State the Objective

Tell the children that they will help a pup climb up a ladder and that they will read and write words that end with up, such as pup, cup, and 7-up.

Literacy Activities

Introduce target words

• Show the children the -up target words.
• Read the words with the children.

Help the pup go up

• Read the Up, Pup! target text (see below) with the children.
• Place the -up word cards (see below) on the ladder.
• Put a toy pup or picture of a pup (see below) on the first step and put a cup labeled 7-Up on the top step.
• Have children read the words on the steps one at a time.
  • If the word ends with -up, have children say, “Go up, Pup! Get 7-Up!” and move the pup up one more step.
  • When the pup reaches a non -up word, have children remove it from the step, so the pup can go up.
• When the pup gets to the top, have the pup pretend to drink the 7-Up.

Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds

• With word-building cards (see below), have the children make new words by  changing a consonant or the vowel.
  • Change the beginning consonant: pup→ cup
  • Change the vowel: cup→ cap; pup→ pop; cup→ cop
  • Change the ending consonant: cup→ cut; pup→ pun

Sort rhyming words

• Tell the children that a lot of rhyming words have the same ending.
• Let the children sort the word cards (see below) into two piles (one pile with -up words and one pile with words that don’t end with up).

Make a flip book

• Write the -up ending on the far right side of an index card.
• Write p, c, and 7- on separate sticky notes.
• Staple the sticky notes to the index card on the left side of the -up ending.
• Flip through the sticky notes and read each -up word with the children (e.g., pup, cup, 7-up).
• Help the children write a simple sentence using -up words (e.g., A pup can drink from a cup).