Overview
The children will drum, strum, and hum and practice reading and writing words that end with –um.  

Literacy Activities
Drum and strum.

• Explain to the children that glum means to be sad and have them pretend to be glum.
• Tell the children that they will play a drum, hum, strum, and pretend to chew gum so they don’t feel glum.
• Give the children a container to use as a drum and invite the children to drum and hum.
• Give the children a container with rubber bands strung across the opening like a banjo and encourage them to strum and hum.
• Pretend to give the children a piece of gum and let them pretend to chew gum while they strum or drum.
• Ask the children to see if they can pretend to chew gum and hum at the same time.
• Point out that the children are no longer glum because they got to drum, hum, strum, and chew gum. 
• Have the children share the -um words that they heard in the lesson so you can write them on the board (e.g., hum, gum, drum, strum). 

Read –um words and engage in actions.

• Hold up and read an action sign for the children and have them repeat the word/phrase back to you and act it out: 
  • Drum, Hum, Strum, Chew gum, Eat a plum, Be glum
• Have the children point out and read the words that end in -um. 
• Add any new words to the list on the board. 

More Practice
Identify, blend and manipulate sounds.

• Let the children make a target word (e.g. hum) from word blending cards and then let them make different words by changing either of the consonants or the vowel. 
  • Change the beginning sound(s): hum → gum; drum → glum; sum → slum
  • Change the vowel sound: hum → hem; glum → glam; slum → slim
  • Change the ending sound(s): hum → hug; gum → gut; sum → sun
• For each of the words the children make, have them produce the sounds for each letter and then blend those sounds back in to the word. 

Read target words in a text

• Read the target text Drum and Chew Gum to the children. 
• Engage the children in reading the text simultaneously with you. 
• Read the text together again, fading support. 
• Have the children look for and underline the words that end in –um in the text. 
• Repeat the supported reading process with the Drum and Hum target text.

Write about the activity using target words and phrases.

• Play a “pass the drum” game with the children. 
  • Have the children sit in a circle and take turns passing a paper drum.
  • As the children get the drum, have them say a new word that ends in –um. 
  • Write each new word on the board.  
    • If someone suggests the word thumb, write it to the side of your list and explain that thumb sounds like it ends in -um like drum, but it has a silent b at the end so it goes in a list of its own for today. 
  • Repeat the game, but this time, pass a pencil or crayon with the paper drum and have the children write their word on the drum before passing it along.