State the Objective

Tell the children that they will pretend that a stick is lipstick or a pair of chopsticks while they read and write words such as stick, pick, flick, and quick.

Literacy Activities

Introduce target words

• Show the children the target words: pick, stick, flick, and quick.
• Read the words with the children.

Read and act out what we can do with sticks

• Read the What Can We Do With a Stick? target text (see below) with the children.
• Let the children draw a word card (see below) and pantomime the action or object listed on the word card.

Pretend that a stick is not a stick

• Read the book Not a Stick by Antoinette Portis (optional) and the It Is Not a Stick target text (see below) with the children.
• Show the children different types of “sticks” or picture cards (see below).
• Let the children hold one or two sticks and pretend that they are a different type of stick. 
• Have them tell the group about the stick(s) (e.g., "These are not just sticks. They are chopsticks.")

Identify, blend and manipulate sounds, and write target words

• With word-building cards (see below), have the children make new words by changing a consonant or the vowel.
  • Change the beginning consonant: pick → kick; tick → lick; stick → trick
  • Change the vowel: stick → stack; trick → truck; click → clack; lick → lock
• Let the children write words from dictation, changing one or two letters each time to make a new word
  • tick → lick → lock → sock → sick → pick → pack → quack → quick → stick → kick → wick