Easy Phonics Centers for K and 1st Grade with Print and Play Games

Games are an engaging way to help students review key skills daily. They enjoy the repetition and predictability of the game, while increasing their ability to decode new words.

As a teacher, I know that low prep are always a favorite of mine. All you need to do is print these games and then your job is done!

Resources to Help Start Your Year Strong!

TpT's Back to School Bonus Sale is happening August 30th and 31st!  Save 25% with promo code: BTSBONUS22

Here are some resources to help you start the year strong!

Reinforcing Phonics Skills with Learning Games

I have always used games to reinforce the concepts my students learn it class. I started creating them over 17 years ago when I worked in a Title 1 school. It was a great way to motivate them while reviewing key math and phonics skills they needed!

Valentine's Day ELA Games for K-1

Are you looking for activities for your Valentine ELA centers next week? Here are two of my favorite print and play phonics games!

Valentine's Day Short Vowel Games

This print and play set features 6 game boards: 

• short a words (ex: pal, tap, jazz)

• short e words (ex: neck, fell, hem)

• short i words (ex: lick, fib, miss)

• short o words (ex: pop, loss, box)

• short u words (ex: jug, fuss, sum)

• mixed short vowels (ex: fizz, max, loss, vet, yum)

Check out this video for a closer look!

Valentine's Day Short Vowel Bingo

A print and play bingo game to help review those medial sounds!

• 24 Bingo Boards

• 6 - 3 x 3 boards with Short Vowel Sounds (letters only.)

• 6 – 5 x 5 boards with Short Vowel Sounds (letters only.)

• Word Cards for Short Vowel Sound Bingo.

• 6 – 3 x 3 boards with Short Vowel Words (cvc and some short vowel ending blends; wish, rest, past..)

• 6 – 5 x 5 boards with Short Vowel Words (cvc and some short vowel ending blends; wish, rest, past..)

• Letter Cards for Short Vowel Word Bingo.

• Heart game pieces, 2 sets, one for 3 x3 boards and one for 5 x5 boards.

A fun activity for reinforcing medial sounds!

Both of these sets are on available in my TPT shop! 

TPT Seller Spotlight for K-1 Resources

 

My shop is featured this week in TPT's newsletter in the Seller Spotlight, it was a lovely way to start of 2022!

One of the resources featured is my Kindergarten Bingo set.

 

This set includes 7 math and literacy skills: Uppercase and lowercase letters, number words, numbers 0-10, numbers 0-20, color words and shapes. Each skill has 6 bingo boards for a total of 42 boards!

I use this in centers and as an alternative to worksheets for homework. 

The other resource is my Short Vowel Games Bundle.

This set features 6 different games all with short vowels. Some sets are decodable cvc words, while others contain blends and digraphs. 

This allows you to easily differentiate activities for ELA centers and homework.

Thanks to TPT for this feature and a Happy 2022 to all my readers!

Distance Learning in Kindergarten

I'll be honest, distance learning in Kindergarten can be overwhelming when you first start to think about it!

Of course, that is true for most grades. However, in Kindergarten there  are many things that need to be seen in person, for both you and your student!

Kindergarten Writing Ideas - A Weekly Routine to Motivate Early Writers!

Over the past 6 years, I have noticed that a lot of my Kindergarten students struggle with free write time.

 

Assessing with Exit Slips in Kindergarten

When I first started teaching Kindergarten I used lots of full sized worksheets. I would watch my students struggle through each one, most of the class only completing half of the sheet. It seemed like such a waste of time...and paper!

Between the uncompleted work and the excessive time I was spending copying and prepping papers that did not seem to be helping my students, I decided to rethink what I was doing.

Did I really need to stress my students out just to do a quick check on their understanding?

Should I really be spending one whole prep period each week copying piles worksheets for the next week just to see if they understood what I was teaching? 😛 I felt like my time was better spent preparing hands-activities that really allow my students to explore and direct their own learning.

This year I switched to using exit slips for all areas of our daily routine. We use them for motor skills, handwriting, phonics and math. I knew it would be helpful for me time-wise, but I had no idea how much it would benefit all of my students as well.

They love the smaller sized papers (1/4 of a sheet.) Even my most reluctant writer or math student is willing to sit down and give these mini activities their best effort. They enjoyed them so much that they were disappointed whenever we didn't have one to do because of assemblies or holidays! 😂

I found that I got the same, if not more information, from these exit slips  than I used to get from a worksheet.

I think it is because they are willing to take the time to solve the less intimidating exit slip. Before many students lost interest when presented with a full sized paper and did not do their best work.

I love how these exit slips only take a few minutes to score and put into my grade book which is another plus!

One of the best parts is how much paper and time exit slips save! I only have to run off 6 sheets to cover my whole class. Even if I run off 5 days worth, I am still only using 30 sheets of paper. It just takes a few seconds to cut them up and I am ready for the week ahead!

After using these all year I found my students were much more relaxed when presented with these exit slips. I still got all the data I needed and the slips allowed them to have time to play and work on hands-on activities, which is much more important! Also, when we did do a full sized sheet from time to time, they worked very hard and seemed to give more effort than I had previously seen.

I had a much easier time managing paperwork and was better about sending work home to their families. I just find correcting a small stack of papers way more motivating and easier to maintain in the long run! 😆

If you are interested in checking out any of the exit slips I have available, please click here or on the pictures below!

Looking for more Kindergarten handwriting ideas? Check out this blog post!

Short and Long Vowel Game Bundles

I wanted to make planning and preparing for literacy centers and Intervention blocks easier, so I took all of my skill sets and bundled them to save you 20%!

Digraph Games with Short Vowels

Digraphs are always a tricky thing for my little ones, especially when they appear at the end of the words! Then there is the dreaded ch and sh confusion! I wanted to isolate individual digraphs in this set, allowing my students to focus on the sound each digraph makes.
This set has 7 game boards:

The 1st game board has ch beginning words: (ex: chip, chat and chunk.)

The 2nd game board has sh beginning words: (ex: shred, shack and shop.)

The 3rd game board has th beginnings: (ex: thing, thrill and thud.)

The 4th game board has wh beginnings: (ex: when, whiz and whack.)

The 5th game board has ch endings: (ex: lunch, switch and match.)

The 6th game board has sh endings: (ex: hush, dish and flash.)

The 7th game board has th endings: (ex: path, moth and filth.)
I included a score sheet and a sample score sheet that can be placed in the center to help students understand how to fill it in. I give my students 1 point for each word they use correctly in a sentence. This helps me to quickly see if they are understanding the words they are decoding.

Gray scale copies of all the game boards, rules of play, and score sheets are included as well!

This set is available in my TpT shop!

Updated Games - Blends Games / R Controlled Vowels

I have been updating a lot of the games in my shop this summer. In the beginning I used a lot of digital backgrounds and some fonts that I am not really a fan of now. I want to keep everything a bit cleaner and easier to read - so I decided to give my best sellers a facelift!

First up is the Blends Games with Short Vowels!

This set has 4 game boards: R blends, L blends, S blends and 3 letter S blends with short vowels. All the words are the same, but I added some pirate clip art and simplified the color schemes and backgrounds to make it easier to read. 

This set is available in my TpT shop.

Next up is the Blends Games with Long Vowels.

This set has 3 game boards: R blends, L blends and S blends with long vowels. All the words are the same on this set too, but I added some dinosaur clip art and simplified the scheme a bit.
This set is available in my TpT shop!

Lastly we have the R Controlled Vowel Games!

This set has 7 game boards: 2 "are", 2 "or", 2 "er" and 1 "air" board. I added some ocean clip art to this set and neatened up the layout.
This set is available in my TpT shop!

If you have purchased these sets in the past don't forget to download the updated versions!

Happy Sunday!

Long Vowel Team Games: Including Blends and Digraphs

Now updated with new a clean look!

When I worked in pullout for eight years, I found games to be the most effective way to help students master tricky concepts.  

Beaded Bracelets and Giveaway Winner!

I have a plethora of necklaces. Seriously, you can see it here if you want to know just how bad it is! My bracelets are substantial as well, but I find they never last me as long. Most likely that is because I have a tendency to whack them against things or snag them at school.

Michaels has been having a great deal on Bead Gallery beads lately - 55% off! I figured that would be a great time to get back to making jewelry!

I love this one so much! It has three of those silver plated beads. It is not really glitter or stones, it is druzy! And I believe virtually indestructible! I tend to be vicious on the stones in my bracelets, unintentionally of course! I had four hearts and black beads left, so I think I may be making a pair of earrings soon!

I was afraid I wasn't going to like how this turned bracelet out, but I do! I had a purple glass bead with a golden tint in my hand all throughout the store. But something about it was not right. Then I saw these gorgeous beads - I love the swirls of blues and greens! I think it compliments the antiqued silver nicely.

Lastly we have my silver and rhinestone bracelet. I loved how the round beads look sand dollarish! It was definitely the easiest to make too, just six beads and some elastic. That is definitely how I like my jewelry making to be!

I am totally smitten with all of them and I think I may have a hard time choosing which one I will wear first! Perhaps I will go for a layered look this Monday!

Last but not least Congratulations to Maria! She is the winner of the Silent E Bunting Games! I will be emailing you tonight Maria!

Have a great night!

Silent E Bunting Games

This is a updated version of a Silent E game I created back when I first opened my shop. I really did not like the bunting I had used - I made it myself and it was dreadful! I also did not like the font, it was way too swirly to read easily.

I am slowly updating all the items in my shop to make them easier to read. I just started a Facebook and Twitter page that will have updates on all these changes! You can find them on the right-hand side at the top of this page! Thanks to my fabulously talented sister for making these adorable buttons!

This set has five game boards all with Silent E words (a, i, o , u and a mixed vowel board for reviewing.)

They are great for Literacy Centers and small group work! I have been playing this game with my first grade group all week. We were using the Candy Colored Long Vowel Team Games - but I noticed that when they were reading their books they were not reading Silent E words with the long vowel sound. I figured it was time for a review!

They really enjoy discussing each word that they land on and what it means. They especially like when they can act out the words too! I like taking the extra time to do this when we play these games, it really lets me see how well they are comprehending the words they decode.

I included gray scale copies of all the games, as well as the rules. I am going to put a pack of these gray scale copies together for them to take home this summer! That way I will know that they can keep on practicing these skills!

This set is available in my TpT shop!

February's Nail Art and CVC Game Winner!!

I am a person who adores winter - the coldness, the snow, the quietness of it all. However I must say enough is enough!! This is our 3rd straight weekend storm. Third. With significant snowfall too! Thankfully I am on vacation so there is none of the chaos of cleaning off the car and driving in it!! Needless to say I am really ready for Spring and quite envious of all you warm weathered people!! Now back to my blogginess!

 

Congratulations to Melinda! She is the winner of the CVC Short Vowel Games! I sent an email off to you this morning Melinda - thanks for entering!

Next up we have February's Nails! February is so brief there are only 3 nail designs. If yo like any of the colors just click on the names of the polishes for an Amazon Link.

I started the month out with a shades of blue (perhaps on homage to my feelings as a result of the endless winter!)

Polishes: China's Glaze For Audrey on my pinky, China Glaze Towel Boy Toy on my ring finger, Essie Go Overboard on my middle finger, Zoya Charla on my index finger and Nicole by OPI Iceberg Lotus on my thumb.

Then came Valentine's Week!

Polishes: Sally Hansen Hot Magenta topped with Zoya Nova on my pinky, China Glaze Draped in Velvet on my ring finger, (the heart was done with Sally Hansen Hot Magenta) Zoya Mimi on my middle finger, Nicole by OPI Virtuous Violet as a base coat - with Sally Hansen Hot Magenta and Zoya Charisma for the dots on my index finger, and Zoya Aurora for my thumb!

(Side note: This is my left hand, so of course being a righty my nail art always looks better on this hand. I attempted a heart on my right hand and totally butchered it. Like seriously bad. So I took my nail art brush and swirled away until it sort of passed for marble. Sort of. I will not offer a picture of that catastrophe!!)

I am smitten with how this last set came out. I knew I wanted to use gold and black but I was not sure what I wanted to do for nail art. I googled gold with black nail art and came across this picture. (No source unfortunately, but I must say she has great taste!) I love how it came out so I decided to try it!

Polishes: Zoya Ziv for the base coat and Sally Hansen Ink Splatter for the Crackle effect. I loved how easy this was - just one stripe of crackle down the left side and I was done!

I will definitely be trying this out again soon. I am thinking of using my silver crackle next time though!

What's on your nails this week?