Great Word Building Activity

I found this on X, but I'm not able to upload the video (click here for direct link). 

However, here is the gist of it, and it's pretty cool! (Note: This is more of an end-of-the-year activity. But you can also simplify it by using only one erasable letter - ex: HAM = AM).

Take a word where the first letter/s can be erased one at a time to form a new word. 

Ex:

stable = table = able

stone = tone = one

this = his = is

that = hat = at

chair = hair = air

drink = rink = ink

small = mall = all

price = rice = ice

Alphabet Sounds Chants

Snowball CVC Word Building - Freebie

LINK

Word Building Relay Race

I gave each table a pad of post-it notes (this was a great way to use those different shaped pads I'd been collecting!)

Each table elected one person to do the writing, and one person to do the running.

I then posted two word families. At "Go!", they would come up with a word for either (or both) word family. Writer would put the word on the sheet, and the runner would go up to the board to place their word.

I would stand at the board to prevent duplicate words. So when the Pink Team got "dog" placed up there first, no other team was allowed put that word there, too.

When the buzzer goes off, the team with the most words wins! (In this case, Green Apple Team was the winner.)

The kids loved it! We'd do it at least once a week, using two different word family prompts.

Click on the photos for larger versions.

Things to Do When You're Stuck in a Professional Development Workshop - Word Cards

I used pictures cut out from workbooks I found at the dollar store. These can be use in many ways: as flash cards, letter matching with magnetic letters, or you can make a game out of it. 

Lots of possibilities!

STUMP (and a Freebie!)

Here's a game where you pit groups of students against each other.

Click on the picture above to get a full size sheet you can print out.

Print onto durable cardstock and cut out on dotted lines. Place the squares into baggies so that Team 1 gets the "A" group of letters, Team 2 gets the "I" group of letters, and so forth.

Have the children pick one person on the team to be the scribe.

When you say "Go!", each team dumps their letters on the table and starts moving them around to build words. The scribe writes down every word they make.

When time is up, the team with the most words wins!