State and Model the Objective
The children will make a stain, make it rain, and let water go down a drain while reading words that end with -ain and -ane, such as rain and plane.

Literacy Activities
Turn a plain cloth into a not plain cloth

• Give a plain cloth to the children in groups.
• Let the children make a quick design with a marker to make it not plain.

Make it rain on a stain

• Show the children a plain cloth and tell them that a plain cloth is a cloth with nothing on it.
• Make a stain on the plain cloth using a washable marker.
• Show the children the cloth with the marker stain.
• Make rain by spraying or sprinkling water on the stain.
• Comment that the rain doesn’t wash out the stain. 
• Have the children write “The rain didn’t get rid of the stain."

Make it rain on a plane

• Contrast the meaning and spelling of the words plain and plane.
• Give the children a plain cloth and a picture of a plane (found below).
• Have the children write plain and plane. 
• Make it rain on the plane by spraying or sprinkling water on it.
• Let the children  draw pictures of things that end with -ain or -ane (e.g., drain, chain, train, plane, cane) or use the -ain and -ane picture cards (found below).
• Have the children label their pictures.
• Make it rain on each picture and say, “It rains on a ____.”

Drain water through a strainer

• Make it rain in a strainer (or cup with holes in the bottom) and watch the rain drain out of the bottom.
• Strain the water out of the soaked grains. 
• Have the children write words to dictation (e.g., strain, drain, grain, rain).

Strain grains in a strainer

• Give the children a grain of wheat, barley, or oats.
• Ask the children to write the word grain to gain another grain.
• Explain that grain is often rinsed in a strainer.
• Let the children place their grain in water and drain out the water with a strainer.
• Have the children write, “What a pain to strain grain,” or “It is a pain to strain grain.”

More Practice
Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds

• With word-building cards (found below), have the children make new words by changing the vowel or either of the consonants or adding a new consonant:
  • Change the beginning consonant(s): grain→ train, rain→ drain, lane→ plane, pain→ plain, stain→ strain
  • Change the vowels: plain→ plane, main→ mane
  • Change the ending consonant(s): rain→ raid, pain→ paid, brain→ braid

Read target words

• Read the target text Look, a Stain! (found below) together as a group.
• Read the text again, fading support.
• Repeat with Rain on a Plane and in a Drain (found below).

Write about the activity using target words 

• Have the children write -ai words from dictation (e.g., plain, stain, rain, gain, grain, strain, drain). 
• Have the children write -ane words from dictation (e.g.,  plane, lane, cane).
• Let the children write words that would fit into sentence frames:  
  • We made a ____ (stain) on a cloth that was ____ (plain).
  • We made it ____ (rain) on the ____ (stain).
  • We made it ____ (rain) down a ____ (drain).
  • We made it ____ (rain) on a ____ (train) and ____ (plane).
  • We used a strainer to ____ (strain) some ____ (grain).
• Ask the children to write about how they played with rain, drains, and strainers:
  • “We got to . . .” (e.g., get a stain out with rain, make it rain on a plane,  make it rain in a strainer, stain a plain cloth, make rain go down a drain, strain grains).