State the Objective
Tell the children that they will learn a story about a cat and a rat in a can as they read and write words using the short-a (/ă/) sound, such as cat, rat, can, and ran. 

Literacy Activities 
Introduce target words

• Display a list of the target words.
• Point out that all the words have the short-a sound. 
• Help the children read the words. 

Read Can a Cat and a Rat Fit in a Can? 

• Read the Can a Cat and a Rat Fit in a Can? target text (see below). 
• Explain that a rat might get hurt if it were in a can with a cat.
• Let the children act out the story using a cat, a rat, and a can. 
• Reread the text and have the children identify words that contain the /ă/ sound. 

Count sounds in words

• Ask the children to hold up one finger for each sound in a word (e.g., “Let’s count the sounds in can. C + a + n = can. Three sounds in can!”)
• Repeat with other short-a words:
  
  • c + a + n
  • c + a + t
  • r + a + t

Write target words from dictation

• Display a list of the target words. 
• Help the children write the target words on the list while they sound them out.