Monday, June 11, 2012

Word Family, Blends & Digraphs Word Wall and Freebie

Earlier this year I had a lot of trouble with my kiddos not knowing their word families. They had to use rhyming words to innovate on a poem for our first assessment this year. Boy, did they struggle! So I made up these cards so that we could read through the sounds, brainstorm words, and make a word wall to help with spelling. I've finally got around to adding it to TpT.
 I added cards for blends and digraphs as well, as we needed them. Each set of cards has a different coloured border so they can be easily distinguished from other sets. 

So far, we've used them as a Word Family Word Wall. Students refer to them to help with spelling by analogy. 

I've also used them with reading groups, particularly at the start of the year when so many students didn't really know these sounds automatically. I printed the cards 2 sheets on one page (in the printer settings) and added the cards to a plastic ring. My aide or I would go through them with the kids who needed it prior to reading. 

We've also used the cards during Word Work as a partner activity. The kids lay out 4 cards that we've focused on face up. One of the pair says a word and the other writes/makes the word, using the cards to help with spelling if needed. They then swap roles. I like this activity because they have to think of words with the sound AND spell it. For younger kids you could give them a list of words to read from.

I've included 90 cards in total, but am also happy to add any others needed. If you like, you can check them out on TpT. As always, they are 20% off for the first few days.
Now the freebie. I've got a whole polka dot theme going on right now so here are some labels I made eons ago. You can pick them up in Google Docs.They come in 2 sizes.