State the Objective
Tell the children that they will pretend to be crabs while they read and write words that end with ab, such as crab, jab, and grab.

Literacy Activities
Let crabs jab and stab

• Tell the children that crab, jab, stab, and grab rhyme.
• Sing the It’s a Crab target text (see below), emphasizing the -ab words.
• As you sing, have the children copy hand gestures for the words crab, grab, stab, and jab.

The crab grabs 

• Have the children open and close their hands like a crab.
• Let the children grab objects (real or pretend) while chanting “grab like a crab.”

Blend -ab words

• Blend sounds into -ab words:
  • Say “j + ab” and ask the children, “What word am I saying?”  
  • If children don’t respond, say the whole word: “j + ab – jab!”
  • Segment -ab words into individual sounds (e.g.,  j  + a + b).
  • Have the children blend the sounds to produce the word (e.g., jab).

Write about a crab

• Read the It’s a Crab text.
• Reread the text, saying only the initial sound of each -ab word.
• Have the children fill in the -ab sound to complete the word (e.g., you say /cr/, and the children say /ab/ to make crab).
• Have the children write nab, jab, and tab from dictation.