Teaching Phonics

Word Chain (Last Letter, First Letter): Say a word (cat), a student must think of a word beginning with the last letter of the word (cat>tiger>red>dinosaur) This is an easy ball toss warmer.

Fly Swatter Game: Put a blend on the board. Split the class into 2 teams and and make 2 lines facing the whiteboard. Each student in the front has a fly swatter. Teacher says the blend and students compete to slap the correct answer.

Phonic Circles – 3 circles on the floor – Teacher says a word and students run to the circle with the letter that begins with that word. Younger kids like this game, especially if you are tell them you are a monster or a shark or something that will eat them if they step outside of the circle. Walk around the circle and pretend to 'eat' them if they step out of the circle.

Bouncy Animals – Place flashcards on one side of the classroom and have the students form 2 lines on the other. Teacher says a letter (A), and 2 students at a time bounce on the animal while saying the phonetic value (aaaahh) for that letter. When they reach the other end, the students slap a vocabulary FC beginning with that letter (apple).

Chinese Whispers (Telephone): Teacher puts 4 letters on the board. The students are in 2 lines facing the whiteboard. The teacher whispers a word to 2 students of opposing teams. The students whisper that word to the student in front of them and so on. The student in the front, hits with a fly swatter what letter that word begins with. You can also do this with three letter blends.

OR Letter Trace: Trace with your finger a letter on the student's back. S/he traces a letter onto the back of the student in front of them. This continues on down the line. The student in the front draws something beginning with that letter.

Whiteboard games – 2 teams; The teacher says a vocabulary item or holds up a flashcard. The students compete to circle, erase, or write the correct letter on the whiteboard.

Stations: Put the letters of the alphabet on the walls around the classroom. Have students from each team come and stand in a circle in the middle of the room with a fly swatter. Teacher says a word & the students spin around 3 times before finding the letter that the word begins with. The loser is then the teacher and says the next word.

Paper Airplanes: The teacher draws a big grid on the floor. In each space in the grid, the teacher writes a blend, digraph or diphthong. Wherever the airplane lands, then the student has to produce a word associated with the blend, digraph or diphthong.

Hammer Hit – Say a letter to the children. Teacher has a toy hammer and says words beginning with that letter. When Ss hear a word that doesn't begin with that letter they sit down. Last student to sit down is 'out'.

Bomb – Put the students in a circle. Take a ball and pretend it’s a bomb (wind it up, listen to it tick, act scared, etc.) A,B,C.

Duck, Duck Goose:

(The traditional way to play.) All but one of the children sit in a circle. A nominated child walks around the outside of the circle gently tapping each child calling them a “duck.” As soon as the child taps someone and says “Goose!” the goose must then chase the child around the outside of the circle in an attempt to tag him/her before the lap is completed. The student has was tagged/not able to tag in time then continues from the start. Variation for Phonics: Place students in a circle facing inward. One student walks around the circle alternating between the letter and the sound (A, aaah.. ) tapping the head of the students. When the student who is walking around the circle says a word beginning with A, the student (whose head is touched) has to chase after the other student competing to sit down first. Whoever is left standing is the one who walks around the circle. [A, phonetic value, Apple-- this person runs.

Naughts and Crosses (or Tic Tac Toe for my fellow Americans): With a 3x3 grid on the main WB, students take turns throwing the sticky ball or shooting the dart gun. Where the ball lands, the students either make the sound or produce a vocabulary item associated with the relevant blend, digraph or diphthong. 3 in a row wins.