EDUC 417 Special Education

Lesson Plan Outline

Design For Learning
Instructor: Abby Diamond
Lesson Title: Letters M, S and T and their Sounds
Curriculum Area: Reading

Grade Level: 1st grade (modified)

Date: September 2, 2015
Estimated Time: 15-20 minutes

Standards Connection and IEP Goal:

22.) Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. [RF.K.3]
a. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the
primary or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant. [RF.K.3a]
IEP goal: Recognize and name all uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet with 80%
accuracy.
Learning Objective: When given pictures of items and the letters M, S, and T, the student will
be able to match the picture to the corresponding letter it starts with and produce the sound it
makes receiving a 6/6 in order to be considered proficient. The students will be able 1. Identify
the letter 2. Produce the correct sound for each letter.
Kid Friendly Objective: Today we will be learning a couple new letters and their sounds!
Evaluation of Learning Objective: The student will correctly match all 3 letters to their
corresponding picture. The student will have six different pictures of items and will have to
match those items that start with the letters M, S, and T. The student will have to differentiate
between which pictures start with the letter M, S, and T. The M goes with the monkey, the S goes
with the sun, and the T goes with the table. The student will then produce the correct sound for
each letter. The student must identify the letter 3/3 times and the correct sound it makes 3/3 times
in order to be considered proficient. The students will be able 1. Identify each letter (3/3 times) 2.
Produce the correct sound for each letter (3/3 times).
Engagement: The teacher will state the behavior expectations of the student. She will bring in a
bag of sand, tape, a toy turtle, toothbrush, a toy snake, money, mug, mirror. Have students say
their name. Talk about how each of these words start with a different letter and that each letter
makes a different sound. Have the student sort them into their correct letter. Explain to the
student that today they will be learning about each of these letters: M, S, and T and learning the
sounds they make. Good morning! Today I will be teaching you, and I need you to sit in your
chair, keep your feet on the ground, and your hands in your lap. Can you do that for me? Very
good job student! I have with me today some items that you should be familiar with. Take a
minute to look at all these items. Let the student look at the items and feel them. Have them

name the items. First, what is this? Hold up the sand and let the students play with the sand for a
second. Yes, great job. This is sand. What is the first sound in the word sand? Yes, the sound is
sssss. Next, what is this? Bring in the toothpaste and let the students feel it and hold the
toothbrush. Yes, you are right. What is the first sound in the word toothbrush? Yes, it is tttttt. And
what about this? Bring in coins and dollars and have students feel the money. Yes, great job!
This is money. What is the first sound in the word money? Yes, it is mmmmm. Each of these
words starts with a different beginning sound. All of these items all start with the letters M, S, or
T. Today, we are going to be learning about the letters M, S, and T and what sound they make.
Design for Learning:
I.

II.

Teaching: The teacher will begin by showing a letter card with the letter on it. She will ask the
student if he knows what letter it is. She will then tell the student what sound the letter makes.
Ask him to say the sound with him. She will then give the student letter cards, which is a paper
with the shape of the letter on it. She will give the student a bag of pipe cleaners with different
size pieces in it. She will have him put the pipe cleaner pieces over the letters on the letter cards.
After the letter is formed, She will have him say the letter name and sound three times. So like I
just said, today we will be learning about on our letters and letter sounds. I know you can work
really hard. Okay, do you know what letter this is? Teacher will hold up a letter card with the
letter M on it. Great job! This is an M. The letter M makes the sound mmmm. Can you say
that with me? Mmmmm. Teacher and student will repeat the letter sound several times. Very
good job student! Now what item did you get to feel earlier that starts with this sound? Great
job! It is money. Can you think of any words that start with the sound mmm? Next lets do this
next letter. Do you know what letter this is? Teacher will hold up a letter card with the letter S on
it. Great job! This is a S. The letter S makes the sound ssss. Can you say that with me?
Mmmmm. Teacher and student will repeat the letter sound several times. Very good job
student! Now what item did you get to feel earlier that starts with the letter S? Yes, you are right.
It was the sand. Can you think of any other words that start with the sound sss? Yes, good job.
Okay, do you know what letter this is? Teacher will hold up a letter card with the letter T on it.
Great job! This is a T. The letter T makes the sound tttt. Lets say that together. Tttt. Teacher
and student will repeat the letter sound several times. Great job! Now, what item did I show you
earlier that starts with this sound? Yes, it was the toothpaste. Now, we are going to practice these
letters and their sounds by making them. I am going to give you a letter card with the outline of
the letter on it and I am going to give you some pipe cleaner pieces in a bag. I want you to use
the pipe cleaner pieces to make the letter on the card. After the letter is formed, I want you to say
the letter name and the sound three times. Give him the letter card M and the bag with Bendaroo.
Now, you can go ahead and begin. Great job! Can you tell me what the letter name? Good. Now
make the sound for me three times. This process will continue with letters S and T.
Opportunity for Practice: The student will be given a set of 9 picture cards and a mat with the
letter M, S, and T on it to play a matching game with. She will match the pictures to the correct
letter that they start with. Then, once she has them all matched, the teacher will go over the

III.

IV.

pictures and the sound the letter makes at the beginning of the word. Awesome job making those
letters! Now we are going to practice our letter sounds with a fun game. You get to practice
finding words that start with the letters M, S, and T. I want you to match the pictures with the
letter that it starts with. You may have to say the words out loud to figure out if they start with
that letter or not. Lets do the first one together. Now, I want you to tell me what you see in each
picture. What is this picture? Its an monkey. What letter does this start with? Lets think
mmmmmm onkey. Yes, it starts with letter M! So you can put it under the M. Does that make
sense? Go ahead and try to do the rest of the pictures and if you need help, just ask. This process
will continue until all cards have been sorted. The teacher can continue to prompt, but hopefully
the child will be able to do this activity independently. Great job matching up all the pictures to
the letters! Teacher will point to a couple of pictures and have the student say their names to
practice saying the sounds of each letter M, S, and T.
Assessment: The student will be given 6 pictures and will have to sort those pictures with the
letters M, S and T on a separate piece of paper. The student will correctly match all 3 letters to
their corresponding picture. The student will then have to say the sound of the letter out loud to
the teacher. Okay great job with all your work student! Now we get to do one more activity. This
should be a review of what we have been learning about the letters M, S, and T. I am going to
give you a sheet that has 6 picture cards already cut out. I want you to glue the right picture to
the correct letter that the word starts with. You may have to sound out the word to figure it out.
Can you do that for me? Let student work independently and match the pictures to the right
letter. You did a wonderful job selecting the letter M, S, and T sounds!
Closure: Teacher will praise the student for working hard on her assignment. Then they will talk
one more time about what sound the letters M, S, and T make. They will brainstorm other words
that start with these sounds. The teacher will give the student a coloring sheet to color as a fun
activity at the end. Great job today! I am so proud at you identifying things that start with the
letters M, S, and T. Do you know what letter your name starts with? Yes, you are right! It starts
with the letter M. It is important for us to know the letters and their sounds so that you can write
and say your name as well! Remember in the beginning of our lesson I let you look at and feel
some different objects. Can you think of any other words that start with the mmmm sound?
What about the ttttt sound? Good job! What about the sssss sound? Now I have a coloring
sheet for you to color. Give student the coloring sheet. What do you see in this picture? Yes, you
are right! A monkey on a tree. Both of these words start with letters that we learned about today.
When the student is finished, praise him for his hard work. Great job today student! I am so
proud of your hard work!
Differentiation Strategies and Plans for Individual Learners:
Student N: The teacher will seat Student N near the teacher since he has difficulty paying
attention. The teacher will make sure to ask questions to him throughout the lesson to make sure
that he is understanding the concept.

Accommodations and Modifications:

Student N: The teacher will have Student N take extra time to complete the practice activity and
the assessment. Instead of having the student write each letter after learning it, the student will
use the pipe cleaner pieces to shape each letter on a sheet with the outline of the letter. This is
because Student N struggles with handwriting and can not write letters on his own. Instead of
having the student write the letter that goes to each picture for the assessment, Student N will
simply have to match the picture with the letter that is already on the sheet and glue it to the
sheet. He will get to orally say the words from the picture cards and the sound of the letter to the
teacher rather than having to write it down.
Extensions:
If the student already knows the letters M, S, and T well, the teacher will have the student think
of additional words that start with the letters M, S, and T and draw pictures of them with crayons.
The teacher will also give the student a couple more letters (like B, D, and P) and have him
practice making the letters with pipe cleaners and pronouncing them.
If the student does a good job with forming the letters with the pipe cleaners, the teacher will
have the student practice tracing or writing each of the letters on paper using a pencil.
Materials and Resources:

Bag of sand, toothbrush, bag of money, mirror, mug, a toy snake, a toy turtle
Pipe Cleaners cut in sizes
Scissors
Glue
Crayons
Multi-Sensory Letter Outlines for M, S, and T
Letter Mat Poster
Coloring Sheet
Matching cards for practice: 9 cards with different pictures on it
3 picture cards with letter M
3 picture cards with letter S
3 picture cards with letter T
Assessment
Paper with Letters M, S, and T
6 Picture cards

Date Analysis:
The student was already somewhat familiar with the letters M, S, and T which made the
lesson not as difficult for him. He received a 6/6 on his assessment. He was able to match each

letter (M, S and T) to the correct picture and he pronounced the correct sound for each letter (M,
S, and T).
Reflection:
Overall, the lesson went okay, but there were a couple of things that didnt go as planned.
I learned a lot from this lesson, and learned about things that I could have done differently. To
start off, putting out all of the items on the table for the student was too overwhelming. He got
focused in on the money and wouldnt stop talking about the money. This was a distraction. I
think that next time, I would have only had a few items out on the table and I would have gone
slower over what each of the items were and highlighted on the fact of the first sound of each
item. Instead, I went over that part too fast. I also think that the items that I brought in could have
been incorporated into the actual teaching part or used as an activity; it was almost too much for
an engagement.
My cooperating teacher gave me some very valuable feedback which I will be able to
implement in future lessons. One of the things she said was the importance of having a structured
environment. This is especially important for students with disabilities or who are prone to get
off task. I had all of my materials and resources right beside in me and the student got distracted
by all of the materials. Especially for students with disabilities, it is important to give them only
a couple of things at a time and really control the environment. I also realized that I gave him too
long directions. I should have given him simpler directions and simplified what I asked him to
do. Instead, I gave him too many directions, and he had a hard time knowing what to do.
There were also a couple of outside factors that I couldnt control which affected the
lesson. For one, Student M was already tired and not very attentive because he had been working
straight for the past hour without a break. This affected his able to stay on task and focus. He also
had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the lesson which disrupted the lesson. However,
Student M was able to properly match the correct picture to the letter on the assessment and
pronounce each sound. He got good practice with the letters M, S, and T and their sounds. The
part that he enjoyed the most was forming each letter with pipe cleaners. In conclusion, I would
say that I learned a lot from this lesson, especially about tips and strategies to be aware of when
working with special education student.

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