Do you have a hard time finding reading passages that focus on the phonetic patterns you are working on for the week? If so, this post is just for you. I’ve totally revamped one of my favorite and most popular resources for small group, and I am happy to share that it is now available in this new format. I am also happy to share that these Phonics Readers are now digital. You will be able to spend less time looking for phonics reading passages and will be able to stay on top of things with a set of readers already organized for your small group teaching. I didn’t want to make this a super long post, and I wanted to make it easy for you to find the files, so as you read, you will see all the links throughout this post. If you want to skip ahead, you will find all the different bundles at the end of this post.
PHONICS READERS PRINTABLE BUNDLE
PHONICS READERS DIGITAL BUNDLE ON BOOM
PHONICS READERS DIGITAL BUNDLE ON TPT
We all know that the small group instructional time is one of the most important part of the day and without question, it is my favorite time. Small group is a breeze when you have everything you need right at your fingertips. I absolutely adore these fun and silly phonics readers. I’ve gotten so many positive reviews of how instrumental they have been in building reading confidence in beginning readers. Things have been changing rapidly in the teaching world, so I have made it just a bit easier for my teacher friends by providing this set as digital Boom Cards™ as well. That means, you can post and assign in Google Classroom or Seesaw .
Tap on the link below to get the Boom version.
Phonics Readers Digital Boom Cards™
What are Boom Cards?
Boom cards are digital task cards that you can assign to your students or your kids, anytime, anywhere. You can play the task cards on your phone, laptop and desktop as long as you have internet connection. You can use Boom Cards at a learning station within your classroom, or assign them for home practice. Kids love them and they are fun and easy to use. The thing I love about Boom Cards is that they are self-checking, engaging and they are digital. Things have been changing so rapidly in the education world. It’s nice to know that you can still use the same resources you love, in a digital format if needed.
You can basically practice any skill with Boom Cards. Your students can practice math, sight words, literacy concepts and phonics. For the most part, any of your paper activities can be turned into Boom Cards.
HOW DO I GET STARTED WITH BOOM CARDS?
If you have never used Boom Cards before, you will need to create an account on the Boom Learning Platform. There are different membership options. You can start with the free option and then move up if you need to add more students. It’s very easy to get started and well-worth it. Students benefit so much. The best part is that most of the tasks on Boom are self-checking so you don’t have to do a thing. Your kids will get immediate feedback on whether their answers are correct or not. How cool is that?This is great for when you are at small-group and you need students to be independent.
DO I GET TO SEE WHAT I AM PURCHASING BEFORE I PURCHASE?
One of the great things about Boom is that you get to try the cards before purchasing. You get to see exactly what you are getting. Press play on the video below to check out how the phonics stories work on Boom.
Tap this link to actually try it out for yourself. PHONICS READERS PREVIEW . Most videos on Boom have audio directions or audio throughout the decks. This is a great benefit to your students who are going to an independent station.
If you need to learn more about how to assign to your students and how to view student reports, take a look at the Boom Learning Video Tutorials and Boom Learning YouTube Channel.
CAN I ASSIGN THESE ON GOOGLE CLASSROOM OR SEESAW?
Absolutely ! Check out this amazing video on how to assign Boom Cards in Google Classroom.
READING WITH CVC WORDS
I get a lot of questions on where to begin when using these reading passages. I always start with the CVC set.
It is the easiest and the appropriate transition from where students leave off in kindergarten with letters and sounds. These stories are great for first graders and kindergarten students who may be ready for a bit more challenge. Students who already know their letter sounds and are continuing to blend the sounds into words are a perfect fit for the CVC word family readers. Prior to reading the stories, it’s important to do a quick introduction. Introduce the words from the story using whatever method you use at your small group. This warm-up should be quick and easy to get students ready for reading the words in context.
Using reading passages that repeat and reinforce the sounds being taught helps to boost confidence and improve fluency.
Students will acquire new words with each reader. There are student copies and teacher copies in each set. The focus words are highlighted within each story. Student copies will allow students to choose a color that they will use to highlight their words as they follow along with you.
after reading cvc words within a word family, keep practicing with other cvc word family stories so that you can build fluency.
READING WITH DIGRAPHS
Next, introduce digraphs slowly. There is no perfect transition here. Some experts recommend working with blends next. However, I prefer doing digraphs next because there are only a few that we focus on in first grade. They are SH,TH, CH. Sometimes we delve into other digraphs such as PH. However, there are fewer digraphs than blends that we work with.
Again, prior to reading, it is important to do a warm-up or short introduction. Some of the stories are more difficult than others, so it’s important to read through at least once with students and review the words that they will see. Unless students are already reading and you are using these as an enrichment activity, you should be reading at first with them and modeling appropriate reading habits. I’ve added student covers to each set so that students can create books or work on these at home as little books. It’s always great to get organized by printing all your masters and placing them in a binder so you can pull them whenever needed.
READING WITH BLENDS
As we delve deeper into reading, we can begin to introduce blends. I usually see a spike in fluency after starting with the passages with blends. In addition to learning the blends, students often get a kick out of the silly stories. One of the best feelings as a teacher, is experiencing the reading growth of your students. Getting them to that place means creating meaningful, intentional opportunities for practice. This means creating classroom books, posting stories in the classroom, sending home passages for the week or creating independent reading stations.
READING WITH LONG VOWEL WORDS
After practicing with blends then we can go on to reading with long vowels words. Long vowel words can be tricky because they move away from the familiar patterns that we have been focusing on so far. Now students are learning that when there is a silent e at the end, the vowel says its’ name.
When students realize they can read by first practicing with easy readers, it gives them the confidence to want to continue attempting other reading activities.
First review some words in isolation. When students have had adequate practice with silent e words in isolation, then move on to practicing using the long vowel stories. Continue on with passages that have vowel teams, diphthongs, and more.
There are different options with this resource. There are two style options as well as the digital tool for those teachers teaching virtually. If you are a parent that’s homeschooling this year, you also can decide to use the digital boom cards or printable file. Please know that the stories in both options are the same, they are just available in two different formats.
Check out the blog post on Phonics Readers Option 1 here: Phonics Readers
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE OPTIONS?
THE FILES INCLUDE THE SAME STORIES, HOWEVER, THE ARE CREATED WITH TWO STYLE OPTIONS. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BUY BOTH STYLE OPTIONS. CHOOSE ONE BECAUSE THEY INCLUDE THE SAME STORIES. THE DIGITAL BUNDLE INCLUDES ALL THE STORIES. IT IS HOSTED ON THE BOOM LEARNING PLATFORM AND CAN BE PLAYED ON ANY ELECTRONIC DEVICE. EACH INDIVIDUAL SET IS ALSO AVAILABLE IN STORE IF YOU ONLY NEED A SIGLE FILE. TAP ON THE INDIVIDUAL BUNDLES BELOW TO GO THERE.
