State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will hear a story about a witch's hat that went flat as they add sounds to the -at ending to make words, such as hat, bat, cat, flat, and splat. 

Literacy Activities
Make a flat hat

• Cut a circle of black paper, roll it into a cone, then secure to make a witch’s pointy hat.
• Cut another circle of black paper that is wider than the bottom of the cone to be the hat’s brim.
• Secure the cone to the brim to make a complete witch’s hat. 
• Display the cat, bat, and rat picture cards (found below) on a table, flip them facedown, and invite the children to choose one to label with the appropriate -at word. 
• Read the A Witch's Flat Hat text (found below) with the children, then have them act out the text:
  • Put the picture cards in the witch’s hat as they are mentioned.
  • Have one of the children pretend to be the witch and try to chase the animals away saying, "Scat ____ (bat)!"
  • Use the broom to flatten the hat and say, “SPLAT!”
  • Hold up the animals to show that they are ok, then point to the flat hat and say, "I made the hat flat! Now scat bat, cat, and rat!"

Read and write -at words

• Write at on a whiteboard, then let the children write an h in front of at to make hat.
• Have the children blend the /h/ sound with /at/ to read the word hat.
• Ask the children to think of other words that end with at, then help them write the words.
• Tell the children to write at on the blank line on each word card (found below). 
• Have the children blend the beginning sound with /at/ to read each word.
• Let the children put the word cards in the witch's hat.
• Use the broom to flatten the hat, then comment that the words and the hat are flat.

Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds 

• Have the children blend individual sounds into words by tapping their head (beginning sound) and their toes (/at/ sound) and then clap to say the whole word. 
  • /b/ /at/ = /bat/
  • /s/ /at/ = /sat/
  • /m/ /at/ = /mat/
  • /h/ /at/ = /hat/
• Point out that all of the words have the /at/ sound at the end of the word.
• Ask the children to identify which sound differs in each word.

Write about the activity using target words

• Have the children take turns passing the flat hat.
• As the children receive the hat, have them say a new word that ends in -at. 
• Write each new word on the board.  
• Repeat the game, this time having the children write each word on or around the paper hat.
• Allow the children to write a sentence about a hat using the words written on the hat (e.g., “I see a cat on a hat”).