Word Building

Word building is a research-based strategy that has been proven to be highly effective in teaching children to decode and blend individual sounds in words. Manipulating sounds enables students to become familiar with the patterns of sounds in words.

Through the years, I have worked very hard, creating activities that my students can use independently, to help them practice this important skill, as often as possible.

My students practice building word family words.
Click here for a FREE activity sheet!

And words with short and long vowels.

And words with blends.

And words with vowel teams.

And more words with short and long vowels, and words with digraphs, and words with ar.
Click here for a FREE activity sheet!

And with all these word building activities that I have, you'd think I would be satisfied! LOL! But, recently, I had a reason to go back to the drawing board, and create one more building words pack!

I was working with some first graders, who were having difficulty reading words with blends and digraphs. They could read some of them in isolation, but were very unsure of themselves when reading the words in the context of a sentence. They said the words were just too long.

So, we worked on building CVC words with letter tiles and then replacing the first letter with a blend. I sat and came up with some CVC words that could become longer words when you added a blend at the beginning. They built the words with the letter tiles, and then wrote the words, and then read the words, and we repeated this for awhile until they realized that reading words with blends wasn't so hard!

While we were working together, I kept thinking, "Wouldn't it be nice to have some building words activity sheets already made, where you could add blends to CVC words and not only read and write the words in isolation, but read the words in the context of a sentence?"

And, that is how this new pack evolved!

Building Words With Blends and Digraphs enables students to build words, beginning with an easy to read word, so they feel confident and successful from the start. Students build the word in the box,

 then change the first letter, replacing it with a blend (or digraph),

and read and write the new word on the line.

Then, they read a sentence, and highlight both of the words they built. 

Each of the 8 blends activity sheets begins with a CVC word or a word where the final consonant is doubled. 

This systematic, direct approach, really helped these students learn to confidently decode and blend individual sounds in words and become familiar with the patterns of sounds in words.

They are great as a station activity or small group activity. I love to use them during RTI and for homework, as well.

Here's an example of building words with digraphs.

 All of the 8 digraphs activity sheets begin with a CVC, CVCe, or CVCC word. Students change one letter and replace it with a beginning or ending digraph (ch, ph, sh, th, wh, ck, gh, kn, ll, ng, tch, wr, zz) to make a whole new word.

I also included 2 building words with blends and digraphs activity sheets. Each sheet begins with a CVCC, CCVC, or CCVCC word. Students change a blend to a digraph or a digraph to a blend, to make a whole new word.

Each activity sheet includes the exact letter tiles needed to build the words on the page. You can print a set of letters for each student, or print a few sets on different colored copy paper and store them in separate Ziploc baggies. I recommend printing them in different colors so the sets don't get mixed up. You can save the letters to use year after year.

I also included a page with all 26 lower case letters and a page with all 26 capital letters. You can print a few sets on different colored copy paper and store them in Ziploc baggies. This way, you don't need to print a new set of letters for each activity sheet.

If you would prefer not to print any letters, you can use letter tiles instead.

Click here to read a blog post I wrote, which includes visuals of how I store my letters.

If you are interested in these building words activity sheets, you can find them here, or by clicking the image below.

Winter Holiday Center Activities

I can't believe it's already time to start planning winter holiday activities! I like to have plenty of fun and engaging activities for the children to do independently, because we all know that it is extra hard to keep children engaged while visions of sugarplums dance in their heads!

The following holiday language activities for little learners can be found here.



They will surely keep students challenged and on task. 
They won't even realize it's school work!

Labeling Rudolf

I included a colored version that you can put in page protectors and students can label Rudolf with a dry erase marker and a black and white version so each student can have a copy. Two different writing templates are also included, so students can write about Rudolf, using some of the words they used to label him.

Beginning, Middle, and Ending Sounds Activity Sheets

Answer keys are included!

Things I Like...

Students will enjoy drawing pictures of and writing about things they like during the holidays. I also included a template with solid lines, instead of the handwriting lines.

Holiday Honey's

Who will the children see or hope to see during the holidays? 
Students write their names and draw a picture of them.

Scrambled Sentences

Students unscramble six sentences and write them on the recording sheet. I included sentences about Christmas and Hanukkah. A black and white version is included, as is an answer key.

Holiday Shopping List

Students use the 24 colored or black and white picture/word cards to make a list of things they'd like to receive for the holidays. Then, they draw a picture of each item.

Write the Room

You can hang the word cards around the room and have students walk around with their recording sheet on a clipboard. Or, you can place the picture/word cards at a station and students choose words to write. There are two different versions of the recording sheet. The one not pictured has a space for students to illustrate each word. The 18 cards come in color and black and white.

There are also two writing activities included, one for Christmas and one for Hanukkah, which are not shown above. Click on the image below to find these activities in my store!

Need some holiday activities for first or second graders?

Here are some great ones...

Click here or on the image below to see these activities in my store.

These activities will really make it easy for you to plan your holiday centers. 
Prep them once and enjoy them year after year!

Thanksgiving Literacy Center Activities

My favorite time of year is coming up...

Thanksgiving Time!

Here are some fun and engaging activities for kindergartners.

There's a great mix of hands on activities and no-prep printables.

Planning your centers will be a breeze!

Scrambled sentences are always a big hit.

Students will have lots of success reading the words on the cards.

A sentence recording sheet is included, along with an answer key, to make this activity self checking.

These turkey rhyming cards are sure to engage your students! They can be used as a memory game, a matching activity, a write the room activity, or, just leave them at a center, along with the recording sheet. A recording sheet for matching ten rhymes is also included.

There's no better time to learn how to write a thank you note, then during Thanksgiving time! Students can write to anyone! A template without the prompts is also included.

Here's a fun way for students to learn and practice counting syllables in words. There are printables for real and nonsense words, and beginning and ending sounds, as well. All of them come with an answer key!

Click here or on the image below to see these activities in my store!

Need some Thanksgiving activities for first or second graders?

Here are some great ones!

Click here or on the image below to see these activities in my store!

You can grab these Thanksgiving activities on sale, along with the rest of my store on October 31 and November 1!

Halloween Party Ideas From Oriental Trading

Now is the perfect time to begin planning for Halloween! The games, the costumes, the candy...it's such a fun time for children and (most) adults! LOL!

Oriental Trading is definitely my go to online party supply store, especially at Halloween time.

How cute is Frankie in this Glow in the Dark Skeleton Costume? It comes with an attached hood, but he preferred to keep that part off. 

Doesn't he look scaaaarrrryyyyy? 

(Although I have two yorkies of my own, Frankie is my friend's dog, who agreed to model this costume. My dogs, who are 13 and 14 years old, were fast asleep!) 

Here's a neat Halloween Spoon Game! You can have spoon races, or play pass the eyeball. What a fun game for a school or home party!

It comes with six spoons and six eyeballs.

This Fall Bowling Game is the best! The pins look like giant pieces of candy corn and it comes with an orange bowling ball. 

Here's my yorkie, Max, checking out the pins, before he walked off with one of them!

This is a Monster Bean Bag Toss Game. Just set up the cans and use the bean bags to knock 'em down.

Isn't this Inflatable Spider Ring Toss Game adorable! It comes with four black and orange rings. I especially love how each leg has a number, so you can add up how many points you get.

This is a Fall Leaf Hedgehog Magnet Craft Kit. I know the kids will really enjoy putting this together! Each pack makes 12, so I ordered two packs.

I hope I've given you some ideas for your own Halloween party. I like how the items I chose could be used for the entire month of October, not just for Halloween, because they are all fall themed. 

You can check out all of Oriental Trading's Halloween costumes here and all of the Halloween toys, games, and novelties here.

*Disclaimer: This post contains information about products that were sent to me by Oriental Trading for review. However, all opinions are my own and are 100% honest.