Finding engaging ways to support older learners with phonics isn’t always easy. Yet, teaching vowel teams to big kids is a must. In this post, I’ll share how we can make teaching multisyllabic vowel team syllables FUN and effective using differentiated games and activities.

Important Points to Remember about Teaching Vowel Teams

As you introduce vowel teams to your students, you’ll want to keep these ideas in mind.

Explicit Instruction: Provide clear explanations about what vowel teams are and how they work. Break down each vowel team and its common patterns.
Visual Aids: Use visual aids such as charts, diagrams, or posters to illustrate vowel teams and their corresponding sounds. Visuals can help reinforce learning and serve as a quick reference.
Word Sorts: Use word sorts to help students identify and categorize words with different vowel teams. This hands-on activity can improve phonics skills and deepen understanding of vowel team patterns.
Multisensory Activities: Incorporate multisensory activities to engage different learning styles. For example, students can practice vowel teams through games, songs, or kinesthetic activities like building words with letter tiles.
Word Hunts: Encourage students to go on “word hunts” in texts to find examples of vowel teams in context. This helps reinforce learning and demonstrates the relevance of vowel teams in real-world reading.
Word Building: Provide opportunities for students to build words using THEM. This can be done through interactive activities like creating word puzzles or using online tools for word manipulation.
Modeling and Guided Practice: Demonstrate how to decode words with vowel teams and provide guided practice opportunities. Scaffold instruction by gradually releasing responsibility to students as they become more confident.
Reinforcement and Review: Continuously reinforce vowel team concepts through regular review activities. This could include daily warm-up exercises, games, or quizzes to assess understanding and retention.

What Activities Can Be Used for Teaching Vowel Teams?

A few were mentioned in the list above including word sorts, word hunts, and word building, but my favorite of all are word games and puzzles. Prior to using any of these activities, it’s essential that you provide explicit modeling of how to use THEM for reading and writing, and how they’re part of the activities you choose.

VOWEL TEAM SYLLABLES FOR BIG KIDS

Easy to use Strategies for Teaching Vowel Teams to Big Kids

Vowel Team Syllables for Big Kids is an engaging way for students to practice reading and understanding more challenging multisyllabic words. It includes differentiated practice, so all students can work at their own levels and scaffold up. It is also Science of Reading and Orton Gillingham aligned.

Vowel Team Syllable Bingo

Vowel Team Syllable Bingo is an engaging way for students to practice reading and understanding words with more complex vowel team syllables. Many older students still struggle with decoding multisyllabic words. This game will help them bridge the gap!

VOWEL TEAMS BINGO

This interactive bingo game is a FUN and effective way for your students to learn vowel teams, and way more fun than a worksheet. Kids love to play bingo! Why not learn at the same time?

ANCHOR CHARTS FOR SUPPORT

These two charts are for beginner or slightly more advanced readers. These charts are a great visual companion and are effective in helping students remember the sound/symbol relationship in vowel teams.