Vowel Teams RTI and a New Blog Design

Happy friday! First off, did you notice anything different about my blog? :) I got a blog makeover! I am SO happy with how it turned out! I loved the way my blog looked before too, but it was time for a change. I am so happy that I went with Parker from PJ's Design Laboratory. He is wonderful to work with!  I absolutely LOVE it. Thank you Parker! If you are thinking about  a blog makeover, check out his website. You will be happy you did!

Now to school business. My students have been working on vowel teams for a while. They are so tricky for my struggling readers. They can totally recite, "When two vowels go a walking, the first one does the talking and it says its name". But actually applying it is another story. It just isn't sticking with some of them. I've been making different activities to give them more practice. Before I knew it, I had a  whole pack's worth of activities!

I want them to start seeing these too letters together as ONE sound. I love sound boxes, so I used these little chips. The idea is, one circle= one sound. They filled in these words with one of the vowel teams. Some of them could use two or three different vowel teams to make different words. 

You could also have them write in the answers:

With this activity, they searched for and covered a specific vowel team. Then they read the words to me. The one on the right is short vs. long vowel sounds. They covered (or colored) then read all the words to me. For those who have a hard time going back and forth from long to short liked the color to remind them to use the long vowel sound.

I found these mini magnifying glasses at the dollar store. You can also find some online. It's the same worksheet, just another fun way to have them sound out words. This magnifying glass fits perfectly over the vowel pairs. 

This is a mixture of activities to practice oa (there are two for oa, ai, and ea). 

Sound boxes:

Sentences with ai, ea, and oa words to highlight and read.

I don't have a picture of Roll and Read yet, but they are all nonsense words:

Some word building with colorful letters. The consonants are pink, the vowel teams are yellow and the consonant blends are blue.

(In this picture the a in the vowel pair didn't turn out very dark, but it is grey and you can see it in real life.)

Matching onset and rime to make words or play a game of memory.

Flip a word:

Filling in the correct vowel team:

A little game that is always a favorite:

 

I played this game with one of my students who is really struggling with vowel teams. He loves playing games so I try to incorporate them as much as I can when I'm working with him. When he landed on a space, we would sound it out, then write it again. I have some sound box stamps that I used with this. We would count the sounds, then choose the correct stamp (2, 3 or 4 boxes). Then he would write the letters that go in each sound box. 

More word matching. I like to put magnetic dots on the back of these and put them on the white board. I have all the initial consonants and consonant blends on the board too. We make real and nonsense words together.

Highlight the letter that says its name, then read the words:

So far these activities seem to really be helping and the kids are enjoying them! 

You can get these activities in my new Vowel Teams Pack. 

    

Here's a little freebie from this pack:

Click on the picture to download.

To see Parker's website, click here: