State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will read and write short-vowel words that end in ap, such as cap, map, tap, clap, snap, and slap.

Literacy Activities
Read Caps for Sale

• Read Caps for Sale, by Esphyr Slobodkina, to the children (optional).
• Read the Caps for Sale reader’s theater target text (see below) with the children.
• Assign children as the narrator, cap seller, and monkeys, and let them act out the script.
• Have the children identify short-vowel words that end in ap (e.g., cap, nap, tap, slap, snap, flap).
• Read the text again, fading support.
• Have the children write -ap words from dictation on a picture of a cap (see below).

Write a story using target words and phrases

• Let the children write -ap words from dictation (e.g., cap, nap, tap, gap, map, clap, snap).
• Write the following sentence frames and let the children fill in the missing words.
  • “The man ____ (sells caps, naps, flaps his cap).”
  • “The monkeys ____ (tap, clap, slap, snap).”
  • “We can sell ____ (caps, maps).”
  • “I ____ with my fingers (tap).”
  • “I ____ my hands (clap).”
  • “I ____ my fingers (snap).”
  • “I can’t sell caps, but I can take a ____ (nap).”
• Help the children write a sentence about the Caps for Sale target text (see below) (e.g., the man sells caps, the man naps, the man flaps his cap).

Identify the vowel sound in short-vowel words

• Say short-vowel words and ask the children what vowel they hear (e.g., cap, cup, map, mop, tap, tip).
• Stretch out your arms and lengthen the vowel as you say each word (e.g., “Cap. c  aaaa  p. Cap.”).
• Have the children identify the sounds in the word and then write the word.

Identify, blend, and manipulate sounds

• With word-building cards (see below), have the children make new words by changing a consonant or the vowel.
• Change the beginning consonant(s): cap→ map, gap→ nap, sap→ tap, clap→ snap
• Change the vowel: cap→ cup, map→ mop, tap→ top, clap→ clip
• Change the ending consonant: cap→ cat, sap→ sad, clap→ clam, map→ mat