does this say him or tim?"

​

9. For assessment, distribute the worksheet. Students are to complete the partial spellings and color the pictures that begin with H.

 

 

References:

​

Assessment worksheet: 

​

​

​

HUFFING HOUNDS WITH H

bottom of page