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“A train in the rain was pulled by a chain…” This short poem features three words in the same word family. Word families are words that have the same combination of letters and often rhyme. Some common word families are “-at, -ack, -ap, -ame, -ell, -ick, -ide, -ump.” Learning about word families can help students develop phonemic and phonological awareness as well as build reading and spelling skills.

These word family picture cards can make studying word families fun and exciting. The set features a total of 148 playing cards with 37 different word families. There are 4 cards for each word family featuring different illustrations to help students think of new words in the family. Double-tap the cards to flip them over.

Wondering how to use them? Here are a few ideas:

• Drag and flip a card onto the playing area. Ask students to think of as many words in that family as possible. Then, ask students to come up with a sentence, poem, or short story using the words they thought of.
• Divide the class into two or more teams. Flip over a card for each team. Each team has to think of as many words for their card as possible. Whichever team thinks of the most words wins! Or, have each team come up with a poem using their words.
• Drag and flip four to eight cards onto the board. Ask students to categorize them based on the vowels used.

Visit classplayground.com for more resources and printables related to word families.

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“Lump, bump, slump, plump…” This is a list of words in the “ump” word family. Broaden your students’ vocabularies and boost their literacy skills by challenging them to do the same with these word family cards. Perfect for individual or a whole-class activity, these word family cards make language study fun!

Drag a card off the deck and double-click it to flip it over. You can flip it back by double-clicking again. The set has a total of 148 cards and has 4 cards for each of the 37 word families. Use the pencil tool to write down words or circle cards. Use the eraser tool to erase pencil markings. The trash can tool clears the entire board, including the cards.

Here are some activities and games to play with these word family cards:

• Flip over a card. Challenge students to come up with as many words as possible for that family. Make it a competition by having students work in groups. Each group has to write down their list. The group with the most (real) words wins!
• Flip over a card. Challenge students to write a poem using as many words in the word family as possible.
• Flip over 8 cards. Ask students to find similarities and differences between the cards and the sounds in the families. For example, two of the cards share the same vowel sound.
• Flip over 8 cards. Ask students to list one word per word family. Then, have students put the words in alphabetical order.

Working with word families builds students’ literacy skills related to rhyming, spelling, and reading.

Visit classplayground.com for more resources related to word families.

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Can you think of a word that has “ph” in it? Or how about a word that has “oa”? Challenge your brain and your friends to a friendly word and spelling competition with the virtual digraph cards.

Our digraph cards are a virtual manipulative that helps make learning to read and spell fun and engaging. To use them, simply drag and drop a card onto the playing area. Then, double click it to flip it over. Drag as many cards onto the area as you’d like! In total, there are 80 cards that show 20 digraphs which are each repeated 4 times. Write letters or draw pictures using the pencil tool. Erase mistakes using the eraser tool. Clear the board with the trash can tool.

Digraphs are sounds made by a combination of two letters. Working on digraphs can help students become confident readers. 

Wondering how to use the digraph cards? Make learning words fun with these challenging digraph card games:

• Word lists. Flip one card over. Challenge students to make a list of as many words as they can using that digraph. Whoever writes the most words wins! Play individually or on teams.
• Challenge students to combine two of the digraph cards to create a word. For example, “sheep,” or “throat.”
• Write one word using a digraph. Then, ask students to read the word and draw a picture of it using the pencil tool. 
• Flip over many digraph cards. Challenge students to find digraphs that make the same sound. For example, “ee” and “ea.” 

Visit classplayground.com for more writing and spelling activities and printables.

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Can you write a word with just two alphabet cards? Challenge students to some reading and writing fun with this virtual literacy tool. 

The virtual alphabet cards are easy to use. In total, there are 104 cards, with 4 copies of each capital letter. To use them, simply drag and drop a card onto the playing area. Then, double click it to flip it over. Use the pencil tool and eraser to write notes or add drawings to the canvas. Clear the canvas with the trashcan tool. 

There are many ways to play with the alphabet cards.  Here are some alphabet activities you can play:

• Who can write a word first? Individually, in pairs, in small groups, or as a class, challenge students to see who can write a word first. To play, add cards to the board one at a time. When a player can form a word, they can raise their hand. Continue playing to see how many words can be formed with up to 5 or 6 letters. 
• Draw 5 or more cards. Ask students to put them in alphabetical order. 
• Challenge students to write their names, spelling words, or vocabulary words using the digital alphabet cards.

Visit classplayground.com for more writing and spelling activities and printables.

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Can you read trigraphs? You can master the next level of reading with the trigraph tiles! You’ll learn to read and write many new words. 

To use the trigraph tiles, simply click, drag, and drop one of the three trigraphs onto the grid. Then, write a word with it using the rest of the letters in the alphabet. Write, draw, and erase on the grid using the pencil and eraser tools. Clear the grid using the trash can tool. You can also remove letters and trigraphs by clicking, dragging, and dropping them off the grid. 

The trigraph tiles help young students improve their reading skills. Trigraphs are sounds written with three letters. “Dodge,” “itch,” and “night” are three examples of words with trigraphs. Use the trigraph tiles for learning with these fun activities:

• Ask students to write as many words with the trigraphs as possible. You could even make it a friendly competition between two small groups!
• Challenge students to write a sentence using at least one word spelled with a trigraph.
• Write out words using trigraph tiles and have students read them.
• Use the pencil tool or alphabet tiles to spell words incorrectly. Then, have students spell them correctly using the trigraphs. For example “cach” should be “catch.”

Visit classplayground.com for more phonics activities and printables. or, try our other literacy tools.

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Oh, English spelling! Why can’t it be simple with each letter making one sound? It can be tricky to teach young students to read and write, thanks to the many digraphs in English. Students need to learn both vowel and consonant digraphs to be able to sound out and spell words. This fun digraph tiles activity provides a great way for students to practice reading and spelling. How does it work?

The interactive online digraph activity is fun and easy. Simply drag letters and digraphs onto the graph paper to write words. The digraphs conveniently fit into one square, showing that they make one sound. Use the pencil tool to circle or underline letters, or write new words. The eraser tool erases. Press the trash can button to clear the board.

Here are some fun ideas for using the interactive digraph tool:

• Write out a word using one of the digraphs, such as “ship.” Then, invite students to list words that also use the digraph “sh.” Add each word to the list, or invite students to write the words.
• Work with a small group of students who each have a device. Say a word using a digraph, such as “sleep.” Have students write out the word using the digraph tool.
• Play whisper down the lane dictation. Create lines of students. The last student has the device to use the digraph tiles. Whisper a word using a digraph to the first student in each line. Then, they whisper down the lane until the student with the device hears the word. See who spells the word correctly.
• Write out a word using a digraph and ask students to read it.

Visit classplayground.com for more resources and printables related to spelling and phonics.

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Jack had a sack on his back. How many words in that sentence are part of the -ack word family? If you answered “3”, you’re right!”

This word family tile set brings reading and writing to life. Here’s how to try it! Click and drag word family endings onto the grid. Add letters to complete words. You can also click and drag word family endings and letters off the grid to remove them. Write, circle, and draw using the pencil tool. The eraser tool erases. Clear the grid using the trashcan tool. 

With the virtual word family tiles tool, you can encourage students to practice writing word family groups. For example, challenge students to write words using one of the word family endings like “ick.” 

Or, ask students how many words they can write starting with the same letter. Tell students they can use as many word family endings as they’d like. 

Then, encourage students to copy the words they’ve written into their notebooks and have them write sentences, poems, or stories with the words. 

When students are learning to read and write, it’s important to keep students interested and engaged. This fun virtual manipulative supports beginning readers while also providing the chance for students to actively participate in writing new words. How many words can your students write?

Visit classplayground.com for more word family activities and printables.

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Do you need a quick way to have students practice writing words or numbers? Or perhaps you want to display text easily to new readers using different colors for different letters. Our free interactive online magnet board brings all the benefits of a set of magnet letters and numbers without the hassle: they never get lost and the magnets never wear out.

Choose uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and/or accents by selecting the buttons below the letters. Then, click and drag the letters onto the whiteboard space. To select the letter color, use the dropdown menu by clicking on the blue circle. Choose the size by clicking on the black circle. Use the trash can symbol to clear the board.

Here are a few ways you might use the white board:

• Write words for your early readers to read using different colored letters for vowels and consonants.
• Say a word and ask students to write it using the magnet letters
• Show students a picture and ask them to spell the object using the magnet letters
• Display a lowercase or uppercase letter and then ask students to identify the matching lowercase or uppercase letter
• Perform simple math operations
• Make a list of words that belong in a word family. Have students take turns adding words to the list.

Visit classplayground.com to learn more about word families and to discover other literacy activities.

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If you teach students to read, then you know how important building a base of phonemic awareness is. When students are aware of the sounds they are hearing, it helps them encode as they write or spell and decode as they read. Elkonin boxes can be a helpful part of that teaching process. Named after their creator, psychologist D.B. Elkonin, the boxes are a teaching tool that helps students break down words into their component sounds.

How do Elkonin boxes work? It’s easy. Each time a student hears a new sound, they drag a colored circle into a new box. For example, the word “see” would have two circles. The first circle for the sound “s” and the second one for the sound “ee.” Diagraph or combined letter sounds count as one phoneme. For example, for the word “sheep” there would be three circles for the sounds or phonemes /sh/ /ee/ /p/.

You can easily modify the online Elkonin boxes to fit your lessons by changing the color of the circles and the number of the boxes. Select the color from the drop-down menu by clicking on the blue circle. Tap on the number “2” to select the number of boxes. Clear the Elkonin boxes by pressing the restart symbol.

Visit classplayground.com for more resources and printables related to Elkonin boxes and literacy.

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