Overview

The children will make dads glad as they add sounds to the -ad ending to make words such as bad, glad, mad, sad, and dad.

Literacy Activities
Make dads glad

• Read the story Dad, Aren't You Glad? by Lynn Plourde (optional).

• Help small groups of children think of things they could do to make a dad glad (e.g., draw a picture, make his bed, clean his room).

• Let each group of children create a charade (acting with no talking) to show what they would do to make a dad glad.

• After a few minutes, give each group a turn to act out their charade in front of the class while the other children try to guess the idea. 

• When a child has guessed the correct action, have everyone say, “Dad is glad.”

• List the children’s ideas under the heading, “Dad is glad when…” and have the children copy one or two sentences, underlining the -ad endings.

More Practice
Blend, segment, and spell sounds

• Have children blend individual sounds into words by tapping their shoulder (beginning sound) and head (-ad  sound) then have them clap to say the whole word.

  • d + ad = dad

  • s + ad = sad

  • gl + ad = glad

• Give each child a whiteboard and have them write words from dictation, changing one or two letters each time to make a new word:

  • Example: glad → lad → sad → sat → mat → man → tan → tin → pin → pig → big → bit → bat → sat → fat → fan → ran