Teaching Phonics: CK Words

Teaching Phonics: CK Words

Hey, y'all! Teaching phonics to young readers can be scary, especially as a new teacher. One thing I've learned over the years is that the more practice students get with a new skill, they better they can apply that skill later. And repetition through games helps solidify those new skills so much faster than with drill and kill exercises. So...in our classroom, we use these phonics games to help us learn and apply new phonics skills quickly and in an engaging way. 

Did you know that you'll only find the "ck" spelling pattern at the end of an English word? My students and I totally geeked out on spelling rules and the "why's" of each pattern last year. They had some crazy good questions I never would have thought to ask at that age. Our phonics lessons were incredibly engaging and interactive, but I wanted my students to have even MORE practice using each of their new skills. 

So we added phonics games to our reading rotations. Each week, when we introduce a new phonics skill or spelling pattern, we add these new games to our rotations. With some groups, we're still playing some games from earlier in the year because that's what they need. But with most of the groups, they are able to jump in to the new games at the beginning of the week and begin applying those skills right away. 

We teach phonics first thing in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, we have reading rotations and intervention time. My students work through read to self, teacher table (where we may play a previous game or the current week's game depending on what they need, plus reading), our district's reading computer program, and phonics games centers. 

The centers stay predicable making it less stressful for students, and the games are similar from week to week (we just change the skill in most cases), making it easy for the kids to jump right in. This way, they don't have to interrupt my reading group every five seconds to ask how to play or to complain that someone else isn't doing it right. 'Cause we all know how!

You can check out these CK word phonics games in my TPT store here.  While you're there, be sure to follow me. I'm always adding new things and there are a TON of new phonics games and interventions coming soon. You won't want to miss them!

This unit is also part of a growing bundle. It'll save you a TON of $$, so be sure to check it out, too. There will be about 40 sets of phonics games in total when it's complete.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you found some new ideas for your classroom. Have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you soon. 

Stay cozy,