Phonics sound cards with pictures are a must-have resource for any first grade classroom! Traditional sound cards help students identify individual alphabet letters and their corresponding sounds.
Phonics or word family cards focus on common spelling patterns (word families). Most spelling patterns include two letter combinations, but they can include more.
By focusing on spelling patterns, students learn how to decode (read) and spell (encode) much faster!
But phonics sound cards can be so much more than that…
What if you could create colorful and eye-catching spelling anchor charts with very little time and NO Mr. Sketch marks on your hands? I’m serious, super cute spelling anchor charts with little to no effort on your part AND a pop of color added to your classroom.
It’s not too good to be true.
But what else are sound cards used for?
Today we will be talking about ALL the different benefits of spelling pattern sound cards/posters (sometimes called anchor chart flags) including:
- Help students read and spell common word families
- Provide visual support to struggling students
- Save you time creating anchor charts
- Give your classroom a pop of color
- Help you stay consistent with your phonics and spelling routines
What Can You Do With Sound Cards in First Grade?
Help students read and spell common word families
Wait, why do you even need to focus on spelling patterns and word families?
It helps students decode (read) and encode (spell) common spelling patterns which is a huge foundational need for early readers.
Provide visual support to struggling students
These classroom flags also provide visual support for students with clipart to demonstrate the sound which is especially helpful to students who may be struggling or English Language Learners.
Save you time creating anchor charts
You will save so much time (and materials) by utilizing these click and print flags on your anchor charts because you will no longer be spending your precious conference time prepping and coloring an anchor chart for tomorrow’s spelling lesson.
Help you stay consistent with your phonics and spelling routines
Most importantly, because these word family flags include ALL first grade spelling patterns, you will provide yourself (and your students) with consistency because you can follow the same routine every week of the school year.
When to use Sound Cards in First Grade
How can you use Sound Cards?
- Whole group phonics lessons
- Small group guided reading
- Small group intervention
- Classroom décor
Classroom Décor:
Hang up all year as a “banner” or change out with each spelling pattern grouping (short vowel, digraphs, etc.).
I like to attach sentence strips to mine (as seen on the right). We generate the word list as a class and it hangs by our classroom door. I challenge my students to read one word off of the list each time we walk out the door!
(Keep reading to see how I turn this into a word work station!)
Small Group Guided Reading or Intervention:
Use one card a time to brainstorm words that include the word family pattern that you want to focus on for the day.
You can also use several sound cards as “flashcards” during your small group warm up.
Whole Group Phonics Lessons:
Use one card at a time to lead a whole group phonics or spelling lesson. Attach the flag to an anchor chart/poster or a sentence strip and brainstorm words that include that particular pattern. You can hang this around the room for students to refer back to during lesson or independent station time.
A Spelling Station that works for ALL First Graders
Benefits of a Sound Cards in First Grade
Phonics sound cards or phonics posters offer you a WIDE RANGE of possibilities to introducing and practicing word families with your first graders!
Your students will greatly benefit from the consistency and visual support that sound cards provide!
YOU will greatly benefit from the amount of planning and prep time you are cutting out by having a consistent sound cards that only requires you to change out a list each week/month.
First Grade Spelling Lists
All of the spelling sound cards seen in this post can be found HERE:
What if you could create colorful and eye-catching spelling anchor charts with very little time and NO Mr. Sketch marks on your hands?
I’m serious, super cute spelling anchor charts with little to no effort on your part AND a pop of color added to your classroom.
More First Grade Phonics and Writing Favorites
