State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will pretend to be cops and that they will play with words that rhyme with cop, such as hop, mop, top, chop, flop, and stop.

Literacy Activities
Play the Stop Cop game

• Tell the children that they are going to play a game called Stop Cop, which is similar to Red Light, Green Light.
• Read the word cards (see below) with the children and help them come up with an action to go with each card.
• Select a child to be the cop and give that child the cop badge (see below).
• Read a word card and have the cop lead the other children in performing the action.
• Tell the cop to hold up the stop sign (see below) and shout, “Cop says, ‘stop!’” when the cop wants the other children to stop.

Produce and recognize -op rhyming words

• List -op words and point out the -op endings.
• Remind the children of words that rhyme with cop (e.g., mop, flop, stop).
• Ask the children if two words rhyme.
• If the words rhyme (e.g., cop and top), nod and say, "Cop and top rhyme,” but if the words don’t rhyme (e.g., cop and tan), shake your head and say, “Cop and tan don’t rhyme!”

Blend and segment rhyme words

• Segment familiar rhyme words into initial consonant + ending (e.g., c + op) and ask, “What word did I say?”; support as needed.
• Segment words into phonemes (e.g., c + o + p) and ask, “What word did I say?”
• Write a word (e.g., top) and ask:
  • What sounds do we hear? (e.g., t + o + p)
  • What is the first sound? (e.g., /t/)
  • What is the last (or ending) sound? (e.g., /p/)
  • What is the middle sound (or the vowel)? (e.g., /o/)
• Review -op words and their sounds (e.g., Look at the word top. The first sound is /t/, the final sound is /p/, and the vowel sound in the middle is /o/.).