State and Model the Objective
Tell the children they will pay to buy and use a spray bottle and they will read and write words with the long a vowel pattern –ay such as spray, stay, clay, pay, may, day.

Literacy Activities
Pay to spray or be sprayed

• Pretend to have a booth in a fair, and in the booth let the children either pay (with their pretend money) to let you give them a little spray or pay to try to spray things that are far away.
• Show the children two signs and have the children read the signs.
• Have the children stand in a line by a sign: “Pay to get a spray” or “Pay to spray.”
• If the children stand by “Pay to get a spray,” have them pay pretend money to get a little spray. Let them know they can sway to avoid the spray (i.e., sway this way or that way).
• If the children stand by “Pay to Spray,” tell them that they will pay to spray gray paper, clay, or a tray (you can also let them pay to spray all three by putting the paper and clay on a tray). Let them try different ways to spray (i.e., turn the nozzle this way or that way).
• Have the children make signs that say “Spray my way” or “Stay Away!” and then let them hold up one of the signs to indicate if they want you to spray them or if they want you to stay away so they will not get sprayed.

More Practice
Read target words in texts 

• Engage the children in reading the text Pay to Spray together with the group.
• Have the children make a list of the words that end with –ay.
• Read the text again fading support.

Write about the activity using target words/patterns

• Give each child a paper and pencil and let them write words from dictation such as spray, stay, clay, day, lay, clay, gray, may, pay, say, way, or sway.
• Engage the children in interactive writing about their experience. Review target words and phrases from the activities then present sentence frame, sentence completion, gestural, or question prompts incorporating target words and phrases. Provide verbal or written options if needed.
  • Examples of sentence completion prompts:
    • I can _____ (pay) to get a _____ (spray).
    • I can _____ (say) when to _____ (spray).
    • I like to _____ (stay) to feel the _____ (spray).
    • I do not like the _____ (spray) so I _____ (stay) _____ (away).
    • I can _____ (lay) down to _____ feel a (spray).
    • I can _____ (spray) this _____ (way) or that _____ (way).
    • I can _____ (spray) some _____ (clay) or paper that is _____ (gray).