Category: Freebies

Word Lists

When teaching reading, it is important to have access to lists of words for a phonics pattern. The word lists from On Track Reading are helpful, and there is another list for phonemic awareness.

Now there are now two word lists available here at Phonics Pow.

CardsClipStrips

The first list includes all the words in the free Clip Strips. These are all word families that help to introduce phonics patterns in a sequence while teaching reading. Download the Clip Strip Word Lists pdf.

CardsWordSorts

The next one includes all the words in the Word Sort Games that are designed to go along with the Phonics Pow Toolkit. Download the Word Sort Games Word Lists pdf.

Both are helpful to introduce phonics patterns in a sequence during a reading tutor session.

Clip Strips

Words that have the same ending pattern (rime) often rhyme with the same ending sound. They are sometimes called word families. They are a great way to introduce a pattern that you are learning as part of a reading lesson.

Blending Onset & Rime together is a part of phonemic awareness, an important skill for learning to read.

  • Onset – the part of the word before the vowel
  • Rime – the part of the word with the vowel and what follows it
    (Rime & Rhyme are homophones, words that sound the same but are spelled differently and can have different meanings.)

Some options for free printable word family sliders can be found at my Pinterest board on Word Families and Ladders. I especially like the ones from Little Bunny because there are lots of phonograms. They have cute illustrations and are in black and white so they don’t use a lot of color ink to print. But since compact resources are essential for a portable tutor kit, I created a very plain and simple set of clip strips for this purpose.

Print and Assemble:

  1. After the introduction, the next few pages are an index. The phonics pattern is printed on the left. These are word endings, or rimes. Print the index pages on regular paper & cut across by patterns to use them as labels on long envelopes for storing the strips.
  2. Print the remaining sets of strips on card stock.
  3. Cut the bottom strip off across. These are word endings, or rimes, that will be cut apart to attach to the back of matching strips in step 5.
  4. Cut remaining strips apart horizontally (down). Leaving the top margin and a small right side margin on is helpful.
  5. Cut apart each ending (rime) from the bottom strip (or a 1″ circle punch works) and attach to the back of the matching strip with velcro dots. Store the strips in labeled envelopes.

Use:

  1. Select a strip with onsets, and attach the ending (rime) with a velcro dot to a clothespin.
  2. Move the clothespin down the strip, with student blending the sounds into words.

The Clip Strips freebie is available at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers. Visit Word Lists for a free download of the words.

I continue to find patterns and uses for these!

Reading Comprehension Cubes

Reading Strategies for Comprehension

Get a free copy of cubes for reading comprehension at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers. One includes strategies for reading comprehension, the other has the elements of a story.

Elements of a story

Find websites with passages to check reading comprehension at READ, just read.

See Recipes for Reading Comprehension Strategies at the Balanced Literacy Diet.

Fall For Phonics: the sound of /f/

The sound of /f/ can be spelled different ways. This is one of the ways that consonants can vary. The sound of /f/ can be spelled many ways indeed, more than three! In the following sentence, how many ways do you see?

The dolphin swam fast in the rough sea by the cliff

(f as in fast, ff as in cliff, ph as in dolphin, and gh as in rough.) The word fall belongs to the special flossy word family -all, where the letter a makes the sound of a short o before double letters -ll. In the word phonics, the ph makes the sound of /f/.

WATCH the Kids vs Phonics Video (2:47) & Jack Hartmann Video (2:16)

GH can also be /g/ when you see a ghost all in white, or no sound at all when you see the light. Learn more at A ghost with a slight cough gave a great fright.

How many times do you hear the sound of /f/ in this poem about fall?

The Fall for Phonics freebie that includes the poem, a word list, and worksheet for F variations is available at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Learn more about the Phonics Pow Toolkit, how to get free word sort games and more free resources.

Chase the Sheep

After learning about Consonant Digraphs with short vowels at the end of the SOUND OUT WORDS section (II.c), and about Silent e (III.a), it is time to learn about words that have BOTH! Words like…

CHASE THE SHEEP!

This free set of activities includes a worksheet, a word search, and a word sort. The words can be sorted two ways: by digraphs or by the Bossy R vowel. The CHASE THE SHEEP freebie is available to download at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers. Also available is a free wordlist and set of bookmarks with consonant digraphs and vowel patterns.

Play the Chase the Sheep wordsearch online.

Learn more about Word Sorts and get the free set of word sort games for the Phonics Pow Toolkit.

The /k/ Sound at the beginning of words

The /k/ sound at the beginning of words can be spelled with a c or a k. This is one of the consonants that can vary. This can be introduced with words that have a short vowel, adding more advanced vowel patterns as they are learned.

K takes i and e, and C takes the other three.

KorCBoth

Some words with short vowels can begin with the /k/ sound. The kid kept the kiss. What can the cost of a cup of tea be?

Some words with more advanced vowel patterns can begin with the /k/ sound. Keep the kite. The cook baked a cute cake.

Available at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers: A worksheet for the sound of /k/ at the beginning of words with anchor charts and word lists. Or the free anchor charts and word lists. A worksheet and game board are included in the Phonics Pow Toolkit. (IV.c) Learn how to get the free word sort games that include the /k/ sound.

Hard or Soft C and G

The letters C and G can make hard or soft sounds.

C is often hard /k/ before A, O & U. With the others, a soft C /s/ will do.

The words in the word families of -ace and -ice have the soft C sound.  C before e will often soft be. These are Silent e words.

G is often hard before A, O & U. With the others, a soft G will often do.

(But this is not always true, which you know if you get a gift given to you!)

G before e will often soft be. Words that end in -ge or -dge have the soft G sound of /j/. Defender d can stop the vowel from being long in some Silent e words.

Sight words with:

  • Hard c /k/: can, came, car, cut
  • Soft c /s/: face, place, space, sentence
  • Hard g: go, got, big, give
  • Soft g /j/: large, page, change

Keyword sentence: I got a large change when I came to this place.

There are some words with short vowels that have a hard or soft c and g, but many more have advanced vowel patterns. Because of this, hard or soft c and g (IV.b)  are introduced after learning about Defender d at the end of the Silent e section in the Phonics Pow Toolkit. (III.a) Download worksheets or the free anchor charts with word lists for hard or soft c and g at the Super Tutor Tools store at Teachers Pay Teachers. The Consonant Variations soccer sort game includes hard or soft c and g, plus the ending sound of /k/.

WATCH videos and PLAY games about hard or soft C and G at the Wakelet tutorial on hard or soft C and G.

Learn how to get the free word sort games that include hard or soft c and g. Game boards for hard or soft c and g are part of the Phonics Pow Toolkit.

Long Vowel Patterns

To know all of the ways that vowels can be long, learn about:

IGH is a trigraph – one sound is made with three letters. The gh is silent and the i is long. The sound of IGH is included with vowel teams in the Phonics Pow Toolkit, as the other vowels have teams that make the long sound, but i only has the trigraph IGH. Learn more about the vowel trigraphs AIR and EAR at Bossy R variations. WATCH videos on igh from Little Learners and Kids vs. Phonics, and try a long i wordsearch.

IGH is included in the Vowel Teams section of the Phonics Pow Toolkit. III.4

  • ā – ai & ay
  • ē – ea & ee
  • ī – igh
  • ō – oa & ow
  • ū – ui & ew

Can you identify all the long vowel patterns in the sentences below?

LONG I: The pilot tried to fly kind of high for a mile.

More sentences with long vowel patterns:

LONG A: They say the lady will take the train today at eight.

LONG E: We even like these crazy sheep that bleat.

LONG O: Put a coat on to go home in the cold snow.

LONG U: The cool jewel on her blue suit was super huge.

Word searches for long e, i, o , & u. Download the free Long Vowel Sentences  anchor chart pdf. Long vowel patterns are included in free word sort games and in the Phonics Pow Toolkit. (III.f)

LongVowelPatterns

This chart with helpful color coding from the Long Vowel Patterns section of the Phonics Pow Toolkit shows some examples.

Tricky Y

The letter y is tricky indeed. It can make many sounds, more than three!

Yes, y is a consonant in yellow and yolk.

Sometimes y makes a short i sound like in system and gym.

A y at the end can a vowel be, with the sound of a long i or e. How do you know which you see? At the end of one syllable words, y often says “i” like in fly. With more syllables, it is often a long e.

There are some exceptions, like the one syllable word “key” with the long e sound. (Hey! No Way! -ey can sound like a long a in some words like grey, and the vowel team -ay a long a will say.) You can’t deny y is long i in two syllable words like: July, supply, reply, rely, and apply. Some two syllable words go in the long i pile like typist and style.

WATCH videos and PLAY online games about Tricky y at the Vowels That Vary Wakelet tutorial.

Download a free handout on Tricky Y, and get a Y flower sort game.

Practice Tricky Y with a story and word sort at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.