Refer to the Word Scientists website before starting the lesson to learn how to teach /p/ and /b/ sounds:

Letter P

What do you feel? What do you see?

• Make the /p/ sound.
• Ask students to repeat the sound after you: /p/
• Ask students: what do you feel?
• Think-aloud: I feel my lips pop open. If I hold my hand in front of my mouth, I can feel a puff of air.
• Ask students: What do you see?
• Think-aloud: I see my lips come together and then pop open.
• Ask students: If you hold your hand on your neck when you make the sound /p/, do you feel a vibration? (no)
• Ask students: Do you stretch the sound /p/? Or do you bounce it? /p/,/p/,/p/
• Think-aloud:  You bounce the sound /p/. I can only make the sound for a second.
• Assign a corresponding hand motion: Tell students, “The sound /p/ begins the word puff, like a puff of air.” Make a motion like blowing out a candle. Have students repeat the sound and the motion.

Letter B

What do you feel? What do you see?

• Make the /b/ sound.
• Ask students to repeat the sound after you: /b/
• Ask students: What do you feel?
• Think-aloud: I feel my lips pop open. If I hold my hand in front of my mouth, I don’t feel the same  puff of air like with the sound /p/.  I feel just a bit of air.
• Ask students: If you hold your hand on your neck when you make the sound /b/, do you feel a vibration? (yes)
• Ask students: What do you see?
• Think-aloud: I see my lips come together and then pop open.
• Ask students: Do you stretch the sound /b/? Or do you bounce it? /b/,/b/,/b/
• Think-aloud: You bounce the sound /b/. I can only make the sound for a second.
• Assign a corresponding hand motion: Tell students, “The sound /b/ begins the word ball.” Make motion of swinging a bat to hit a ball. Have students repeat the sound and the motion.

Before reading the text on each page, guide students in exploring the cover and illustrations.

Examine the cover. Tell students:

• Let’s look at the cover of the book.
• Can you see the character on the cover? Who is that? (Peg.)
• What is Peg doing? (She is lying on the floor and smiling.)
• What else do you see on the cover? (a pup and a ball)
• What letter does pup start with? (p)
• What sound does p make? (/p/)
• I also feel the sound /p/ at the end of the word pup.
• What letter does ball start with? (b)
• What sound does b make? (/b/)
• The title says: Peg Sees P and B Words
• What kind of book do you think this is? Is it a story book, a science book, or an alphabet book? (An alphabet book.)

Go through the illustrations on each page. On each page, ask students, “What do you see?” Students should name what they see in the illustration. If they do not know a word, take time to teach it. Example: If students answer “dog,” instead of “pup,” you can say, “Yes, it’s a dog. A baby dog is called a pup.  I know it says pup because I feel a /p/ sound at the beginning and end of the word. So, this picture shows a pup. Repeat after me: “pup.”

Practice using the verbs is and are.

a _______________. (one thing)

• Write the carrier phrase on the board: a _________________.
• Read the word out loud and ask students to repeat it.
• Fill in the blank with a word the students know. Example: a book.
• Hold up a book and repeat the phrase: a book.
• Ask students to repeat the phrase.

Some  __________. (more than one thing )

• Write the carrier phrase on the board: some _____________.
• Read the word aloud and ask students to repeat it.
• Fill in the blank with a plural word students know. Example: some books.
• Hold up two or more books and repeat the phrase: some books.
• Ask students to repeat the sentence.
• Ask students: What is the difference between this and the previous example? (In this example, there is more than one book.)
• Ask students: Does the word book look different in the second example? (Yes, it has an s at the end.)
• Ask students: Why is there an s at the end of the word books? (We add an s when there is more than one of something.) Show two books.  Say: two books.
• Say: We use the word some, when there is more than one thing or if something like rice cannot be divided into one thing. Say: “ some rice”

_____ and ______

• Write the carrier phrase on the board: ________ and ________
• Fill in the two blanks with two different things  students know.  Example: pencil and paper.
• Ask students to repeat the phrase.
• Ask students to think of two things that go together.  Example: ball and bat

Practice the carrier phrase:  

• Hold up a single item.
• Ask students: What is this? (a ________.)
• Hold up two or more items.
• Ask students: What are these? (some  _______.)
• Correct errors and practice a few times until most students are correctly identifying singular and plural nouns.
• Draw a picture on the board of 1 ball and write: ball
• Draw a picture of  2 balls and write: balls
• Repeat the activity with the pictures on page 2.

After the students have mastered the carrier phrase, guide them in reading each page together as a class. Use the example below as a model for guiding students to read the book  page by page.

Example: Page 1 Text: a pup

Tell students:

• Let’s read the part of the sentence we know together:  a______.
• What do you see in the picture? (A pup)
• What sound does pup begin with? (/p/). How do we spell the /p/ sound? (letter p)
• Let’s clap to see how many syllables are in the word  pup (1). So pup is a one syllable word that begins with the letter p. Do you see a word that could be pup? (the last word). That makes sense with the picture.
• Read the sentence with me.
• Now read the sentence to me.

Repeat this pattern for each page. Pay careful attention to pages with plural nouns.  Guide students to recognize the change  in the carrier phrase (a or some)

On page 11, guide students to recognize the change in the pattern: a ______and a ________.

The teacher reads a page of text, and then the students read the same text. Reread the whole book. Observe students to see if they are pointing to the words as they say them (speech-to-print match).

Break students into pairs. Make sure each pair has a copy of the book. Instruct students to read the whole book with their partner. First, Student #1 should read each page of the book, pointing to each word as he/she reads it. Next, Student #2 should reach each page of the book, pointing to each word as he/she reads it. Encourage students to help each other if they cannot recognize a word. Walk around the room and check the progress of each student, correcting errors as necessary.

Preparation: Before the lesson, cut out the pictures provided on the final page of the book of each of the words from the text.

Ask each pair of students to turn to the page of the book which shows a T chart with columns for the letters Pp and Bb. Give each pair a set of the pictures.

Instruct the pairs to sort the pictures into the correct columns, based on their starting sounds.

Model the activity:

• Draw a larger version of the T chart on the board.
• Hold up a picture of a baby.
• Ask students: What is this? (a baby)
• Ask students: What is the first sound you hear? (/b/)
• Make the corresponding swinging-bat motion that goes with the sound /b/.
• Ask students: What letter makes the sound /b/? (b)
• Use tape to place the picture of the rabbit into the Bb column.
• Say: baby begins with the sound /b/.
• Have students name all the pictures in a column each time a new picture is added.

Students work in pairs to complete their own charts. Walk around the room checking progress and correcting errors as necessary.

Group check:

• Get the students’ attention. Ask them to stop working on their charts.
• Hold up each picture one by one and ask students the same questions as in the model.
  • What is this?
  • What is the first sound you hear? [make the corresponding motion]
  • What letter makes that sound?
  • Use tape to place the picture in the correct column on the board.
• Ask the pairs to check that they put their pictures in the correct columns.

Another Way to Do The Chart: PICTURE SORT- SOUND ONLY

Paste a word that begins with the letter p over the letter p.  Then paste a word that begins with the letter b over the letter b.  One by one  compare  each of the other pictures first with the  picture that begins with p and then with the picture  that begins with b.  For example say:

pots-pup,  pots-bat, pots sounds like pup so I am going to put it in the pup column.  Each time a student places a new picture in a column have them name all the pictures in the column.

I Spy….

Explain the rules of the game: I will think of something in the room that starts with the letter p or b. I will say, “I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter p.” Use the pictures from the book and add pictures or objects of things that start with either the /p/ or /b/ sound.

Model the activity: Decide on one of the pictures or objects that starts with an p or b.

Example: pencil. Say: I spy with my little eye something that starts with the letter p and we use it to write. If students guess the wrong word, but it begins with the right sound say something like, “Yes picture begins with the sound /p/ but I am thinking of something we write with.”

Continue the activity a few times until you have practiced both p and b words.

• Observe speech-to print-match. Watch student read the book and point. Observe if they are pointing to each word as they say it.
• Check to see if students can read the high-frequency words out of the text: a, some, and
• Ask students to tell the beginning sound in the words: (baby /b/, bucket /b/, bat /b/, ball /b/,  popcorn /p/, pup /p/, panda /p/, pots /p/)