State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will try to push a car into a jar from far and not far away, and will read and write words with -ar, such as car, jar, start, star, far, and smart.
 
Literacy Activities
Set up the car-in-the-jar game

• Let the children read and do the following directions with you:
  • Put stars on the jar.
  • Put stars on the car.
  • Put marks (e.g., dots, lines, an X) on the car.
  • Put marks on the jar.
  • Write Start on a piece of paper.
  • Put the Start sign where the car should start.
  • Write Far away on a piece of paper.
  • Put the Far away sign far away from the jar.
  • Write Not far on a piece of paper.
  • Put the Not far sign close to the jar.
  • To start the race say, “On your mark, start!”

See how far a car will go

• Set up a track with labeled marks along the way: not far, not too far, a little far, and very far (see example picture below).
• Place the car at the starting mark and the jar at the far end of the track.
• Push the car to see how far the car will go.
• Try to get the car to get to the jar.
• Let the children read the mark closest to where each car stops (e.g., “My car went very far!” “This car is not far,” “This car is a little far,” “This car is very far”).
• Comment on which cars went not far, not too far, a little far, very far, and to the jar once all the cars have been raced.
• End the race by parking the cars in the parking lot (found below).

Pick -ar words from a jar  

• Have children write -ar words from dictation (e.g., jar, car, far, star, start, mark, park, dart).
• Place the written words in a jar.
• Let the children pull the words from the jar, read them, and match ones that are identical.

Read target words in texts

• Engage the children in reading the target text Start the Car! (found below) together.
• Identify words in the text with -ar.
• Read the text together again, fading support.

Write about the activity 

• Display a word wall with the following words: car, jar, start, park, star, dart, far, card, hard, smart, mark.
• Have children write about trying to get a car in a jar or setting up a race track and seeing how far cars can go.