Final /K/ Sound Games

Which to use ck, ke, or k for the final k sound?
These visuals are another way to remind students to look and listen for the vowel sounds and names.

Which to use ck, ke, or k for the final k sound?

Emergent readers often struggle with final k sounds and spellings, and rightly so. There is a lot to unpack here with these spelling rules and patterns.

They may start off well with phonics and individual letter sounds, they may transition to decoding CVC words, and then the rules seem to change overnight when they get to the final letter k sounds. They are often confused with the fact that ck, can make one sound. While other words can use only the letter k by itself, without the letter c. Then you add in the words that end with ke, for example the word: like, with a silent e. Bingo-bango we now have a student who is confused.

Final k sounds with a silent e

Yes, this does not happen every time but it did happen the other day on a spelling test in my class. One student started adding /cke/ to the end of the words. I think she was trying to cover all the possibilities for the final /k/ sound. I have seen this before with students who do not understand all the reasons for final silent e.

To help speed up this process, I have created a few games that I can play with the students that will help them practice some repeated reading of words that have the final /k/ sound. Grouping words together with similar spelling patterns often makes it easier for them to decode new words that they did not know they could read.

War-style educational games

They love these war-style games. To get extra use out of the game cards, I added beginning k sounds too. This is a bonus with hard c words all in the same resource.

It’s important to teach students that the really vowels matter a lot. Listening for the vowel sound or the vowel name can be the key to helping decide which final /k/ spelling to use.

  • If you hear the vowel sound before the final /k/ sound then use /ck/.
  • If you hear the vowel name before the final /k/ sound then it could be /ke/ or /k/.

Here are a few example words:

  • -ck ending: back, peck, dock, luck
  • -ke ending: bake, hike, coke, puke
  • -k ending: bank, pink, soak, park

The letters /ck/usually follow a very predictable pattern. It is sometimes called a short vowel pointer. Meaning it points backwards to the vowel that is making its short sounds, and the vowel is not saying its long name.

To help the students learn this skill of listening for the short vowel pointer, I also added some sound sorting cards to this game. These cards can be used as wildcards in the war game or used for sound sorting during a tutoring lesson.

Beginning c pattern: a, o, u. Beginning k pattern i, e, y.

These visuals are another way to remind students to look and listen for the vowel sounds and names.

Have Pure Joy Teaching

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Sellers-Im-Following/Add/Pure-Joy-Teaching

Flossy Uno Decodable Reading Game

This specially designed Flossy Uno game can help students practice reading words that end with ff, ll, ss, zz, recognize the spelling patterns, and have fun.

How to Teach Floss Ending Blends with Color-Coded Short Vowel Flashcards

Teaching the flossy spelling pattern seems simple, but is it? NO.

Teaching the floss rule is not an easy thing to do. Let’s unpack this. First rule number one, when a one-syllable word ends in f, l, or s, double that final f, l, or, s.

Easy! Got it. Then what about pal, gal, Sal, roll, poll?

I had to look that up. It turns out pal, gal, Sal are non-formal words. It might be better to call this a spelling pattern and not a rule.

Roll and poll are words that sound like long vowels and then there is the word doll that sounds like a short vowel. This now seems harder to teach to emergent readers. We need to be careful not to call this a rule. Floss is more like a short vowel indicator. In the Uno game, these long and short vowel words are different colors to help recognize and teach the pattern.

What about teaching the -all word family?

The word /all/. The letter /a/ is not saying “ah” like in cat or pal. The vowel a has changed to the short ŏ sound. Like in the word boss. That is tricky for some students to decode. In the Floss Uno game, the /all/ cards are dual-colored to help highlight the spelling pattern.

The red-colored cards in the game all make the short ă sound. The orange-colored cards all make the short ŏ sound. The tricky ‘all’ word family has dual colored cards, the letter a (red) making the short ŏ sound (orange). This helps create a color link to the sound patterns.

There are many ways to sort these cards to play different levels of the game. Take a look at the cards here.

The long o words like poll, roll, troll, have a dark blue color, instead of orange. This set also has a large collection of pseudowords. A good mix of digraphs, trigraphs, and floss endings.

You may all like this game. CVCC ending blends card game.

Have Pure Joy Teaching

Pure Joy Teaching

Chef vs Magician, Sh Sound Spelling ci, ti, si, Card Games

Pairing up the right lessons with card games has given my struggling readers and spellers a great advantage.

How to teach spelling lessons with fun card games?

Pairing up the right lessons with card games has given my struggling readers and spellers a great advantage.

Education games that students want to play. Over and Over again.

Posters can be used to teach single a lesson or combined into many lessons.

War-style card game Chef VS Magician has colorful images and letters for the many different spellings of /sh/.

© Pure Joy Teaching

The tricky sh sound spelled ci, ti, si, xi, ss, sh, ch, s, c, can now be used as a game.  Students love playing card games like War and Uno.  These 144 cards were made to highlight the tricky “sh” sounds in words and added a point value to the different spellings. Including the French ch = sh, and letters like c and s, in words like ocean and sugar.

“It is a trick?”

Knowing there is a trick is the best way to avoid being tricked by it. This is a fun play on words. Words like ocean, sure, and sugar all have a “sh” sound that we can not see from the spelling clues.

144-Word cards with color-coded /sh/ (many different spellings of the “sh” sound) with single beginning syllable and ending syllables.

You can find it here on TPT . The are many different ways to play. Use the cards for UNO, War, or flash cards. Printing out multiple sets have been extra helpful for me. I work with many different students at different levels. It is easier for me to have the cards grouped into leveled decks ranging from easy to advanced.

The lesson posters can be cast to the TV or smartboard. I like to keep them all bound up in a booklet, it is handy for working with small groups or tutoring students.

We review the spelling lessons and write a few words from the word lists. Some students like to draw mnemonic pictures for different /sh/spellings. Then we play the card game to put reading into practice.

Level one starts with the main spelling of the sh sound, and explains to the students that these are single-syllable words. The next level can be introducing tricky words like: sure, sugar, and ocean. Or moving on to multiple-syllable words and compound words.

Lesson Booklet Option

Binding up the pages created a valuable handy resource for me.

These mnemonic picture-embedded spelling tips have been very helpful. Especially for the very tricky R-controlled Trigraphs.

Have Pure Joy Teaching.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Sellers-Im-Following/Add/Pure-Joy-Teaching

Blue Tongue Spelling Tip CVCC Words

Think of a blue tongue to remind you how to correctly spell the word tongue. They both have the same /ue/ ending.

Teaching with card games.

Spelling tip today.

    Think of a blue tongue to remind you how to correctly spell the word tongue. They both have the same /ue/ ending.

The other day we were playing the CVCC Uno card game after our reading group. The word tong, was one of the cards that we took the time to discuss vocabulary and meaning. That brought us to the word tongue and blue, in a roundabout way. One student was thinking the word (tong) might be “tongue.”

They were surprised when I wrote the words tongue and blue on the whiteboard. I underlined the ue and told them to think of the word blue to remind themselves how to spell this tricky word.

There are many teachable moments in these small reading groups. It is pure joy for me to hear them working out new words that they have never read before and discuss their meanings during our games. Teaching the students with flashcard games helps them to sound out new words that they may not find in regular reading passages. When they have confidence in their decoding abilities, then they can stop guessing with the whole word strategy. It is awesome, to hear the shock in their voice when they realize they can read a new word they never knew before.

You can find this CVCC Uno Here. Take a look at the R-Controlled Uno game too.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Vowel-Teams-Mnemonic-Booklets-Visual-Aid-Literacy-Spelling-Bundle-Structured-9616850

Here are more of the mnemonic spelling cards.

Full of more picture clues embedded within the letters to help visual learners.

Test your knowledge. How many animals have a blue tongue? Here.

Follow me on TPT.

Have Pure Joy Teaching.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Sellers-Im-Following/Add/Pure-Joy-Teaching

C Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook

The second book in the series Pirate Handwriting letter formation

Find it on Amazon

C Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook Lowercase Letter Formation

This is the second book in the series Pirate Handwriting.

The lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory, picture a sensory experience to stimulate the brain for learning, and avoid common letter reversal errors. In a storybook style, the letters are grouped by similar starting points and curved strokes to speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading. Presented with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

This is the second group of letters that they learn: c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e.

These letters all share the common c shape.

They also start to recognize vowel sounds, with the help of a colorful bird and a curious monkey they find on the island.

Vowels a,o, and e.

By D. Passmore

The next book in the series is: I Pirate Letters

R’s Pirate Letters Handwriting Storybook

The first book in the series Pirate Handwriting letter formation

R’s Pirate Letters: Handwriting Storybook Lowercase Letter Formation

This is the first book in the Pirate Handwriting series.

The letters in this book all share a similar ‘r’ shape and fine motor direction with a common downstroke and slide-up hook.

Letters: r, n, m, h, b, p

Treasure-seeking pirates are distracted by a new adventure. That leads them to start learning the valuable skill of handwriting. 

The lowercase letters are grouped to help improve muscle memory, picture a sensory experience to stimulate the brain for learning, and avoid common letter reversal errors.  With letters that are grouped by similar starting points and down strokes to speed up the handwriting process and improve letter print recognition for reading.  Paired with a fun and memorable story to engage the interests of young students.

The second book in the series is: C Pirate Letters, By D. Passmore

Letters: c, a, g, d, q, o, s, e