State the Objective

Tell the children that they will play with ships as they read and write words that end with ip such as ship, skip, zip, drip, dip, and tip. 

Literacy Activities

Introduce target words

Read the target words with the children: tip, dip, zip, ship, skip, drip, and flip.

Place -ip words on a paper ship

• Read the Take a Trip on a Ship target text (see below) with the children.
• Give the children a ship: a toy ship, a ship image (see below), a recyclable plastic tub (e.g., for butter or salad), or a folded paper ship.
• Ask the children to write or tape the word ship on their ships.
• Let the children write -ip words from dictation and place them on their ships.

Let a ship skip

• Read the What a Ship Can Do target text (see below) with the children.
• Allow the children to act out each word (see below) using a ship and a bowl of water:
  • tip (make the ship tip to one side)
  • zip (move the ship quickly)
  • skip (bump the ship up and down like it's skipping on water)
  • flip (make the ship flip back and forth in the water)
  • dip (dip the ship down a little)
  • drip (pick up the ship and let it drip)

Identify initial, medial, and final sounds and write words

• Have children identify the beginning, middle and ending sounds of words by tapping the table once for the initial sound, once for the vowel, and once for the final sound. 
  • ship = /sh/ /i/ /p/
  • dip = /d /i/ /p/
  • rip = /r/ /i/ /p/
  • tip = /t/ /i/ /p/
• Have the children write each word on a piece of paper.
• Help the children fold their paper into a ship (optional).