tire on a fire truck

State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will act out a story about a fire truck with a flat tire and that they will read and write words with -ire, such as tire, fire, hire, and wire.

Literacy Activities
Fix a flat tire on a fire truck

• Read the Tire on a Fire Truck target text (found below) to the children. 
• Explain that hire means to pay someone to do something for you. 
• Have the children pretend to . . .
  • Get a flat tire on the way to the fire.
  • Change the tire on the fire truck
  • Drive in the fire truck to the fire.
  • Put out the fire.

Hire children to clean up -ire words

• Place the word cards (found below) around the room. 
• Tell the children that you want to hire them to clean up the word cards.
• Give the children a penny, or play money, and have them gather the cards.
• Help the children read the -ire words on the cards. 

More Practice 
Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds

• With word-building cards (found below), have the children make new words by changing the beginning consonant: tire→ fire; hire→ wire; wire→ dire.

Read target words in texts

• Engage the children in reading the Tire on a Fire Truck target text  with you.
• Read the text again, fading support.
• Repeat with the Hire a Man to Fix a Tire target text (found below).

Write about the activity using target words and patterns

• Have the children write words from dictation (e.g., tire, fire, wire, hire).