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.

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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