Rationale:

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

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Materials:
•    Pencils
•    Primary paper
•    Chart with tongue tickler: "Zach’s zebra zips his zipper jacket while zooming through the zoo”
•    Word cards with ZEBRA, ZERO, ZIG-ZAG, ZIPPER, ZOO, ZOOM
•    Assessment worksheet identifying pictures with /z/
•    Book: “The Zim-Zam Man”

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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 /z/. We spell /z/ with letter Z. Z looks like a zipper, and /z/ sounds like zipping a zipper.

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2.    Let's pretend to zip a zipper, /z/, /z/, /z/. [Pantomime zipping a zipper] Place the tip of your tongue behind your teeth and very close to the roof of your mouth but not touching it. Keep your teeth closed, but part your lips slightly and pull back the corners, as though beginning to smile, you have the /z/ sound!

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3.    Let me show you how to find /z/ in the word pizza. I'm going to stretch pizza out in super slow motion and listen for my zipper. Ppp-i-iz-z-z-a. Slower: Ppp-i-iz-z-z-a. There it was! I felt my tongue behind my teeth and began to smile. Zipper /z/ is in pizza.

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4.    Let's try a tongue tickler [on chart]. Zach has a black & white striped zebra. The zebra has a favorite zippered jacket. Zach’s zebra loves to zoom through the zoo while zipping up his favorite jacket. Tickler: " Zach’s zebra zips his zipper jacket while zooming through the zoo.” Everybody say it 3 times together. Now say it again, and this time, stretch the /z/ at the beginning of the words. “Zzzach’s zzzebra zzzips his zzzipper jacket while zzzooming through the zzzoo.” Try it again, and this time break it off the word: "/Z/ ach’s /z/ ebra /z/ ips his /z/ ipper /z/ ooming through the/z/ oo.

5.    [Have students take out primary paper and pencil]. We use letter Z to spell /z/. Capital Z looks like a zipper. Let's write the lowercase letter z. Start below the rooftop on the fence. Begin making a straight line on the fence then from that point make a straight tilt line down to the sidewalk and again make a straight line along the sidewalk. I want to see everybody's z; make nine more just like it!

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6.    Call on students to answer and tell how they knew: Do you hear /z/ in zoom or run? zebra or lion? zipper or jacket? zig or pig? zoo or wild? Say: See if you can spot the mouth move /z/ in some words. Zip your zipper if you hear /z/: zero, zebra, bug, flew, zig, zoom, pink, zoo.

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7.    Say: "Let's look at an alphabet book. This book is about the Zim-Zam Man and his funny adventures. Read page 9, drawing out /z/. Ask children if they can think of other words with /z/. Ask them to make up a silly activity like “zig-zagging in the zoo.” Then have each student write their silly activity and draw a picture of it. 

8.    Show ZOO and model how to decide if it is zoo or boo: The Z tells me to zip my zipper, /z/, so this word is zzz-oo, zoo. You try some: BUZZ: buzz or cousin? FRIZZ: mess or frizz? PIZZA: pizza or picture? JAZZ: fork or jazz? WHIZ: whiz or make?

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

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References:

• Book: Cheryl Ryan.The Zim-Zam Man. ​www.readinga-z.com 

• Lesson: Kirkpatrick, Emma. Zack the Zebra Learns to Zip with Z. https://emk0029.wixsite.com/mysite/emergent-literacy

• Assessment: https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/practice-beginning-sounds-z/