Short Vowel Practice

Game Setup: I asked my class to sit on the floor in a half circle around the Hopscotch Rings. I placed a CVC Picture Cards in each ring. Then, behind the Hopscotch Rings, I lined up a row of buckets to display each vowel letter (A, E, I, O, U). Once my students were sitting nicely, I gave each student a Bean Bag with a vowel on it, as well as a Thumbs Up/Down Classroom Paddle. Once all the supplies and students were in place we were ready to play the game! How to Play: The students took turns picking out a CVC Picture Card to focus on. Download the Free Vowel Flashcard Printables here! As a class I asked them to segment (tell me all the sounds) in the word. An example would be - one of the students suggested we start with the word "log." I asked them to tell me the sounds in the word "log" and the class replied by saying the sounds: /l/ /o/ /g/. Then I asked them to tell me the middle sound in the word "log." Their answer was: /o/. Whoever had a Bean Bag with the letter "o" on it, got to try to throw their Bean Bag at the "log" card and try to make it in that Hopscotch Ring. If they made it into the ring, they got to add their Bean Bag into the letter O Vowel Bucket! In order to keep all the kids engaged when their friend was taking a turn throwing their Bean Bag, I asked them to watch and see if their classmate tossed the bag into the correct ring. They were able to respond by either showing me the thumbs up or thumbs down paddle. If their friend made it into the ring, they cheered! If they missed they chanted, "Good job, nice try!" The students were completely engaged while playing this game and had a wonderful time cheering each other on, and encouraging their classmates if they didn't get the Bean Bag in the ring! Our goals were to isolate the middle sound in a word, toss that corresponding letter into the correct ring, and then count which bucket had the most Bean Bags at the end of the game!