Overview
The children will ride piggyback to get to a shack and read and write words ending with –ack, such as back, track, snack, pack, and sack

Literacy Activities
Give a piggyback ride to a shack

• Before the activity, put the shack sign on a wall, and make a trail of animal tracks on the floor leading up to the wall.
• Using the paper dolls, show the children how one doll can ride piggyback on the other doll’s back.
• Let the children take turns giving a doll or stuffed animal a piggyback ride.
• Make a list of several different things that the children can pretend to do using –ack words:
  • Ride piggyback along the animal tracks.
  • Get back on track as you piggyback.
  • Piggyback to a shack.
  • Stop for a snack at the shack.
  • Save a snack in a sack.
• Ask the children to raise their hand when they see/hear an -ack word as you read the different actions aloud together.
• Have the children get into groups of two and give each group a paper doll, real doll, or stuffed animal.
• Let one child tell the other child to do an -ack action as he piggybacks his doll to the shack (i.e., Ride piggyback along the animal tracks; Don't step on a track.)
• Have the children switch roles several times, giving each other directions until they get to the shack.
• When the children get to the shack, tell them to walk back-to-back with their partner and follow the animal tracks back.

More Practice
Identify, blend and manipulate sounds

• With word blending cards, have the children make new words by changing the beginning consonant sounds or the vowel:
  • Changing the beginning consonant: back → pack; sack → snack; hack → sack; lack → rack
  • Changing the vowel: pack → peck; sack → sock; lack → lick; track → truck

Read target words in a text

• Display the What Can Piggyback Dolls Do? target text large enough for the children to see.
• Read the target text to the children.
• Engage the children in reading the text simultaneously with you (support as needed).
• Read the text with the children again, fading support.
• Have the children take turns underlining the words that end in -ack, then create a word wall of the -ack words.

Write about the activity using target words

• Engage the children in interactive writing about their experience by providing sentence frames and letting the children fill in the missing words (using a word wall, if desired).