Awareness Material

• Vocabulary review: decaying, dull, silver, leak, eager, shed, sincere

Sylvia's Bike (A story for S)

Sylvia rushed home from school. It was her birthday and the only thing she had asked for was a shiny silver bike. She was absolutely sure she would get it. Her old bike was dull and had a slow leak in the back tire. If you put your ear close, you could hear the air escaping, (sssssss). When Sylvia arrived home, her Nana was there to greet her. "Is my birthday present here yet?" she asked eagerly. "No, just be patient." Said her Nana. Sylvia thought she had better take one final ride on her old decaying bike. She went to the shed and pulled out her bike, along with the tire pump. As she pumped up the back tire, she leaned close and heard the sssss of the air leaking out. She jumped quickly and rode to the corner and back before the tire became too flat to ride. Sylvia went inside and found her Nana making soup and sandwiches for dinner. Her Nana stopped to open the door for Sylvia’s mom. Sylvia’s mom walked in with a box wrapped for her birthday. Sylvia was immediately disappointed. She knew from the size that she did not get the new silver bike. The box was much too small to hold a new bike. Sylvia’s mother handed her the box gave her a hug with a "Happy Birthday" wish. Sylvia slowly opened the box and found a can of silver spray paint and a new back tire. "Let me change my clothes and we’ll go get to work." said Sylvia’s mother. A simple, sincere, smile formed on Sylvia’s face.

Instructional material

• Can you make the sound of air leaking out of a tire? (Sssss) It is also the sound that a snake can make. (Sssss) Can anyone think of words that start with /s/? The class can generate a list of /s/ words as the teacher writes them on the board.

List of /s/ words:

soccer	submarine	saw	soup	six
soft	school	sun	summer	silver
seven	seal	star	simple	saddle
snow	snake	sailboat	smell	swim
sandwich	song	size	seeds	sit

 
• Review vocabulary from Sylvia's Bike and list of /s/ words for semantic content.

Practice material

Have the students cover the letter S with sand. Use sturdy paper. Let the students apply glue and sprinkle sand on the glue.

• Make a Smelly Match Game. Get twelve (12) 35mm film containers and put a cotton ball in each one. Make two (2) each of different smells. (2 containers of peppermint, 2 of perfume, 2 of coffee, 2 of vanilla flavoring, 2 of lemon flavoring, and 2 of vinegar) Place the 12 containers in an empty egg carton. The students have to smell the scents and match the two that are the same.
• Complete a worksheet. Make a worksheet with /s/ pictures and a few foils on it. Give the directions to draw a circle around all the pictures that begin with the /s/ sound.
• Play Sock games. Use clipart and make pairs of socks with different patterns. The pairs of socks can be used for small groups to play Concentration or Go Fish. A Lotto game for the class to play can also be made. Make a tiled sheet and put different pairs of socks in each square. The teacher then picks a corresponding pair of socks out of a bag and says, "Cross off the socks with polka dots." Continue until someone has all the socks crossed off.
• For ready made /s/ pictures, go to the Articulation /s/ page.

Whole Language Application

• Help each student make a one sheet book to take home and read to his or her family.
• Title: Summer
  Pattern: On the first day of summer, I can see a soccer game.
  On the second day of summer, I can see a seahorse.
  On the third day of summer, I can see a sailboat.
  On the fourth day of summer, I can see someone swimming.