Overview
The children will help a mouse munch on /m/ snacks and say the sound /m/ when they see the letter M in words such as mittens, monkey, mess, and mouse.

Literacy Activities
Help the Munching Mouse munch

• Assemble the Munching Mouse puppet as shown in the instructions below.
• Read Mouse Mess by Linnea Riley and have the children listen for words in the story that start with the /m/ sound (optional).
• Show the children the picture cards and help them identify the pictures, emphasizing the /m/ sound.
• Invite the children to pretend to feed the mouse puppet using the picture cards.
• Review the items the children fed to the mouse by removing the picture cards one at a time from the plastic bag and saying sentences like, “Mmmm! Munching Mouse liked the macaroni!”
• Have the children circle the letter M in the word on each picture card and ask them to say the /m/ sound each time they circle a letter.

More Practice
Write the target letter

• Help the children write the uppercase letter M and lowercase letter m on small pieces of paper.
• Let the children feed the letter cards to the munching mouse, saying the /m/ sound each time they feed the letter M to the mouse.

Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds

• Write the words mop, mug, man, and met on the board.
• Have the children identify the beginning and ending sounds of each word.
• Invite the children to tap their shoulders for the beginning sound and their fingers for the ending sound.
  • mop = m + op
  • mug = m + ug
  • man = m + an
  • met = m + et
• Point out that all the words have the /m/ sound at the beginning of the word and start with the letter M.