Overview
The children will help pack a black backpack as they read and write words that end in -ack, such as track, snack, black, back, and pack.

Literacy Activities
Pack a black backpack

• Give each child a picture card or object.
• Take turns packing the black backpack with the -ack items while everyone says, “Pack a ___ in the black backpack.”
• When you have finished packing, tell the children they are ready to go on their train trip and travel on a train track.
• Set out the train track on the floor then form a line and pretend to be in a train on a track.
• Make a train sound using the -ack word ending (e.g., “ack-ack-ack-ack, ack-ack-ack-ack,” etc.) while traveling in the train on the track.

Crack a snack from a black backpack

• Pack snacks (use snacks like pretzels or crackers that are brittle enough to crack) in a black backpack to get ready for a trip in a train on a track.
• Stack the snacks inside the pack.
• Form a line and pretend to be in a train on a track.
• Unpack the snacks from the black backpack while traveling on the track.
• Tell the children that you lack enough snacks for everyone to have a snack (explain that lack means to not have enough of something) so they will have to crack the snacks and share.
• Crack the snacks from the black backpack and share with everyone who is riding in the train on the track.
• Ask the children what words they heard in the activity that end with -ack and make a list of them on the board.

More Practice
Identify, blend and manipulate sounds

• With  the letter cards have the children make new words by changing the vowel or either of the consonants:
  • pack → back, rack → jack, track → smack, snack → black
  • pack → pat, back → bat → ban, smack → small → smash
  • pack → peck → pick, track → trick →truck, back →buck

Read target words in a text

• Read the text Black Backpack together as a class/group.
• Read the text again, fading support.
• Have the children underline the words that end in –ack.

Write about the activity using target words

• Play a “pass the backpack” game with children.
  • Have the children sit in a circle and take turns passing the black backpack.
  • As the children get the backpack, have them say a new word that ends in -ack.
  • Write each new word on the board.
  • Repeat the game, but this time, have the children write each word on a small piece of paper with a black crayon then stack each new word on the backpack.
• Give the children paper and pencil and let them write words from dictation: pack, back, stack, snack, rack, tack, jack
• Give the children a whiteboard and have them write words from dictation, changing one or two letters each time to make a new word: back, pack, lack, slack, snack, stack, tack, rack, sack, jack