Tower of Tall Tops
Associate the letter T (and lowercase t) with the /t/ sound as in tip, tap, and top.
- Bottle and jar tops (variety of sizes)
- Bottle top used as a toy top (tipped on its side and spun)
- Toy tops (optional)
- Make a Tower of Tops text (see below)
- Tip Over a Tower of Tops text (see below)
- Letter T to put on the tops (see below)
- Word blending cards (see below)
State and model the objective
Demonstrate and tell the children that they will build a tower of tops while they listen for and play with other words starting with the /t/ sound. List words that start with the /t/ sound such as tap, top, tip, tall, toy, tower, tell, and two.
Practice the skill within an activity
Tell others to touch, tap, or take a top
- Spread the different sized bottle and toy (optional) tops on the ground.
- Tell a child to take a couple tops and tap them together.
- Let one child tell another to take tops and tap them together saying, “I’ll tell ___ to take two tops and tap them together.”
- Have the children act on the tops using words that start with /t/: touch, tap, tip, take.
Put a toy top on top of a bottle top
- Place a bottle top on the ground.
- Put a toy top or a bottle top used as a toy top on top of the bottle top.
- Spin the toy top or bottle top (tipped on its side and spun) on a bottle top.
Make a tall tower of tops
- Give the children different sizes of tops to put on top of another top.
- Let the children stack one top on top of another to make a tall tower of tops.
- Take a toy top or the letter T (see below) and put it on top of the tower.
- Throughout the activity make comments such as: “How tall can you build the tower of tops?” “Be careful not to tip over your tall tower of tops.”
- Topple over the tops.
- Explain that the word topple means to have something fall over.
- Next have the children topple the tall tower of tops by telling them to take a top from the tower.
- Tell the children that they can tip over the tower in other ways by tapping the tops and touching the tops.
- Ask, “Will the tower topple? Will the tower topple if you tap it or touch it?”
Apply the skill
Identify, blend and manipulate sounds
- With word blending cards (see below), have the children make new words by changing the vowel or either of the consonants:
- tap → lap; tip → dip; top → mop
- tap → tip → top
- tap → tan → tab; tip → tin; top → tot
Read target words/patterns to the children
- Read the text Make a Tower of Tops (see text below) to the children.
- Have the children underline the words that begin with T.
- Have the children state the sound that goes with the letter T by saying /t/ every time they see a word that starts with T.
- Repeat with the text Tip Over a Tower of Tops (see text below).
- Produce words that start with the letter T:
- Remind the children of the words they played with (e.g., top, tip, tower, topple).
- Tell them you can think of other words that start with T (e.g., tell, toss, take).
- Ask each child to think of a word that starts with T.
- If a child doesn’t respond in a few seconds, give him/her an option:
- “How about tell? Does tell start with the letter T?” (Nod your head yes to let them know it starts with T.)
Write about the activity using target words/patterns
- Give each child a paper and pencil or whiteboard and have them simply practice writing the letter T.
- Have the children write words from dictation changing one or two letters each time to make a new word: tip, tap, top, mop, map, mat, sat, cat, cut.
- Write about the experience by generating sentence frames and letting the children fill in target words and phrases:
- Tell a friend to ______ (tap) two ______ (tops).
- We will build a tower of _______ (tops).
- We can _______ (tap) and _______ (tip) the tower.
- Make the tall tower _____ (tip).
- Put the toy_____(top) on _____ (top).
- Be careful when you touch the _______ (top).
- Do not let the tower _______ (topple).
SEEL Target Texts
Make a Tower of Tops
Put one top on top of another top.
Put another top on that top.
Top the tower with yet another top.
Make a tall tower.
Top the tower of tops with a toy top.
Tip Over a Tower of Tops
Put a toy top on top of the tower of tops.
Tap on the tops.
Touch the tops.
Take a top from the tower.
The tower of tops will tip over!
1. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.1.D: Recognize and name all upper and lower case letters in the alphabet.
2. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.A: Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.
Tower of Tall Tops