Mamas and Llamas

Goals
To expand their phonemic awareness during this introduction to rhyming, students will use rhyming words and illustrations to form inferences about what animal each mama is. They will work together and guess about these mamas as the book is read aloud.

Rationale
An early learning academic content standard in Ohio is to “Identify matching sounds and recognize rhymes in familiar stories, poems, songs and words” (ODE, 2006). The students in this class have not had a lesson explicitly focused on rhyme. This lesson using Is Your Mama a Llama? is an appropriate introduction to that concept in that it scaffolds the child’s understanding of rhyme by providing pictures as context clues for the rhyming word. The book also fosters out-loud participation by requiring a page turn to reveal the actual rhyming word.

Materials
Chester stuffed animal (raccoon)
Is Your Mama a Llama? By Deborah Guarino, illustrated by Steven Kellogg
*big book edition and standard size
Tu Mama es una Llama? By same author and illustrator, translated by Marcuse
Easel on which to display big book
Approx. 20 picture cards with 4 to 6 different rhymes (-at, -ow, -ook, etc.)


Procedures
1. “Does anyone remember our friend Chester? He gave his mama a kissing hand because he loved her so much. What kind of animal is Chester’s Mama?”
2. “Did you know that other animals have mamas, too?”
3. “Now I’m going to read this book to you. I want you to help my friend Lloyd. He asks a lot of questions and I want you to help him by answering those questions. The book will give you clues about the answer so look at the pictures and listen to the words of the book very carefully. I’ll let you know when I need your help by pointing at you.”
4. Point at front cover, back cover, and spine in that order. “What is this part of the book called? And this? And this? And what does that do?” Students should identify these parts as well as the function of the spine (to hold the pages together).
5. Begin by reading the words on the front cover verbatim. “If Steven Kellogg is the illustrator, what did he do to make the book?”
6. While reading the book, emphasize the lilting rhythm and rhyming words. Especially emphasize the rhyming word before the Mama revelation: i.e. “ ‘Oh,’ I said. ‘You are right about that. I think that your mama sounds more like a…’”
7. Remember to point during the dramatic pause. At the beginning of the story students may need a verbal prompt, i.e. “What animal is Dave’s Mama?” If there is a significant pause (longer than 5-7 seconds) provide further verbal cues: i.e. “Look at the picture” or “What kind of animal is Dave?” Be careful not to provide too many verbal cues…a pause may mean students are thinking!
8. After the book ends, pause.
9. Following completion of lesson, place the standard size English version of the book as well as the Spanish version in the quiet reading corner.

Ripples and Extensions
During large group time later on, or the following day, the teacher will use the picture cards to practice rhymes with the class. Put pictures of a book, cook, hook, and shirt on the board. Say each name slowly but naturally and ask which doesn’t belong. Repeat this with several groups of rhymes, pre-sorted for ease in transition. Avoid grouping similar sounding rimes, such as “book” and “lick.”
Repeat picture card activity, this time starting with one picture card and choosing “matching” picture cards from an assortment below.
During another read aloud of this book, students can guess about these mamas again. This time the teacher may draw special attention to other mamas and babies that make appearances in the book yet remain unnamed. During this “scavenger hunt,” the students can name the unnamed families (i.e. turtles, owls, birds, rabbits, koalas, possums, mice, leopards). If students want, this can be expanded into naming all of the animals in the book. As they are named, the teacher can write them on the white board.
Though it didn’t come up before when reading The Kissing Hand, be prepared to talk about how some people don’t have mamas. If this is the case for a student or two, this could even extend into a family study that delves into the variety of our families. It doesn’t have to be a sobering discussion, it could simply be that some people don’t live with their mamas, but with grandmas or aunts, etc.

Assessment
Because this lesson will function as an introduction to the concept of rhyme, assessment will not be based on the rhyming observation skills of each student or apparent mastery of this concept. After small group the teacher will release students to independent “work time” by asking them each a rhyming question privately. Examples: “What word rhymes with look?” and “What word rhymes with block?” If students struggle with this question, the teacher may use visual cues, i.e. point to the clock.

The teacher should privately write down the names of students who did not show any observable understanding of rhyme (stating a rhyming word, confirming a rhyming word, or disagreeing with a non-rhyme). In the reflection aspect of this lesson, the teacher will consider obstacles that prevented these students from comprehending and/or manipulating rhyme. The teacher will also keep these students and their obstacles in mind when crafting future rhyming lessons and/or extensions of this lesson.