Word Patterns: -ay word family

When children can 'break up' words and recognise familiar patterns in them, it opens up a whole new range of knowledge; they can use the familiar patterns and phonemes (letter sounds) to predict words they have never seen before, e.g. if they know the common word day (d + ay), they can read may, hay, stay etc.

This month's free game download is 'May Day', with a range of words based on the /ay/ pattern. You can download and print it onto thin card (laminate for best results). You will also need dice and movers/tokens to play the game.

                                             

May Day board game (-ay words)

This game will be available during May, and is free for non-commercial, educational use. 

First Sight Words - cards for games, matching

Once children learn to recognise a few words, it's good to encourage them to practise until the words become very familiar. 

Here is a page of "First Sight Words" that I made to help beginner readers develop familiarity with some commonly-used words; these are words that I have found children often recognise.

The matching words are in a variety of different fonts, and the text is grey rather than black so the words don't show through light card.

   

First Words Match - printable cards

You can print the words onto light card then cut them out to use for matching, for playing 'Memory' (only use 4-6 pairs to start with), or as cards with reading games (free printable reading games are available from free-fun-n-games.com, and also  each month on this blog).

Here is a 'background' you can print on the reverse of the cards sheet if you want to make sure the words don't show through (it has a little colour in it; you can print in greyscale if you prefer):

Printable backing for cards

Pre-Reading Skills - I Spy - free picture sheet to download

'I Spy' is an old game which is great for developing children's awareness of beginning sounds. For pre-readers, it's best played with letter sounds rather than letter names, so the child really notice the beginning sounds of the words. 

Visual discrimination of detail is also important for reading - so activities such as jigsaw puzzles and 'find it' (e.g. Where's Wally?) are good practice.

Here is a printable 'I Spy' sheet that you can use to help children develop awareness of visual detail, sounds in words and also 'expressive language' (the ability to express themselves in words) - all important skills in learning to read.

 'I Spy' printable sheet

You can print it and use it in an educational setting - or take it with you when you go out for a day or on a long trip to help keep a child entertained.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

                       

Here are some ideas for how to use the "I Spy" sheet (you can download and print these if you like - click on the links in the headings):

‘I Spy’ game variations –for ‘I Spy’ sheet:

You can use this sheet to play the normal ‘I Spy’ game (“I spy with my little eye something beginning with…”); try using letter sounds rather than letter names (e.g. “Book starts with a ‘b’ sound. Can you find something else that starts with ‘b’?”)

For a challenge, try using ending sounds (e.g. “Book ends with a ‘b’ sound. Can you find something else that ends with ‘b’?”).

Play ‘Vowel I Spy’ - look for items with clear vowel sounds, e.g.

·         short ‘a’ sound - bag, cat, pan, map, bat, ant, arrow, hand

·         short ‘e’ sound – egg, hen, peg, pencil, zebra

·         short ‘i’ sound – lips, ship, chicken, jigzag, scissors

·         short ‘o’ sound – doll, dog, clock, stop

·         short ‘u’ sound – cup, bug, jug, sun, duck, thumb, trumpet, butterfly, umbrella

·         ‘long i’ (igh) sound – bike, knife, sign, spider

·                                 ‘long e’ (ee) sound – tree, TV

·         ‘long oo’ (as in zoo) sound – shoe

·         ‘or’ sound – fork, door, sea horse

·         ‘ar’ sound – jar, star, guitar, heart, glasses

‘ou’ sound – house, mouse, flower

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Questionsfor ‘I Spy’ sheet:

·         How many round things can you see?

·         How many long things can you see?

·         How many animals can you see?

·         Can you see anything that you can eat?

·         How many things can you see that make a noise?

·         Can you see anything that is really black and white?

·         What things can you see that you can play with?

·         How many things can you see that are useful?

·         Which things can you see that you can wear?

·         How many things can you see that can fly?

·         Is there anything there that is really small?

·         How many things can you see that you might find in your house?

·         How many things can you see that are part of nature?

·         How many eyes can you see?

·         Which things could help you to see?

·         Can you see anything that could help you travel?

·         Which pictures do you think are funny?

·         Which are your favourite pictures? Why?

Can you think of more questions to ask?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Terms of use - All content and printables in this blog are free to use for your personal/educational use - they may not be used for any commercial purposes or distributed elsewhere, but you are welcome to add the links to Pinterest boards etc.

Sight Words - ‘Practice Words’ printable sheet

Children can have a lot of trouble learning their common ‘sight words’, so you may need lots of strategies to help them.

One aid is to write out the words to be learnt in different colours and styles, to help build a mental picture of the words in their surroundings. I developed this sheet to help a student who was having a lot of difficulty with some words.

You can download it to use with your child/students if you like; you can write in the words they are struggling with, or better still get the child to write in the words (just make sure they are correctly spelt and that the letters are facing the right way – write softly for them to trace over if necessary!). The child can use coloured pens or pencils, and can decorate the page with colours, drawings or stickers as they like.

‘Practice Words’  printable sheet

The boxes are big enough for 2 or 3 ‘related’ words (e.g. where, there; would, could, should;  he, me, we; go, no, so) – or you can just focus on one word in each box.

When the child practises the words, you can tick those remembered correctly and quickly.

The child may want to highlight or circle the words that prove most difficult (giving them the option of doing this also gives them some ‘ownership’ of their learning). 

Discuss why those words are difficult and see if you can work out together a way to help them become easier (break them into letter sounds or ‘chunks’, look for patterns, draw a shape around them, etc.).

April Game: Bunny Fun - free Printable Board Game to use with Sight Words.

With Easter only a few days away, I thought it was a good time to post a printable board game with a "Bunny" theme... so here it is. You can download and print this game (laminate for best results).

Bunny Fun- Printable board game

You will need some Sight Word cards to use with the game, and a die (dice) and some tokens or 'movers'. Here are some movers that you can print and assemble to use with the game:

Bunny Fun - printable 'movers' for board game

These printables will be available in April, and are free for your private/educational use. They are in.pdf format, and the links will take you to a public Dropbox folder; note that you do not have to sign up to Dropbox to access them - just exit the pop-up box if you are asked to join or sign in!

"Fast Track Words"

Many of my Reading Intervention students over the years have been boys, and a large number of them have been very keen on riding BMX or Motocross (‘dirt’) bikes.

As many of them have difficulty remembering words that they have not seen often or frequently, they can become discouraged and unmotivated (usually they would rather be outside riding their bike than practising their reading skills anyhow).

I had to come up with an idea to motivate them to practise Sight Words, to give them experience of success and build their confidence in a way they could relate to and without taking too much of their valuable relaxation time after school.

Fast Track Words was the solution I found; you are welcome to use this if you have a child who may relate to the idea*.

You just need to copy off some “Fast Track Words” lists (one- or two-sided ) and to make a booklet of 4-5 A4 pages (copy the cover onto one page and fold them all in half to make the book). If you have different coloured paper for the pages, this can make it more attractive. The child’s name is written on the front, and he can decorate the cover if he likes.
Here is a cover you can print (instructions for stapling the booklet are in the blog post before this one)

Fast Track Words booklet cover to print

About Fast Track Words.

The idea of “fast track” words is to build up a bank of words that are quick to recognise – Sight Words.

When a person reads a word for the first time, it takes longer to process the word, i.e. to “track” through the brain.

Each successive practice of the word, if frequent enough, will form stronger neural pathways so that recognition of the word becomes faster and more automatic.

The analogy for the child is the idea of riding their bike through a paddock or field: the first few times are slow as there are stones, long grass, sticks etc. in the way. Each time they ride along the same way, they wear a track through the paddock, becoming smoother and better formed, so it becomes easier and faster. When we begin to learn a word, it takes a while to get through our brain, to be recognised, and to get out again; each time we practise, it wears a track through our brain and becomes faster and easier, just like a bike track!

When children build up a large enough bank of Sight Words, their reading becomes faster, easier and more fluent, so it should be more enjoyable.

“Fast Track Words’ encourages children to build up their Sight Word vocabulary and to gain recognition for words they already know.

Beginner readers may start with basic words such as their name, Mum, Dad, cat, zoo etc., and gradually build up the collection of words they know well and can read confidently.

The idea is to consolidate words they already know or almost know, not to introduce words that are too challenging (those will need pre-practice).

The chosen words are written on the Fast Track list (you can start with 6-12 ‘easy’ words on a one-sided list so the child doesn’t feel overwhelmed).

Fast Track Words list to print

The child reads the words each day, and each word read correctly and quickly receives a tick (check). 

When a word has 5 ticks, it can be written in to the Fast Track book. Use coloured pens or pencils to make the word more memorable.

The child can illustrate the words in the book or you can add stickers or stamps or decorate the pages if you like (though most of my students are not interested in embellishments – they just like the list of words to grow!).

The book can be looked through from time to time, to revise the ‘known’ words (as these children may often forget words they don’t see frequently); this also reinforces the progress of their learning with tangible evidence.

 When a book is full, it’s easy to start a new one. Keep the old ones to later remind them of how far they have progressed!

*These printables are free for your personal/educational use.

Next Week: printable Easter Sight Words board game.

Assembling and Stapling a Half-Page ‘Mini-Book’.

On March 3rd, I posted about how to   

Make a Mini-Book for Beginner Readers, 

and this week I'm posting 
Instructions for Stapling your Mini-Book.

You don't need a long-arm stapler, even if you are using A4 paper folded in half - here's how to staple the booklet through the middle with just a normal stapler.

WHAT YOU NEED:  

• A4 sheets of paper to make 1/2-page booklet (suggestions and layout for computer in March 3 blog post)
• Stapler – one that can be opened out almost flat
• scissors
• Piece of firm foam/polystyrene or carpet, to staple into

METHOD:

1.Assemble your sheets of paper with pages in order. 

Fold in half with cover on the outside and make a clear crease along the fold.

2. Open out, cover up, and place the middle over your foam block or on the carpet. Open out your stapler and ‘staple’ onto the fold line (note that the staple will be 2mm or so back from the metal end of the stapler so make allowance for that). 

2a. Check that your staples are aligned right on the fold; take out ‘off-centre’ staples and re-do if necessary.

3. Turn the booklet inside-up so the ends of the staples are sticking up. Use the end of the scissors, almost closed, to push the ends of the staples down flat. 

3a. Make sure the sharp ends of the staples are pushed right down. If you are making a book for a young child, you may want to put a piece of sticky tape over the staples to make sure no-one gets scratched).

4. Close the book again – finished!

I’ll post the information and PDFs for this Fast Track Sight Words book and list next week.

Note- If you are going to be using this technique more than one or two times, you may want to keep a suitable piece of polystyrene foam. I used an odd-shaped piece of packing, which I had to cut with a sharp serrated knife, and it made a mess (I should have had the vacuum cleaner handy). I could have sealed the cut edges with PVA glue if I wanted to keep it, but it’s usually easy to find better pieces – or just use your carpet!

Instructions to Download:

If you would like to download a 2-page PDF Instruction sheet on Assembling and Stapling a Half-Page ‘Mini-Book’, click on the picture below: