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First Grade Phonics and Writing

Looking for a writing activity that reviews phonics patterns and word families that will fit the needs of all students?

I wanted to let you in on a little secret that I use in my own classroom that saves me TONS of time, both in planning and classroom time. 

These versatile sentence writing packets require students to read the targeted phonics skill or spelling pattern and write a sentence using the targeted skill.

What’s the benefit of writing sentences with word families:

  • Students read and write with their focused phonics skill or spelling pattern
  • Students are given the structure and support for independent writing
  • Meets the needs of ALL students in your classroom based on the expectations you set for their sentence writing
  • Supports English Language Learners
  • Consistency! Every spelling pattern taught in first grade is included in this product so you can follow the same routine every week of the school year!

Writing Sentences with Phonics Skills

So I use these writing packets EVERY SINGLE WEEK! 

I love the consistency that it provides myself and also for my students. I don't have to waste time planning new activities and the students don't have to learn how to complete new activities. 

The only thing that changes each week is the spelling pattern within the writing packet. 

How They Work

Students must use their decoding skills to read the word with the targeted phonics skill (using the help of visual picture cues) and then write a sentence using that word.

No more saying “I don’t know what to write about”!

These writing activities give students the ability to write their own sentences, but also provide some structure about what to write about with visual picture supports.

How Does It Meet the Needs of All Students?

This resource can be easily differentiated based on the expectations you set for each student.

You might require some students to write a descriptive sentence or two sentences, while other students you may have write the word three times or use a series of sentence stems to write a simple sentence.

Writing sentences with targeted spelling patterns is a great practice for English Language Learners because you to guide them on how to correctly use the new word correctly in a sentence.

The Details about Writing about Phonics in First Grade

You can print this and cut it into a half page booklet, or leave it as a full page booklet. You can also print one page at a time for a daily assignment.  

To use, students must:

  1. Use their phonics skills (and picture support) to read the word
  2. Trace the word
  3. Write a sentence using the word
  4. Draw/illustrate their sentence

Use for:

  • Whole Group Writing Lessons
  • Independent Writing Time
  • Writing Station/Center
  • Morning Work
  • Early Finisher Activities
I really like using these in small group/intervention settings with  my lower students. We can work on decoding/blending the word together. Then I can help my students formulate the sentence. 
 
Here's how I differentiate: 
-Student generates a sentence out loud
-We count how many words are in the sentence
-I mark that many spaces on the paper with a marker/highlighter
-I help the students get all of their words in their sentence onto the paper
-I make the student read the sentence back to me

First Grade Phonics and Sentence Writing

All of the sentence writing phonics resources seen in this post can be found in my NO PREP Phonics Sentence Writing product HERE:

More First Grade Phonics and Writing Favorites

Phonics Sentence Writing Blog Post

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Picture of Kristen Sullins

Kristen Sullins

I am a current Elementary Librarian and
Enrichment Teacher, mother of two, follower of Christ and Texas native. In my own classroom, I love to save time by finding unique ways to integrate writing, social studies and science into all parts of my day. I also love all things organization!

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