Lesson Plan Title : Phonics Challenge

Age Range: Kindergarten through Grade 2 (Elementary Level)

Overview and Purpose : This game challenges students to plan ahead and to try to make the most words with their team. This activity encourages more advanced reading and spelling students to help those who are struggling. The whole team works together to be successful.

Objective: The student will be able to spell words by applying the phonics rules.

Resources:

2 sets of index cards with letters written on each one (include multiple cards with the same letter)

2 large boxes or bags

Activities:

The object of this game is to have students spell as many words as they can. They get points for each word spelled correctly. Divide the class into two teams. Have a student from the first team come up and draw a card (without looking) from their team's box or bag. Tape the letter on the board. Have the other team draw a letter and tape it to their side of the board. Then have a second student come up from the first team and draw another letter. He has to decide if he is going to add it to the first one to start spelling a word or put it up alone to be used in a new word. (For example, if the first student on the team drew a 'm' and the second player drew a 'p', the second player would need to decide if he wanted to try to make a word that had 'm' and 'p' in it or if he wanted to make two separate words.)

Teams score points for each word they make. The game ends when both teams have drawn all their cards. The team with the most words is the winner.

Closure:

The more often students play this game, the better they will become at strategizing. You can increase the difficulty level by giving more points for longer words or allowing them to only make words that contain a specific phonics principle (i.e. silent e words or words with blends in them.)