State and Model the Objective
Tell the children that they will read and write words using the short-a sound, such as cat, rat, can, and ran. 

Literacy Activities 
Introduce target words

• Display a list of the target words.
• Show the children that all the words have the short-a sound. 
• Help the children read the words. 

Read Can a cat and a rat fit in a can? 

• Engage the children in reading Can a Cat and a Rat Fit in a Can? text (see below). 
• Let the children act out the story using a cat, a rat, and a can. 
• Have the children read the text again, fading support. 
• Have the children find words in the text that use the short-a sound. 

Count sounds in words

• Ask the children to hold up one finger for each sound in a word (e.g., “Let’s count the sounds in can. c + a + n = can. Three sounds in can.”).
  • c + a + n
  • c + a + t
  • r + a + t

Write target words from dictation

• Display a list of the target words. 
• Ask the children to write a target word from dictation, allowing the children to use the word bank as needed.