State and Model the Objective
Tell the children they will vote on notes for boats and totes and then read and write words with the two different long o spellings -oa and o_e, such as boat, vote, float, and note. 

Literacy Activities
List -oa and o_e words

• Explain that boat and vote both have a long o sound. 
• List words that end with -ote and -oat on the board (e.g., oat, boat, coat, float, moat, goat, vote, tote, note, wrote).  

Vote for the boat that will float  

• Let the children label the pictures of different kinds of boats (found below). 
• Tape the pictures of the boats to empty plastic bottles or something else that floats.
• Place the paper boats on bottles in a line.
• Have the children write a note to vote for which boat they think will float (e.g., "I vote for the tugboat").
• Gather the notes and count the votes.
• Tell the children that the boat with the most votes is the boat that will get a chance to float.
• Put the boat with the most votes in a small pan of water to see if it will float.

Vote for goats on boats

• Show the children the pictures of four different goats (found below). 
• Let the children write a note to decide which goat gets to float (e.g., "I vote for the little goat").  
• Let the goat with the most votes float on one of the boats. 

Make a tote and boat for the best float

• Let the children in groups put straps on a tote bag by stapling strips of paper or cloth to a plastic or paper bag.
• Line up the tote bags and label the tote bags as Tote 1, Tote 2, etc. 
• Vote for a tote by writing a note (e.g., "I vote for tote 1").
• Put the vote inside the corresponding tote (e.g., put notes that say "I vote for tote 1" in the tote labeled Tote 1).
• Count the notes in each tote and tell the children that the tote with the most votes gets to be the first tote in a tote parade.
• Hand the totes out to some of the children and have them line up and march around in a pretend parade while saying, “Tote, tote, we tote tote bags!”
• Explain that “to tote” means “to carry” and that “tote” means “bag.”

Tote notes in a tote bag

• Make a word wall of -oat and -ote words with the children. 
• Let the children write notes using -oat and -ote words to put in a tote.
• Tote the notes in a tote and mix up the notes.
• Pull notes out of the tote and vote to guess who put the note in the tote.

Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds

• With the word-building cards (found below), have the children make new words by changing the consonant(s):
  • Change the beginning consonant(s) of -oat words: oat→ goat, boat→ float, moat→ coat, throat→ gloat
  • Change the beginning consonant(s) of -ote words: tote→ note, wrote→ quote, vote→ tote
  • Change the ending consonant: oat→ oak, goat→ goal, note→ nope

Read target words and patterns in a text

• Read the target text Vote for the Boat That Will Float (found below) together.
• Read the text again, fading support.
• Have the children underline the words that end with -oat, then repeat with words that end with -ote.
• Repeat with Put Notes in Totes (found below).

Write about the activity using target words and patterns

• Give each child a paper and pencil and have them write words from dictation (e.g., boat, float, goat, vote, note, coat, oat, tote, wrote, moat, gloat, throat, quote).
• Engage the children in interactive writing by providing sentence frames:
  • "I saw a . . ." (boat float, goat go on a boat)
  • "I like to . . ." (make a tote for notes, watch boats float)
  • "I can vote . . ." (for the best boat, for the best tote, for a goat)