English Resource Description
The second day of Week 2 in the phonics programme introduces young learners to the phoneme /z/ and its corresponding grapheme . The objective of the lesson is to familiarise students with this sound, starting with an engaging flashcard featuring "Zuto from Pluto." The lesson begins with a revisit to the alphabet, where the class sings along to the alphabet song, and a word-breaking activity that encourages children to deconstruct words into individual sounds before saying them in unison again.
The teaching segment incorporates a story about Zuto from Pluto, designed to highlight the /z/ phoneme and show how it can be represented as or in words like "buzz" and "zip". The story provides context and makes the learning process fun, while also pointing out that double consonants often appear at the end of words. To reinforce the sound, children are invited to mimic pressing a start button on an imaginary zuto-mobile while making the /zzzz/ sound. The practice phase includes grapheme formation, where students trace the letter in the air or on a peer's back, and a game to identify whether written words are real or not. Finally, the application of the lesson involves a caption match activity with phrases and images, and the option for further learning through sorting and drawing extension activities.
