Teaching the OI and OY Sound

Teaching the OI and OY sound is a lot of fun! There are many words that make this sound (the oy as in toy sound) that kids know. Plus, it's fun to say. :) Here are my favorite worksheets, games, and phonics activities for learning these 2 common diphthongs! 

OI and OY Words Spelling Rule 

First, I recommend quickly introducing the sound with picture cards that have the words printed largely on them. My OI and OY picture cards are perfect for this, if you don't have any already.

As you're showing them the cards, point out how OY usually comes at the end of words. Show a couple of examples. Then show them some OI picture words. Ask if they notice anything. Hopefully they say that the OI sound is not at the end of the word - it's usually in the middle of the word. If they don't, point that out. :) Super simply way to introduce the sound and its spelling rule in a fun, visual way.

OI and OY Games

One of my favorite phonics games is Spin a Word. I have them in almost all of my Phonics No Prep Packs to practice each found with a fun spinner game! Kids put a paperclip on the spinner, with a pencil through it, then flick it to spin! SO fun.

You can print it on color paper like this to make it look more fun. If you do that, you can also laminate it or put it in a plastic sheet protector so kids can use the same sheet over and over with a dry erase marker and wipe it when they're done. :)

This particular game is in my big OI and OY No Prep Phonics Pack which has over 55 no prep worksheets and activities for this sound!

When they spin the spinner, it'll land on a word ending. They add that to the next line on their sheet. If it makes a real word, they circle it. This is great practice for decoding words (sounding out words). It is especially great practice when it's not a real word, so you know they are actually using the skill of sounding out, not recognizing a word from memory. :)

You can also print it on regular white paper, which is what I typically recommend, so kids can turn in their work. 

I think it's helpful to have a page kids can show you their work on, so you can quickly scan it and see if the words they circled are actually real words. And help them if you notice they're not doing it correctly. It's a super quick and easy assessment tool to have them turn in their "center" work. 

OI AND OY Sound Bottle Cap Games

Another fun game for the OI and OY sound are my OI and OY bottle cap centers that are included in the Vowels Teams Bottle Cap Centers BUNDLE. 

Quick note to homeschoolers - Centers is just a fancy way of saying learning games. It's often used to describe the time a classroom teacher has students play learning games. If you're a homeschooler, if it says centers, that basically means it's a game or activity you can use with your child to help them learn the skill. I have a lot of new homeschoolers reading my blog recently so I wanted to make sure the word centers doesn't scare you away. Both teachers and homeschoolers can do "centers" :) 

It's such a fun way to recycle water bottle caps and reuse them for learning how to read! :) Reading and recycling at the same time! Use a permanent marker to write letters on water bottle caps and they put them on the picture word cards to finish building the word! You can also use alphabet magnet letters, which is what I used here.

They're super easy to differentiate for wherever your little reader(s) are, because they come in 6 levels: where ALL the letters in the word are missing, where NONE of the letters are missing (perfect for kids who need a lot of support - they can simply match the letters on top of them to build the words), where only the first letter is missing, where only the last letter is missing, where only the phonics sound being practiced (in this case, OI or OY) is missing, and also a version where all BUT the phonics sound being practiced is missing. 

This also means you could reuse them to build the skill! First, do the cards with the phonics sound missing so they're putting OI and OY on the card repeatedly to really reinforce it. Then, give them the same cards again but with the beginning sound missing. They will really have to say and read the word to figure this out. Then, you could give it to them with the beginning AND ending missing. Or skip straight to all the sounds missing. Such great practice for word building!

OI and OY Sound Secret Words Games

A slightly easier word building game for OI and OY are the OI and OY cards from my Vowel Teams Secret Words Games! These have always been one of my favorite games. 

If you want to see real pictures of these, I have pictures of the R Controlled Vowels version of this. It's played the same way! :) Those are here: Fun R Controlled Vowels Activities and Games 

Kids look at each picture. Figure out it's beginning sound. Put the letter there. Keep going until they've solved all the beginning sounds pictures to reveal the Secret Word! So fun!! I have them for almost every phonics sound and also the short vowel word families! :) The Secret Sight Words set are probably the most popular of all my sets if you want them for sight words! 

OI and OY Worksheets

Worksheets are a super easy way to practice the OI and OY sound! These are all from the OI and OY No Prep Phonics Pack I mentioned earlier. The worksheets are consistent for each phonics sound so, once you teach a kid how to do them once, they know HOW to do them. Then, each week, they can ideally focus on the new skill, without you having to give them directions again. Anything you can do to make learning to read easier = win. 

Another favorite worksheet type is Circle & Sort! People often tell me this is one of their favorites to do each week from my no prep packs.

It's pretty simple but it provides a lot of practice. Kids use a different color marker to circle the words with each phonics sound. Then, they sort them by writing them below. Word sorts are a great way to have kids recognize the phonics skill in a word.

Another thing I love about it is that it is naturally differentiated. Kids who can read the sentences will. Kids who struggle to read the sentences can still complete the activity successfully and will read as much as they can, so it pushes them right at their level. I LOVE that.

I love differentiation, which you know if you've read any of my math and phonics posts before. If not, save that page so you can check those posts out! :) 

Because of that, I also try to provide the same worksheet in multiple levels, when possible, within my phonics no prep packs. 

See how this one looks so similar but is actually slightly harder words? This is an awesome way to challenge your students who are ready to read harder words, without giving them a totally separate activity. 

I was one of those students as a kid and I often felt disconnected from the lessons my teachers were teaching because I was given work that had nothing to do with what everyone else was learning. It also made me feel different, which no kid likes to feel (even if it's a "good" type of different), because my work looked completely different. As if they went to an older grades teacher and asked for a stack of papers.

So I try really hard to make differentiated activities look as much the same as possible. You also don't want your struggling students to feel different either. The main goal I always have with differentiating is that kids have no idea there are levels & that they just think there are multiple versions of the same activity. Which is actually the case.

If you feel like sentences might overwhelm your students, simple word sorts are wonderful. You can have them sort words by if they have OI or OY.

I chose this one because I wanted to make you aware that "toilet" will make them giggle and enjoy learning the OI sound. :) Any time you can incorporate silly (but appropriate) words, the kids will love it. 

These are super easy word sorts. Kids cut the words off the bottom then sort them by sound. 

If you feel like your kids are ready for reading sentences with the OI and OY sound, I Love to Read is a fun one to do next!

For this worksheet, kids DO have to be able to read the sentence to complete it correctly. For this reason, I recommend doing this one after you've done individual words practice. 

These are an awesome small groups lesson! You can have them at your table and have kids put the pictures in the correct boxes after reading each sentence. So you can watch and help. :) You could use it as a warm up to your lesson since it'd be pretty quick if they're not cutting or gluing themselves. And you can reuse them with each group! Woooo! :)

I think most people use them as a center / independent classwork activity though. 

To use them this way: 

- Kids color the pictures at the bottom of the worksheet

- They cut them out

- As they read each sentence, they put the picture next to the sentence that describes it

- Glue them down

This is a ton of phonics, fluency, and comprehension practice in one!

I recommend telling them not to glue until they place all the squares. Tell them that if they get to the last sentence and it doesn't match the last picture, then they'll know they need to fix one of them. So they'll have to go back and reread and check each one. This is an AWESOME self-correction test skill to teach them!

OI and OY Reading Passages

I love to practice reading passages in the form of PUZZLES! Yes, puzzles! As you've probably seen in my math blog posts, you know I love puzzles for everything! That includes reading passages. It makes what is typically a little boring A LOT more fun! 

It also makes it look like more of a challenge AND combines more skills into the activity. 

They have to sequence the story to complete the puzzle. Which is an important reading comprehension skill in itself! 

They also have to be able to read the passage to complete it, so it's a ton of reading practice and a great assessment. 

You can also print the MIXED UP versions in black and white to use for notebook activities! (They also come in order in black and white. For extra support or if you simply want them already in order on the page.)

You can use them for phonics fluency notebook activities where kids put it in a notebook! I wrote a whole post about those if you want to see it! :) I put lots of examples in that post so I recommend looking at it really quick if you like these.

Have kids find the words with the phonics sound you're learning and write them under it. They also have to put the puzzle pieces in order to sequence the story. So it's a ton of skills in one! Plus, they get to color the pictures which is fun.

Here's a quick list of the TpT resources I mentioned in this post:

OI and OY No Prep Phonics Pack

OI and OY Picture Cards

Vowels Teams Bottle Cap Centers BUNDLE

Vowel Teams Secret Words Games

Vowel Teams Reading Fluency Puzzles BUNDLE

You can get all of them in the Vowel Teams ULTIMATE BUNDLE if you want activities like this for all the vowel teams! :) I highly love that bundle!

I hope you enjoyed this post! I have tons of phonics and math posts - browse around! :)

Fun R Controlled Vowels Activities and Games

 Need some Fun R Controlled Vowels Activities and Games? Here are my favorites!

First, what are R controlled vowels?

R controlled vowels, often called Bossy R sounds, are OR, AR, ER, IR, and UR. 

These sounds are often introduced in first grade. OR and AR are usually taught first, with a week dedicated to each (an entire week of AR and an entire week of OR). Some people teach them together. If you have enough time in your schedule to dedicate a week to each, that's what I personally recommend! :)

After OR and AR, ER IR and UR are typically taught together in the same week since they make the same sound. 

P.S. There are 3 letter Bossy R sounds as well (AIR ARE EAR making the "air" sound, for example), but from the conversations I have had with teachers all around the country and world, they are usually taught in 2nd grade or later on in the first grade year. :) So this post is going to focus only on the five 2 letter R Controlled Vowels sounds. 

How to Teach R Controlled Vowels: Start with AR Activities!

I recommend starting with AR! It's an easy sound. It's a fun sound (farm! bark! car!) to learn for a week. You can also start with OR, but if your curriculum gives you a choice, I say do AR first.

This is one of my favorite ways to recommend a new phonics sounds. Secret Words!!

P.S. I have shown these for many different phonics sounds and also sight words on this blog for years, but I haven't shown my R Controlled Vowels Activities and Games version of them so here they are! :) I have them for over 330 sight words and also soo many different phonics sounds so, if you love these, you can use them as a center game all year! I do have a Secret Words BUNDLE of them on TpT if you want them for the entire year! The bundle has over 1,000 5 star reviews on TpT and the Sight Words set that is included in that bundle has over 3,500 5 star reviews so I am pretty confident that you'll love them too if you try them! :)

The way you use them is you cut them out like this to make each word into its own card. Then, kids look at each picture and figure out its beginning sound. 

They place a letter (you can use magnets, letters written on water bottle caps, they can write it with a dry erase marker if you laminate them) under the picture. They keep going until they've done it for all pictures. This reveals a Secret Word! 

Sooo fun and kids get to feel like little detectives while practicing so many skills in one. 

They're learning the new phonics sound since all the words will be with that sound for that set AND reviewing beginning sounds. They will be SO motivated to read the words with your new phonics sound because they're a mystery they're trying to solve! For first grade, I recommend printing 8-10 words for a center and have all 8-10 be your new phonics sound for the week. Such a fun way to discover and explore with your new phonics sound and read words with it in a fun way!

Another fun thing you can do is put the full pages (don't cut them out except to cut the word off on the left) into a sheet protector in a binder! Here's a picture of both ways:

Kids open the binder and each page will have 2 words on it (the way they print! :) woo!) for kids to build to figure out each Secret Word! 

It's a fun way to practice. They grab a binder with sets for that phonics sound and can do it independently, with a partner, or in a small group.

After AR, I recommend working on the OR Sound!

From corn to fork, there are tons of OR words to practice!

The wonderful thing about using the same type of center every week - Secret Words, for example! - is that the kids already know what to do. They only have to concentrate on what they're learning, not how to do the activity. I talk about the importance of this a lot, especially when discussing my yearlong centers or Phonics No Prep Packs. The activities are consistent, so kids only have to worry about learning the new sound! :)

I recommend upping the difficulty of words slightly with OR. For example, in the example above this, SC is an S blend and SH is a digraph at the beginning of those words. You can use the easier cards, but I recommend trying to stretch them if they're ready! 

Again, this activity is SO fun that they will be so motivated to figure out the words. They will be trying their best to blend the words and read those tricky R Controlled Vowels!

Last are the R Controlled Vowels Sounds ER, IR, and UR!

I recommend teaching these at the same time. Preferably spending an entire week on the 3 sounds. If you teach one sound a week, you'd teach all of these in the same week. They make the same sound - ER in fern, IR in bird, UR in surf.

The ER phonics sound can be a little bit more difficult since most of the words you will practice are 2 syllables, but they learn the pattern pretty quickly since it is part of so many words that they use constantly - including teacher! :)

For example, soccer is a pretty long word but I think they can do it! It's a "big" word but it's very easy to blend if they know the ER sound.

I love using really cute, engaging pictures for teaching phonics sounds. The brightness really does make it feel more like a game. The more you can make reading fun, the better! :) 

Anyway, that was a little peek inside the Bossy R version of my Secret Words centers! If you want them for the entire year (and also sight words!), I do recommend getting the Secret Words BUNDLE instead. 

You can see some of the cards from more phonics sounds for cards like these in my various "Literacy" posts for various phonics sounds - simply click on the sound you want to see on this sound and have fun doing a little scrolling through pictures of fun activities you can do for that sound! :)

Thank you so much for reading! I am so excited to bring you tips and fun ideas and I hope showing you this set of fun R controlled vowels activities and games using the Secret Word centers strategy helped with that! Please browse around - I have tons of phonics and math posts for early elementary! I love sharing tips and ideas - I hope you love using them if you use any of them! 

How to Teach Hard and Soft G

How to Teach Hard and Soft G Hard and Soft G 

Hard and Soft G are when first grade phonics sounds start to get tricky! I wrote this little guide to help you navigate teaching these sounds! I hope it helps! :) 

What is the Soft G sound? 

The Soft G sound is when the G in a word makes the sound J typically makes. Words that make the Soft G sound are giant, giraffe, gym, gentle. 

It typically occurs when G is followed by E, I, or Y in a word. 

This can happen at the beginning of a word like gem or at the end of a word like cage. The E following the G makes the G say the J sound. 

If the G in a word is followed by A, O, I, or U, it typically says the Hard G sound. Words that make the Hard G sound are gate, go, gift, and gum. 

They're pretty easy rules for kids to remember once they've had enough repetition, but repetition is definitely necessary to memorize the rule. :) 

I am about to show you a ton of ways to practice!

How do I teach Soft G? 

Students are going to be used to the G making a Hard G sound like in pig and game. You'll tell them the G can make the J sound when there's an E, I, or Y after it. 

The E rule (using words with "ge") is the easiest sound to teach first because they are going to already know that E at the end of the word changes sounds in the word because of long vowels (for example: the E in cake makes the A say the long vowel A sound).

I'd recommend starting there - with simple CVCe words that end in "ge" such as page and cage. You'll also do this for Soft C where the E makes the C say the S sound, such as in lace and race, so they'll see this pattern a lot in first and second grade.

Also teach them if the word ENDS in G, it is almost always the Hard G sound because it doesn't have the E, I, or Y after it to boss it around. :) 

Example words: bag, Meg, pig, log, hug 

These words all have the Hard G sound.

I recommend doing activities that have them practice differentiating between hard and soft G. This is a super simple word sorting worksheet with easy sentences. They circle the words with hard G in one color and words with the soft G in another color. Then, they write the words to sort them.

I made a handful of them in different difficulty levels so your students can get a ton of practice at their level. You can also start with the easier worksheets and build up to harder levels during the week.

Activity Ideas for Teaching Hard and Soft G

I recommend having students spell words ending in G and also in GE. You can use magnet letters for this which makes it a ton of fun! Have them build the word with G and also with GE. 

Have them read both of them and listen for which one sounds correct and which one sounds silly. This can be an amazing and fun, silly small groups lesson for teaching hard and soft G. Some of the words will sound funny when they try to read them incorrectly so it's a fun exercise.

You can also simply do it as a worksheet activity that they cut and glue. Also a lot of fun!

Also a simple worksheet where they read the word both ways and circle the correct one is AWESOME practice! I call these "Circle the Word" in my phonics no prep packs and try to do them for every sound.

If you want to make it a center activity, have them build each word with magnet letters as they complete the worksheet. Read it without an E. Then add an E magnet letter and read it again. Which one sounded like the word for the picture? Circle it! :) This can be a silly partner activity or something they do by themselves. Also a fun small groups game.

Teaching GE first (Include DGE)

When teaching GE first, you'll also have a lot of words that end in DGE. When words end in DGE, the rule is that the vowel typically keeps the short vowel sound whereas the words that only end in GE will have the long vowel sound. For example, in page, the E makes the G say J and the A say the long A sound. In the word judge, the E makes the G say J but the U remains the short vowel sound. I recommend doing a lot of practice specifically with DGE words so they get a lot of reading practice with the ADGE, EDGE, IDGE, ODGE, and UDGE sounds and memorize them as word families. Here's an example page I'd use to practice it: 

Printing on color paper makes worksheets look a lot more fun too! If you're working with a child at home or in a small group, you can print one copy of the worksheet on white paper and one in color and have them place the color on the white or the white on color to make it pop and look more fun. It's the little things to get them excited to work on reading, right?? :)

This is what I'm referring to:

You can also simply print on white paper which is also a lot of fun because then kids can color the pictures! :) That's actually what I would recommend doing unless you're planning to reuse them.

Back to DGE for a moment - Spin a Word is a super fun way to get a ton of practice with those DGE sounds!

Have students put a paperclip in the center of the spinner. Then, they put their pencil's point right in the center of the spinner. Then, they flick it to spin. SO FUN. They write the word ending that the spinner lands on in the first available line. If it's a real word, they circle it!

It's a fun game to play by yourself OR with a partner/in a small group. If they play it with a partner/group, whoever has the most circled real words wins. It really gets them wanting to blend those words correctly to get the most real words! It also encourages their friends to check their work to make sure they're doing it correctly, so it gives great immediate feedback, especially for your struggling readers.

You can laminate these and then have kids use dry erase markers on them to reuse over and over. When I am going to laminate something, I often print it on color paper since I'm going to save it! :)

More Fun Soft G Worksheets

Another thing that is SUPER fun is doing phonics crossword puzzles! They are literally just a worksheet where kids look at the picture and write the word BUT they are in the form of a crossword puzzle so they look SO fun! Both a way to make your readers who struggle feel so successful and also a way to keep your advanced students engaged/excited to work, so it is amazingly differentiated while being the same paper for everyone!

For students who do struggle with the Soft G sound, I recommend giving them sentences to trace and write like this. 

It allows them to read a simple sentence with picture support then write it themselves to further solidify it. I LOVE Color Trace Write Read for every phonics sound because of this. They can help your struggling readers feel so successful by supporting them in providing the sentence for them AND providing picture support. They're also great for handwriting practice for everyone! An easy way to sneak in handwriting practice each week while also practicing reading your phonics focus sound. They really are one of my favorite worksheets.

For students who are ready to write their own sentences, you could use my Phonics Helper worksheets where it has writing lines and example words down the side so you don't get a ton of, "How do you spell ____?" questions :) It also helps with students who struggle to get started writing, because they have picture prompting on the side. If they're stuck, they can simply pick a picture and write it in a sentence. I have a lines version with a picture box (worksheet on top) then also a 3 separate sentences version with 3 separate picture boxes for easy differentiation (worksheet under that one) where kids write 1 sentence per picture box instead of a story.

Also, for students who are ready, give them a fill in the missing words style worksheet instead of the Color Trace Write Read worksheet. So everyone can work on sentences at their current reading level! :)   

A cutting and pasting version of this can also be fun. I love turning anything into a cut and paste! Fill in the missing word worksheets are no exception. :) 

You can also do the color and white versions like I mentioned earlier with worksheets like these! If you laminate these to make them into reusable centers, then you can have one be white with pink answers and one be pink with white answers. I LOVE laminating centers to be reusable - I show that in my Addition Fact Fluency post if you scroll down to the red Fact Fluency picture. I explain how I make them in that post.

Another way to challenge your students is with A-Maze-Ing Sentences! These are a huuuge hit for each phonics sound! Kids have to read words with the phonics sound to solve the maze. Since they are creating a sentence, this is also wonderful sentence structure practice too!

Words Starting with Soft G: Ge, Gi, and Gy Words

Make sure you're also teaching a lot of words where the Soft G appears at the beginning of the word. Words like gem, giraffe, gym. These words are typically harder to read. I recommend doing sorts and activities first where they don't necessarily have to be able to read the word to complete the activity successfully. I know that may seem weird, but that practice will have your struggling readers looking out for the pattern (ge and gi in the example below this) in words, which is important practice. 

It will naturally be differentiated because your students who can read the words will, but everyone will be able to do the same activity successfully.

Then, throw some of the words in sentences with a worksheet that has picture support. This will slowly introduce them to being able to read words with the Soft G sound at the beginning of the word.

The words can get pretty difficult for early readers but if you have advanced students, definitely try to stretch them with the harder pages! Here's an example of one of the worksheet formats they'll be used to but with pretty difficult words:

Those are some pretty tough words for young readers, but some of your kids will be ready for them!

For the majority of your class, I'd do a page like this instead to practice those words:

It mixes the easier Soft G words like DGE words with some of the more difficult words that begin with Soft G. They'll be able to match the pictures for the easier words then use process of elimination to read and figure out the rest. A great built in support to help them help themselves! The best! :)

There are a lot more pages in this pack but I feel like I already showed you a lot so I'll stop this post here! If you want ALL of the pages you saw in this post (and more!), you can grab them in my:

Soft G No Prep Pack

I have packs like this for so many phonics sounds! The activities in them are consistent so you can use them every time you introduce a new phonics sound and kids already know how to do the activities! I love this because it allows them to focus simply on learning the new sound, not HOW to do the worksheet. I've talked about this a lot in more of my literacy blog posts - you can see them here:

Miss Giraffe Organized List of My Favorite Blog Posts

Look under Literacy :) 

You can also see all the phonics sounds I have no prep packs for if you scroll down this page:

Literacy

I hope you found some fun ideas for how to teach hard and soft G from this post!! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Winter Long Vowels Reading Practice

Winter long vowels reading practice is one of my favorite concepts of the year! Firstly, what's cuter than penguins and polar bears? Move over reading passages - these little phonics readers (books) for long a, i, o, and u are my favorite way to practice comprehension skills, long vowel patterns, and fluency all in one! 

I wrote a little reader for each vowel sound. For example, this is the Long A reader to practice the a_e sound. The a_e sound is when there is a silent E at the end of the word so the a makes the long a sound (example: lake).

"Let's Skate at the Lake" is filled with words with Long A silent E for tons of practice! You could have students underline/highlight the long A words while reading. These are AWESOME for small groups reading practice! 

I love this little story and try to have a kind, positive message in each of my readers if it's possible to do so while squeezing in as many words with the phonics sound as possible. I love this one because it's a story about helping your friend when they need you and little Kate in the story gets to illustrate both kindness and friendship when a group of friends go ice skating. :)

I also made a black and white version of each book! 

Having black and white versions are wonderful for:

• Coloring the pictures to help them feel a sense of ownership over the books (plus it's fun!) then keeping a copy (yay!) at their seats to read whenever they have extra time
• Have their own copy to take to their seats to read to a partner or their group during centers
• A center activity all on its own! Read and color the book, highlight/underline the words with the sound they're practicing, read to a friend, read to yourself - there are so many ways you can make these a center activity
• Sending these home to read with their adults (They can also read to their stuffed animals like I did as a kid :) Anything you want to tell them to get them to practice them at home! They will probably be proud to bring these home to read to their family!)

I personally think it's nice to have color AND black and white versions of the same materials so that you can use the color versions at your small groups table (only printing enough for 1 small group). Then, make copies of the black and white version for everyone to have their own copy to keep. :) 

Not all students have books at home. I would also bet that, if they do, they might not have phonics readers that practice a specific skill like these, so they are GREAT to send home for reading practice at home, even for kids who have lots of books at home!

I couldn't get enough reading at home when I was a kid. I had a lot of books but I always wanted more, so I loved when my teachers let me take home books. :)

"The Penguin's Kite" is the Long I silent E book I wrote!

How cute is that little penguin?? I looove penguins themed anything for winter time! 

Also in black and white, of course! These are SO fun to color!

What I love about phonics readers is that they provide SO much reading practice and are basically winter reading passages but in the form of a book! 

Each set of 2 pages when they open the book contains the text of a phonics-based reading passage, but with picture support..... and it's a story that's fun to read! So much better than a reading passage. I do love my phonics reading passages too, but I love when I can make reading a little bit more fun. 

For example, like my Phonics Fluency Puzzles! You can use them in notebooks like I show in that post or as full color puzzles. I actually made winter versions of those if you want Winter Fluency Puzzles by the way! Also so much fun!

These aren't phonics based but I tried to make them at around what I'd expect a first grader to be able to read around winter time! Some are easier and some are a little harder so you can easily differentiate in that way. For example, the bottom puzzle in the picture above is a lot easier than the top puzzle. The top puzzle has more words, is a little longer, and has slightly harder words. The bottom puzzle is really simple. :) Kindergarten students can also enjoy these as a guided activity for practicing retelling / sequencing a story. 2nd grade students can also enjoy these as simply a fun reading activity! It's okay if it's a little easy for them and, for some of your 2nd grade students, this may be just the support they need to feel like successful readers too! :) 

They're great for a center as puzzles, a small groups activity, and the black and white versions are wonderful for students to color, read, and glue into notebooks! A fun reading lesson you can do in small groups is to simply read the top together and put the pieces together as you read and sequence the story. 

You can also build a puzzle for them and ask them which pictures are out of order - that's a fun small groups game you can play with these! Here's an example:

Did you guess which ones were out of order? This is such a fun small groups game!

You can grab these cute little reading sequencing puzzles in my Winter Fluency Puzzles pack if you want them!

Anyway! Back to Winter Long Vowel Reading Practice! :)

I think my favorite book I wrote in this little pack is "A Day at Home" about a polar bear who is bored at home after waking up from hibernating. Isn't he adorable?? :)

He wakes up from his "long nap" and goes out to see if his friends are back yet who left for the winter, so it's a great way to start introducing hibernation, migration, and all that fun stuff in a cute first grade-y type of way! :) His friends aren't back yet so he tries to find fun things to do around the house by himself while he waits for them to get back.

Of course there's a black and white version to color too! :) This shows the color cover, but there's a full black and white version. Can you tell I have a slight obsession with cute winter animals wearing scarves and sledding? I just find it so cute!

Another polar bear character in this set is Duke! He is the main character in "The Duke's Dune" book. He doesn't want to share his dune with a group of friends sledding down hills on tubes. (What sound do you think this is? The tricky Long U silent E sound!! I LOVE finding ways to make this sound easier and more fun, because it can definitely be a bleh sound to learn if you don't have fun materials!)

I absolutely LOVE the message in this one. Like I said, I try to instill a positive message into my books and this one is about kindness and sharing. The polar bear tells the friends they can't use his dune. After he doesn't share and is alone on his dune, he sees how much fun the friends are having anyway and feels bad that he didn't let them use his dune. He tells them they can. They are super happy and invite him to tube with them and he is thrilled. I think it's a cute message about sharing and how it's so much nicer to be nice to people and enjoy what you have with friends. :)

So those are my Winter Long Vowel Books! You can grab the 4 books (there is not one for Long E because I don't personally believe that you should spend much time teaching that sound explicitly as there are so few kid words with that sound so I don't usually make anything with it) in the Winter Long Vowel Books BUNDLE!

You can also get them individually if you prefer! I linked each one in the spots where I talked about them above this. :) 

Here's another picture of what the black and white covers look like, since I showed the color cover next to some of the black and white books. 

I also have NON-phonics winter readers if you want more cute little stories to read with your students! If you learn different phonics sounds during winter or simply want more books, I have these:

Snowman School

Bunny Has a Fun Day

A Penguin Came to School

Toss the Snowball

The Polar Bear Cubs Love Winter

I also have a LOT of winter math activities

Winter Word Problems Worksheets

Winter Who Am I? Math Center (You may recognize this format from my big Building Number Sense blog post that shows a bunch of pictures of First Grade Math Unit 1)

Winter Missing Numbers Center (If you have First Grade Math Unit 2, you'll recognize this fun winter version too!)

If you want to see real pictures of these in action, please let me know! I'll probably write some blog posts about them eventually so check back! :)

You can also see tons of pictures of the NO PREP writing activities in my Winter Writing Crafts Bundle in my January Writing Crafts blog post! :)

I think that's enough winter fun to show you for now! I hope you loved seeing my winter long vowels reading practice ideas and can use some of them with your kids! I am going to be sharing more tips about winter math and reading in my groups! If you're not in my free Teaching Math in First Grade and First Grade Phonics groups and you teach any kids at around a first grade reading/math level, I highly recommend joining us!! :) I only approve requests that answer all 3 questions so make sure you do that if you want to join & I will see you in there! 

Thanks so much for reading!!