A farm egg-catching short vowel review game where first grade kids catch the eggs with short a, e, i, o and u words like cat, hen, pig, pot and sun. Play online on any phone, tablet, Chromebook or computer.
In this popcorn blends activity, K-2nd Grade children spin a blend, sort 12 picture cards into popcorn boxes and fill in a practice page, with an answer key included for quick checking.
This capitalize it activity for 1st to 3rd grade has children sort 24 lowercase word cards into proper and common nouns, with a practice page and answer key included to sharpen capitalization.
This word work activity lets kindergarten and 1st grade students build CVC words with color-coded consonant and vowel tiles, then write each word. An answer key is included for quick checking.
Using the Blends, Digraphs, and Trigraphs Activity, students create lists of words that have beginning and ending blends, digraphs, or trigraphs.
This dear valentine activity has K-2nd grade students pick heart word cards for family and school helpers and spell each word on a Valentine card. Answer key included.
In this consonant digraphs ch sh th wh activity, Kindergarten to 3rd Grade students sort 16 picture-word cards by their first sound, with an answer key included for easy checking.
This l blend activity has 1st and 2nd grade students match picture cards to word cards and sort words by bl, cl, fl, pl and sl. Answer key included.
Kids build short-vowel words with pumpkin tiles in this Fall CVC Mat Activity for preschool to 1st grade. Answer key included, so checking each word mat is fast.
This CVC word mats activity helps preschool to 2nd grade students build and spell short vowel words with letter tiles, with a practice page and an answer key included.
This beginning consonant blends activity gives Kindergarten to 2nd Grade readers 12 picture clip cards, a recording sheet and a practice page, with an answer key included, so they can hear and write r-, l- and s-blends.
In this blending s blends activity, 1st and 2nd grade children match 15 picture cards to word cards, then sort the words by sn, sk, sl, st and sp. Answer key included.
This apple cvc mat activity lets PreK-1st grade students build short-vowel words with apple letter tiles on 12 picture mats. Practice worksheet and answer key included.
This blends mini book activity lets 1st and 2nd grade children make a travel book, write the blend for each picture and use each word in a sentence. Answer key included.
Using the Super Speller Reward Certificate for Boys, your student will feel celebrated and recognized for their spectacular spelling skills.
This contractions activity has 1st to 3rd grade students sort cookie cards into jars by the word the apostrophe stands for. Answer key included for quick checking.
This brick breaker consonant blends activity has 1st and 2nd grade students spin a blend and break picture bricks that begin with it. An answer key is included for each game mat.
This spelling short vowel words CVC words activity has Kindergarten and 1st Grade students build words with frame and vowel cards and sort real from made-up words. Answer key included.
UsingSound Hound Sounding Out Words Activity, studentsplay Sound Hound to practice sounding out words with three sounds (3-4 letter words).
This feeling bright great and proud r consonant blends activity has 1st-2nd grade students sort 20 balloon word cards by br, tr, gr, fr and pr. Answer key included.
Sound it out, write it down
First graders spell words by listening for every sound and writing a letter for it. They master short vowel CVC words like hop and bed, then add blends (frog, stop), digraphs (ship, chin) and simple silent e words like cake. They learn common sight words that don't follow the rules, and start adding -s to make plurals. The click is when a child writes a word they've never practiced and spells it right, just by stretching out the sounds.
First grade spelling is phonics in reverse. These moves connect sounds to letters.
Short vowels are the trickiest part of first grade spelling. A quick review game where kids pick the right vowel for each word gets ears tuned to the middle sound before any spelling test.
Why it works: in a well-known study, a few short sessions of a simple number board game measurably boosted young children's number skills (Ramani and Siegler, 2008).
Try it withShort Vowel Review GameGamesOpen it →Kids look at a picture, say the word slowly and build it with letter tiles on a mat. Then they write it. Moving letters around makes fixing mistakes easy and keeps the focus on sounds.
Why it works: going from real objects to pictures to symbols is a core recommendation of the U.S. Department of Education's elementary math guide.
Try it withCVC Word Mats ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Focus on one blend family each week, like s-blends, and revisit it in short bursts every day. Kids sort, build and write words like stop, snap and swim. Small daily reps beat one long lesson.
Why it works: short practice spread over several days beats one long session, according to a large review of learning research (Dunlosky and colleagues, 2013).
Try it withBeginning Consonant Blends ActivityActivitiesOpen it →Hands-on games that make first graders forget they're practicing.
ActivitiesCover the word that rhymes with the one called. Rhymes help kids spell word families.
Open Rhyming Words Bingo Activity →
ActivitiesHit a single, double or home run by naming the beginning consonant.
Open Beginning Consonants Baseball Activity →
ActivitiesBuild CVC words on a cozy fall mat with leaves and pumpkins.
Open Fall CVC Mat Activity →Teacher favorites right now: Short Vowel Review Game, Popcorn Blends Activity and Capitalize It Activity.
Short vowel words, blends, digraphs, simple silent e words, plurals with -s and common sight words. They learn to spell by listening for each sound.
Invented spelling shows what sounds they hear, so celebrate it. Gently correct words they've already learned, and help them stretch out sounds they missed.
Many classrooms use 5 to 10 words that share a pattern, plus a couple of sight words. Patterns matter more than quantity.
Use magnetic letters, write words in shaving cream or play "change one letter" games: cat, hat, hot. A few minutes a day is plenty.
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