Explicit Phonics (with FREEBIE)

Planning....Does it take anyone else forever?
My guided reading plans take me quite a while to plan because I want to make sure I choose the right text and skills for the individual students I am teaching.

One part of my group time that was taking me a lot of preparation was the phonics portion.  I like to have the students highlight the sounds throughout the week, sort the words by sounds, and read words with the phonics skill in context.

But what I found was that I was creating new phonics sheets each week or searching through my file folders to find what I needed.  It...was...not...working for me anymore.

So after 6 months of slowly working on it, I finally have a completed set of sheets that I use in guided reading groups now.  YES!

Here is what I do:

Monday: I introduce the new skill by decoding the words together with these "flashcards."  I could cut them apart but I actually just keep the whole sheet together.

Tuesday: We practice this skill together by highlighting the pattern.  My time in group is short; therefore, we only highlight the first two rows.

Wednesday: We move on to the last two rows and complete our highlighting and decoding together.

Thursday: I want my students to use the phonics skill in context.   First, they read the sentences independently or chorally.  Then I ask them to look for the pattern within the sentences.  They get to circle the words with the focus skill.

 I have been using these sheets all year (as I slowly made them) and have found that the kids really enjoy them.  They love using highlighters, markers, and searching for the patterns hidden within the sentences.  Here is a list of all the skills that I hit:

I hope they can help your kids too!

If you would like to try it out first, please grab this FREEBIE below!  You can also find it on the "Teaching Blog Addict."