Building Cognitive Flexibility and Supporting Reading Intervention with Uno-Style & Crazy 8 Spelling Games
These colorful, engaging card games are more than just fun—they’re powerful tools for building cognitive flexibility and reinforcing essential spelling and decoding skills. Designed in the style of popular games like Uno and Crazy 8, these four targeted spelling games support reading intervention while keeping learners motivated and engaged.
Each game focuses on a foundational spelling pattern:
CVC – Simple consonant-vowel-consonant words, perfect for early readers. Carefully selected to avoid confusing endings like “r” or “z.”
CVCC – Emphasizes ending blends and introduces nine essential spelling rules (like ck, wa, qu, double consonants, and soft c/g). Blends such as nd, mp, nk, and others are practiced with separate flashcards.
CVCe – Also known as the “Magic e” pattern, this game incorporates six spelling rules, including when o says /ŭ/ and when s sounds like /z/.
R-Controlled – Covers patterns like ar, or, ur, er, and more complex sounds like air and oar, along with homophones and tricky combinations (w+ar, w+or).
How These Games Build Cognitive Flexibility:
Cognitive flexibility involves shifting attention, adapting to new rules, and recognizing patterns—skills that are constantly exercised as players sort, match, and interpret cards based on multiple spelling rules and phonics cues. The color-coded format strengthens visual memory and reinforces sound-symbol correspondence.
Ideal for:
Reading intervention groups
Small group instruction
Independent centers
Home practice with families
Students can use these as traditional flashcards or jump into fast-paced gameplay, practicing decoding, blending, and rule application in a low-stress, highly engaging format. Wild cards representing spelling rules further deepen understanding and allow teachers to differentiate instruction with ease.
In short, these games blend play and pedagogy, making foundational literacy practice fun, effective, and flexible.
lowercase letter ‘g’ can be a tricky one to learn, both in terms of its sound and its shape. While these challenges are quite common, understanding the reasons behind them can help students overcome confusion. They can master the letter with ease with these helpful tips. Let’s break down two main difficulties students often face when learning the lowercase ‘g’.
Clever handwriting trick for making the letter and the hard g sound.
Watch this super simple video a few times. Learn to make the lowercase letter g in three easy steps and remember the hard /g/ sound with the word “girl.”
Pure Joy Teaching. Handwriting Trick for the Letter /g/.
This video was made at the request of a mother who was trying to teach her daughter to make the lowercase /g/ correctly and remember the letter sound, too.
Understanding the Lowercase Letter ‘g’: Overcoming Common Struggles
For many students, the lowercase letter ‘g’ can be a tricky one to learn, both in terms of its sound and its shape. While these challenges are quite common, understanding the reasons behind them can help students overcome confusion. They can master the letter with ease with these helpful tips. Let’s break down two main difficulties students often face when learning the lowercase ‘g’.
1. Letter Sound Confusion: The Soft ‘g’ and the “j” Sound
One of the biggest challenges students encounter is distinguishing the sound of the letter ‘g.’ When we say the name of the letter “G,” it sounds like the “j” in words like “giraffe.” This can lead to confusion because the letter ‘g’ actually has two distinct sounds in English:
The hard ‘g’ sound, as in “go” or “girl.”
The soft ‘g’ sound, as in “giant” or “giraffe.”
Because the letter name sounds like a soft “j,” students can mistakenly believe that the letter always makes the soft sound. Helping students practice both the hard and soft sounds of ‘g’ can clear up this confusion.
2. The Shape of Lowercase ‘g’: Confusion with Capital G
Another challenge is the shape of the lowercase ‘g,’ which can easily be confused with the capital letter ‘G.’ The lowercase ‘g’ is unique because it has a loop at the bottom that faces the opposite direction of the capital ‘G.’ This can be difficult for students to grasp, especially since both letters look somewhat similar. If they have learned the capital letter first, they may influenced by that initial shape curving the other direction.
To help students remember the lowercase ‘g’ shape, it’s important to practice writing the letter step by step:
Start by drawing the letter /c/.
Then, make it into the letter /a/ by sliding up and down to the line.
Finally, complete the letter by drawing a little tail that hangs out to the left side. Very simular to the letter /j/ tail.
By focusing on these specific steps and practicing the direction of the curve, students can avoid mixing up the lowercase ‘g’ with its capital counterpart.
The Importance of the Starting Point
The lowercase letters c, a, and g, all have the same starting points. Unlike most lowercase letters the /c/ shaped letters move in the opposite direction of normal English reading. The /c/ shaped letters start at the top and move from right to left. This book is helpful for teaching these letters.
Practice Writing: Give students plenty of opportunities to write lowercase ‘g’ repeatedly, encouraging them to focus on the starting point of the letter /c/. and the direction of the curve. It can also be helpful to trace the letter first, then try writing it independently.
Focus on the Sound: Practice distinguishing between the hard and soft ‘g’ sounds in various words. Reading aloud and singing songs with the letter ‘g’ can help students become more familiar with the sound.
Conclusion
While the lowercase ‘g’ may seem tricky at first, understanding the reasons behind the confusion can help students master both the sound and shape of the letter. By practicing consistently and breaking down the challenges step by step, students can overcome their struggles and gain confidence in their learning journey. With patience and the right approach, the lowercase ‘g’ will become second nature!
The Sound Wall Frame and Heart Words were a big hit with my students. We focused on the short /o/ sound, as in “all.” One of my students drew two L’s hugging each other, the letter /a/ is thought it was so cute, and she made the /o/ sound, “ŏ.”
You can use letter pictures to teach sounds and spelling patterns.
Sound Wall Frame and Heart Words were a big hit. Skill was Short /o/ as in all.
The Sound Wall Frame and Heart Words were a big hit with my students. We focused on the short /o/ sound, as in “all.” One of my students drew two L’s hugging each other, the letter /a/ is thought it was so cute, and she made the /o/ sound, “ŏ.”
I created a simple and versatile sound wall to display on my classroom wall, right next to my reading table. As part of my reading intervention lessons, students are encouraged to create visual images to help them remember the skills we are working on.
Add some silliness to the sight words. I have a collection of sight words that have a silly snake image. I tell the students that it is a sleepy snake. He falls asleep and starts to snore. He makes the “zzzzz.” sound.
This snoring snake would be a cute one to draw for the Sound Wall Frame.
A Simple Black Frame Has Inspired Students to Draw Decodable Sounds.
Sound Wall Frame. Letter g Pure Joy Teaching
Art has always been my first love, and it is a great way for students to make sound connections to letters, digraphs, spelling patterns, and heart words.
Any space can easily be used for this type of visual-sound encouragement.
I used a lightweight plastic frame with no glass and painted it black. I also colored the tacks black with a large permanent marker so that they were hidden. Now, the focus is on the art and the sounds.
Easy Step to Create a Sound Wall
Cut the background fabric a little larger than the frame opening.
Pin or staple the fabric to the wall.
Place large black tacks in the corner of the frame opening. Let the frame hang on the tacks inside the top two corners.
Let students draw pictures inside the letters to help them make sound connections. (Try to encourage using the letter shapes to make sound links to relatable words. Example /ee/ bee – might be two bumble bees.)
Extra tacks are there for students to hang their art.
Or display the main skill that you are working on for the day.
Lowercase letter g for girl, with braided long hair hanging down.
Some of my younger ESL students were confusing the hard and soft letter g sounds. This is actually very common because of the letter name influence.
The name of the letter G, does have a soft “j” sound and they can instantly relate the name and sound together. I like to correct them by reminding them that they are correct. Sometimes the letter G, does make the “j” sound but it also has a tricky first sound and that is the hard /g/ as in girl.
I created a sample drawing for them, where my girl had brown braided hair flowing down in the shape of a lowercase “g.” The other girls wanted to draw their own versions, adding colored hair, flowers, and crowns. We kept the pictures displayed for a while, and it actually helped some of the other intervention groups who were facing the same difficulty with the “g” sound.
If you don’t want to hand draw all the letters for the students you can print them out. It is very handy to have them ready ahead of time and add a word list on the back to inspire the art. This is my set for Long E.
These pre-made cards can be used to inspire the students with images that relate to the sounds that the letters make.
What to do with the pictures after they draw them?
After the lesson is over, I leave the pictures up for a while. Sometimes I have to take them down for the next group and replace them the next day. It depends on your classroom situation. I teach reading invention, in seven different groups a day.
Some of the groups began creating a sound notebook, gluing the pictures into it. This was a great way to keep the images and lessons organized together. If you think this would be helpful, I have a link to that resource.
vowel team digraph cards
Find this on TPT mnemonic images for sounds and spelling patterns.
The schwa sound can be challenging to teach and learn. While there are some tricky words, there are also predictable spelling patterns. These games and lessons can be helpful in mastering it.
Following the scope and sequence, some of the first words students may encounter are in the first lesson. These include words like: the, was, what, of, some, come, and from.
Learning the Schwa Spelling Pattern is Easier with Games and Posters.
Looking for a way to introduce and practice the schwa sound?
Explain the schwa sound to emergent readings
The schwa sound is more than just the letter /a/ making the /u/ sound in words like banana, grandma, and pizza.
Students may first encounter the sound in the words the, was, what, and the word of. As well as the words come, some, from, and love. The bundle below has my favorite tools for introducing the schwa sound and spelling patterns to students of many levels and skills.
Schwa spelling bundle
The schwa sound can be challenging to teach and learn. While there are some tricky words, there are also predictable spelling patterns. These games and lessons can be helpful in mastering it.
Following the scope and sequence, some of the first words students may encounter are in the first lesson. These include words like: the, was, what, of, some, come, and from.
The first poster set includes them. The warning sign theme helps reinforce the visual reminder that some words have tricky vowel sounds that we will call schwa.
schwa words of, the, was, what, warning signs. Pure Joy Teaching
The schwa sound is typically the short /u/ sound. What makes it more challenging to teach is that any of the vowel letters can represent the schwa sound.
You may choose to group the spelling patterns together to help students better remember them.
One option is to introduce the letter /o/ as a schwa sound, with a predictable pattern that students may encounter.
schwa love, dove, glove, Pure Joy Teaching
This schwa sound UNO-style game is excellent for helping students master words that feature the schwa sound.
Fast pasted fun educational game students will love to play.
The Letter U has Many Sounds
More than just schwa…………….
The letter “u” sound can be quite confusing, but this fun mnemonic sentence and image of the letter “u” pushing a super unicorn can serve as a memorable spelling aid.
Have you heard students struggling to decode words with the suffix -ed? I have! The suffix -ed has 3 different sounds. This game is a fun way to learn them.
Spelling Patterns for the -ed Sounds
Have you heard students struggling to decode words with the suffix -ed? I have!
The suffix -ed, can be tricky
Trying to explain the different sounds, spelling patterns, and irregular verb tenses can be overwhelming sometimes. This war-style card game can be used to tackle all those things in three different ways. Ed said, Ed says, and Ed spells are 3 fun, engaging ways to play with suffixes, and tenses while learning at the same time.
The word hopped can be very hard for students sometimes.
Ed the elephant can not say this name, but he can make 3 different sounds “d, id, t.”
The suffix -ed has some very predictable patterns and those patterns each have a different point value in the game. The irregular verbs like run and ran are so tricky so I have added them into another game called Ed Says? The irregular verbs have the highest number of points in this game.
The third game is called Ed Spells. This game has point values for the many different spelling patterns of the word that have the suffix -ed added to them.
Suffix -ed spelling patterns are +ed, double consonant, drop e, & change the y to /i/ +ed.
Decodable game-style testing ay, ea, ei, e, i, -y, ey, igh, y_e, ie, ign, oa…..and more. Long a, e, i, o.
This is a great way to check on the student’s spelling without them knowing that they are being assessed for spelling. It works well in small groups and it is fun.
How many sounds does letter u have? This is one of the rare vowels that has more than one long sound. This can make reading tricky for words like tube and use. One has /oo/ sound the other has a sharp /y/ sound.
Explore the many sounds of the letter u, with this a helpful unicorn mnemonic.
Do you know all the different sounds letter u can make?
This might be a tricky one to teach. Some students that are learning to decode by the traditional phoneme sounds have trouble with words that do not follow the normal sounds. Example words: you, push, pull, put, was, banana.
So, with that in mind. I made up this silly picture and sentence to help them.
Unbelievable the U pushed the super unicorn
The vowel can make lots of different sounds. This sentence and the silly picture is a clever way to remember some of the sounds and different spellings of the Y-oo!
The letter u can make a shocking amount of sounds. The sounds can be hidden in many different spellings. Example words: the, was, push, super. In the word unicorn, the letter u name and the schwa sound comes from the letter i.
Crazy! Right ….
This Super Unicorn Collection can be helpful for teaching and clearing up some of the sounds and spellings by grouping them together in word lists and adding colorful pictures to create mnemonic clues.
