Tab is short for tabby. Tabby is a coat pattern, not a breed. Teach the four Story Words with their pictures first: tabby, M, stripes and swirls. Every other word on the reading pages uses sounds taught through UFLI Lesson 41 or a Heart Word. The big cat on pages 13 and 14 is a rare king cheetah; its name is not yet decodable, so the child spots its stripes and blots and you can name it together. The notes at the back give the facts behind the pictures. The last pages model a kind hello: sit and let a cat come to you.
The facts behind the pictures
Every tabby has a dark M on its forehead, drawn in its fur like a name tag it never takes off. The book says “up top” because forehead is not yet decodable.
Tab is a mackerel tabby: thin stripes run down its sides, rings circle its legs and tail like bracelets (the bands of page 9), and striped necklaces cross its chest.
A classic tabby has wide swirls instead, with a big blotch circled by rings on each side, like a bullseye. That blotch is the big spot of page 11.
Tabby is a coat pattern, not a breed, and it comes in many colors, such as brown, silver, red and cream. Tab is short for tabby.
A big cat, a kit and a hello
The big cat is a rare king cheetah. The same gene that shapes a classic tabby’s swirls gives the king cheetah its coat, whose spots join into blotches and stripes.
A tabby kitten (a kit) is striped from the start. As it grows, its stripes stretch and get bigger, but no new stripes are added.
Cats vary: some like laps and some like more space. Let a cat choose. Sit low and quiet, avoid staring and give it time to come to you.
Sources: The Cat Fanciers’ Association, Patterns in the Domesticated Cat and Patterns of Cats – For Kids; Alley Cat Allies; Kaelin et al., Science (2012) and Nature Communications (2021); AAFP and ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines.
Sound out a first cat story with pictured Story Words.
- Ages
- 4–6
- Trim
- 6 × 9 in
- Pages
- 24
- Words
- 107
- Reading grade
- -1.7
See the printed pages
