Hello, Goat. Do you like my boat? It is a fine day to float in a boat.
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Water Illustrations by Danny Rivera; iStockPhoto/Getty Images (Bottom Goat); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images); Addictive Creative/Offset (Cups); jallfree/Getty Images (Arm); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)
Please, Goat. Get Off My Boat!
Have fun with decodable text.
By Janice Behrens | Design by Marybeth Butler Rivera
From the March/April 2025 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will decode words with an oa or ea vowel team and understand the sequence of events in a story.
Please, Goat. Get Off My Boat!
Please, please, can I go on your boat?
OK, Goat. Do not plead.
You can get on the boat.
But will it be cold?
I will moan and groan if it is cold.
Do not moan and groan, Goat. I will loan you a coat.
And I will want to eat. I will feel weak if I do not eat. Here is a loaf for the boat. We can make toast!
OK, Goat. We have your coat and your loaf. Please get on the boat.
But do you have tea? I will want tea with my toast. I will put my tea on the boat.
Oh no! This is a big load.
The boat will not float.
It will sink in the sea.
We must get rid of this load.
It all has to go! The coat must go. The loaf must go. The tea must go!
This boat is no fun. I like the beach better.
Goodbye, Goat. Now my boat can float on the sea. Ah, what a fine day on the boat.
Ah, what a good day on the beach.
Games
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Activities
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Skills Activities
Answer Key
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More About the Article
English Language Arts Focus
Phonics and Phonological Awareness
Fluency
Phonics Focus
oa vowel team
ea vowel team
Word List
goat, boat, sea, coat, moan, loan, eat, weak, loaf, tea, load
Challenge Words
please, float, plead, groan, toast, beach
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Implementation
- Whole group
- Small group
- Technology time
Pairings and Text Connections
- From the Storyworks 1 archive: “Silly Story: Please Pass the Peas” (February 2024); “Silly Story: The Boo Cow” (May/June 2024)
- Suggested books: If You Ever Want to Bring a Piano to the Beach, Don’t! by Elise Parsley; Penguin on Vacation by Salina Yoon
Before-Reading Resources
- Word sounds slideshow (3 minutes) Warm up reading muscles by practicing words with oa or ea vowel teams.
Suggested Reading Focus
Phonics/Comprehension (30 minutes)
- Tell students that vowel teams are two vowels next to one another in a word. Explain that often, but not always, vowel teams make the long vowel sound for the first letter in the vowel team. Demonstrate making the long ō sound for the oa vowel team and the long ē sound for the ea vowel team.
- Practice the oa and ea vowel teams by writing beginning and ending sounds of words, then write in the vowel teams and ask students to read aloud:
o m__n → mean, moan
o l__d → lead, load
o b__t → beat, boat
o l__f → leaf, loaf
o m__t → meat, moat
o s__r → sear, soar
- Review high-frequency words from the story. Students can practice words with a partner, as a class, and individually.
- As children read, check comprehension: Who owns the boat? What does the girl want to do on the boat? What does the goat say they can do with the loaf on the boat? Why does the girl think the boat is going to sink? How does she save the boat? Where do the characters end up?
- Have students review the story and highlight words with the oa vowel team in one color and the ea vowel team in another color. They can practice by reading words aloud.
After-Reading Skills Practice
- Skills: Decoding (15 minutes)
Text-to-Speech