Vowel Sounds of Y Games and Activities
Happy Tuesday! We had such a great Easter weekend with family. My kids were out of school on Friday and Monday which was so nice! I love mornings where we aren’t rushing out the door! Today, I am sharing the newest Phonics Friends with you all; it’s Y the Spy for teaching the Vowel Sounds of Y. If you aren’t familiar with Phonics Friends, you can read about them here. Also, if you already own the bundle, redownload to get access to this new Phonics Friend.
Alrighty, let’s get started.
****Try Day 1 of Y the Spy activities for FREE HERE! ****
Vowel Sounds of Y Games and Activities
Before I jump in I wanted to let y’all know that the lesson plans that are included within Phonics Friends are simply a guide. You know your classroom and student’s needs best so I always recommend that you use Phonics Friends in a way that works best for you and your students! If that means use it front to back then great, or if that means pick and choose, that is great, too. I understand that everyone’s schedule and allotted phonics time varies so use these in a way that works best for you and your students!
Y the Spy Phonics Friend is an anchor for the vowel sounds of y learning. Y the Spy can be displayed on the board and referenced to daily during the lesson. Y the Spy helps students remember the vowel sounds of y and why y makes the long e and i sound. Y the Spy likes to hang out at the end of some words. Sometimes he makes the long e sound and sometimes he makes the long i sound. To know what sound to make, he spies on the word to see how many syllables are in it and uses his Top Secret Code. He makes the long e sound (as in bunny) in two syllable words. He makes the long i sound (as in cry) in one syllable words.
When introducing Y the Spy, really play it up! Bring in some spy gear, spy glasses, a spy hat, spy theme music and get students excited for a week of learning!
Word Cards and Phonemic Awareness Warm Ups are also used daily during the lessons. The Word Cards can be displayed in an anchor chart or on a whiteboard by placing magnetic tape to the back. The Phonemic Awareness cards can be attached to a metal ring and hung on an easel, board, or wherever you will be completing you whole group lessons at. There is a different focus each day with the Phonemic Awareness cards. They are: syllable awareness, recognize rhyme, sound isolation, syllable deletion, and blending phonemes.
Sort it Out: I love these sorting cards. These are great for identifying which vowel sound of y is heard at the end of the word (i or e).
Spy Hativity is an independent follow up activity to the pocket chart activity above. Students complete the hat by coloring the correct sound for y: e or i.
Fingerprint Sounds is an activity where students segment a word into the boxes. They can use a manipulative (counters, craft pompoms, etc) for each sound or use a wipe off marker and spell the word in the boxes.
Fingerprint Match is a cut and paste worksheet where students read the word (fingerprint) and then paste the match! I love when you can tie in real world fun to learning to bring the learning alive and help it stick!
This one is fun, too! Students have to color by code to find the hidden picture. You could give them spy glasses and play spy theme music to really up the fun here! Students use the Top Secret Code to color the pictures (y as i or y as e).
Tic-Tac-Read is one of my very favorite phonics activities. This is played just like Tic-Tac-Toe except that students flip a word card over and cover the matching picture with their game piece. 3 in a row wins!
What’s That Word is an independent matching activity that can be used in a phonics notebook or glued to a piece of paper.
Ok, so maybe Crack the Code is my favorite activity! Each student gets a game card. The teacher turns on spy theme music and students mingle around the room trading cards. When a student trades their card with another student, they must read the word to “crack the code” they receive before they can continue to trade with another student. When the music stops, the student(s) with the CRACK THE CODE card wins that round. This is a perfect game for fluency and such a blast!!
Puzzle Cards are a Word Work activity. Students work with their station partner(s) to make the y as i/e words.
Building Mats are another Word Work activity. Students build the y as i/e words on the mat. Students can use the letter cards included or you could provide the small magnetic letters to use on the cards. Either work great!
Write the Room is a fun word work activity! It covers a covers a plethora of phonics skills focusing on y as i/e and syllables.
Fours a Score is another partner game that can be used for Word Work.
Undercover Sounds is played just like the classic game, Memory. Students flip over two cards and read the word to find a match.
There are also Home Connection activities for students to take home and show off their learning. There are also practice pages that students could take home to practice the phonics sound at home. These could also be used in small group stations or for additional practice (tutoring, intervention, etc.). Here are a few.
You can find all the above activities plus more, HERE.
