State and Model the Objective

Tell the children that they will read and act out a story about a hen which focuses on short-e words, such as hen, peck, neck, and leg.

Literacy Activities

Read and act out the text My Hen Likes to Peck target text

• Engage the children in shared reading of My Hen Likes to Peck (see below). 
• Using the picture of the hen (see below) have children act out the text.

Segment sounds in words

• Let the children use their fingers as a beak to peck at short-e words in My Hen Likes to Peck (see below). 
• Have the children say the words with a “stretched out” vowel: “h–eeee–n”.
• Using the list of short-e words below, help the children write sentences about things the hen can do (e.g., go to bed in the pen, peck on the deck, get wet).

Read A Red Pet target text with children 

• Engage the children in shared reading of A Red Pet (see below) and fade support.
• Segment short-e words into their sounds (e.g., h-e-n, p-e-ck, w-e-t, g-e-t, p-e-n, l-e-g, n-e-ck, l-e-t, b-e-t, t-e-n) and have the children say the word they hear (e.g., hen). 
• Using the segmented words below, have the children use their fingers to peck each letter, produce each sound, and blend the sounds to make a word (e.g., h-e-n: hen).