Overview
The children will look for a fat bat as they add beginning sounds to the -at ending to make words such as bat, rat, cat, and fat.

Literacy Activities

Looking for a Fat Bat chant

• Display the Looking for a Fat Bat chant for the children to see.
• Have the children find and underline the -at words in the chant and help them say each word, segmenting the beginning sound from the word ending (e.g., /b/ + at).
• Have the children sit on a mat (rug) and echo you as you lead the chant.  
• Choose different children to act out the bat, rat, cat, and hat parts as everyone chants.

More Practice

Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds

• Using the word blending cards, help the children identify the sounds of each letter used in -at words (e.g., /b/ /a/ /t/), then blend the sounds to make the word. 
• Repeat to create more -at words.Using the word building cards, lay out the letters for an -at word then help the children identify the sound of each letter used (e.g., /b/ /a/ /t/).
• Repeat to make more -at words.
• Have the children make new words by changing the vowel or either of the consonants:
  • Change the beginning sound: bat → hat; hat → mat; mat → sat
  • Change the ending sound: bat → bad; hat → ham; mat → man
• Change the middle sound: bat → bit; hat → hot; mat → met

Write about the activity using target words

• Have each child write -at words on their whiteboards from dictation.