Sentence Fluency Phonics Strips

I am so excited to share a new resource with you! Phonics is such a huge part of first grade reading instruction. I use phonics strips to reinforce my phonics instruction and my students this past year did a great job of learning the phonics skills with the help of the phonics strips. I noticed that I needed a bridge from the phonics strips to reading fluently within text, so I created Sentence Fluency Phonics Strips!

These strips utilize our weekly phonics pattern AND first grade sight words! So not only will my students be working on the phonics pattern of the week, they will also practice their sight words and fluency at the same time. I believe this resource will be very helpful as a bridge from phonics to text reading.

I have included 24 different phonics skills (270 sentence phonics strips) including a kindergarten review ring (short vowel and kindergarten sight words). Blends, digraphs, long vowels, inflectional endings, variant vowels, and other phonics skills are included in the pack. I anticipate using the rings for guided reading groups, independent reading practice, timed fluency, and intervention. You can check them out here!

Phonics Strips!

I am so excited to introduce my latest creation! Phonics strips!! I created these out of necessity from the beginning reading trends I have seen with my incoming first graders. I have students entering first grade at many reading levels each year. A few are slightly below where they should be, a good number are right where they should be when entering first grade, and a fair number are far beyond a typical first grade beginning reading level. This is basically the norm for the student population at my school, which is known in our area for an abundance of parent participation.

So… with the array of learners to teach, I needed a way to stick with an appropriate first grade phonics  pace, by providing my strugglers with continued support and intervention, while challenging the students reading beyond a first grade level. I created phonics strips that students can use in a number of ways. They can be used for independent practice, at home review, as a guided reading tool, a buddy reading option, fluency check, and also as an assessment.

There are 87 strips with a vast array of first grade phonics skills. All strips are labeled with the skill and I have a challenge strip for each skill (multisyllabic words, inflected endings etc.). I print the strips out on card stock, cut, laminate, and hole punch the top left corners. I then put them on binder rings for easy flipping and organization. 

As I teach a phonics skill, I have the students add the strip to their binder ring. During the week we read the words working on our decoding skills. When I see the students are ready (for some this may not be until the end of the year), we add a challenge strip. You can have one ring for each student, or an at home ring and an at school ring for each student. 

 

Short a
Challenge
Strip Example

                 

       Short a Blends and
      Digraphs

Short a
Example Strip

I have also included assessment strips as an easy and quick tool to check for understanding. I love using these laminated. They can be written on with white board marker and vowel teams and blends can be circled.  These strips can also be used for fluency practice. Although the words are found in isolation, a cold and hot read can be timed to see how automatically the students are reading words with specific phonics skills.

Grab the Phonics Strips here!

Update!!! I have created a new resource that pairs nicely with these phonics strips. Check out a new post about my Sentence Fluency Phonics Strips here!

Happy Teaching!!

Magic E Wand Activity

For the past week my students have been learning the magic e phonics rule. This phonics skill is such a fun concept to teach and there are many interactive ways to reinforce it. I have created magic e wands with star sticks purchased from the local teacher store. Writing an "e" in the star creates an instant magic e wand. During guided reading time I reinforce the concept in small groups depending on the level of intervention and enrichment needed. The students create short vowel words and magically change them into long vowel words using their magic e wand. We talk about how "The magic e at the end of the word makes the vowel say its name." The students love this activity and it is so rewarding to see them read magic e words successfully in context after practicing with their wands.

Stay tuned for more interactive magic e activities!

Engaging Phonics Board Games!

Today I wanted to share some of the board games I have created to reinforce phonics skills. I use our district curriculum to determine which phonics skills we will be working on for the week. I then create board games to practice the specific skills. Some of these skills include short vowels, blends, long vowels, and word families. These games have been perfect for my parent groups.

I have the students play the game with dice and cubes for game pieces. The students take turn rolling the die and reading the words on the game board.  To provide my students with an extra challenge, I have all students write the words as they land on the spaces. My advanced students are asked to write a sentence with the word they land on. This allows for me to reinforce the phonics skill, as well as differentiate learning to meet the students' needs. Click here to get the board games!

Happy Teaching!