A 5–10 MINUTE ACTIVITY
A lion’s leaf collection
Use the displayed picture, two or three large paper letter cards and a familiar spoken example. No independent word reading is required. Begin with a modeled turn; stop or simplify if the task becomes a vocabulary or motor challenge.
Name lion and leaf, then say lip. Listen to the shared beginning before introducing print.
Match L and l. Put the lowercase card beside the lion picture and compare it with the capital.
Say leaf, sun and lion. Ask the learner to move a paper leaf toward the l pair for a matching beginning.
Teach it. Then check.
Objective
Recognize L/l and hear the selected initial /l/ in familiar words.
Check for learning
Can the learner choose leaf rather than moon for the lion beginning, then locate l using an accessible response?
Make it more accessible
Read the word aloud yourself and let the learner point. Avoid making speech articulation the success criterion.
Extend when ready
Compare lip with sip using familiar sound cards, then put the changed beginning into print.
Try it at home
Look at a leaf outside or in a book and have a grown-up label it. Notice l in a whole word, not just as an isolated line.