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This Reading Mama

Find the Oddball: a Phonics Activity to Review Vowel Patterns

By thisreadingmama 5 Comments

As we began to reach the end of this school year, I started thinking of a phonics activity I could use to review many of the vowel patterns my 2nd grader has studied this year and last. That’s when Find the Oddball popped into my head.

Find the Oddball - a phonics activity to review vowel patterns - This Reading Mama

*This post contains affiliate links.

The idea for Find the Oddball is adapted a bit from the word sorts you can find in Words Their Way (the words I chose actually came from the amazing word lists at the back of the book). In many of their word sorts, “oddball” words are included. For example, in their ai word sort from Word Sorts for Within Word Pattern Spellers, said is included as an oddball word because it fits the visual pattern of ai, but does not have the long a sound. This is just one to way to integrate phonics and sight words.

This phonics activity is so simple, yet great for getting kids to problem solving and use critical thinking with phonics. It can be used as one-on-one activity/assessment with a child, when working with a small group, or as independent work. You can use them all or just the ones that match your child’s level of development.

 

The phonics patterns featured in the FREE 23-page pack {download link at the end of post} are

  • short vowels (a, e, i, o, and u),
  • bossy r (ar and or),
  • the most common long vowel patterns (such as a_e, ai, ay, oa, ee, ea, i_e etc.),
  • and a few other vowels (such as ou, al, and au).

 

Play Find the Oddball

The first day, I copied off all the short vowel pages (5 total). I cut up the word cards, which are color-coded and numbered so they stay in their separate piles.

short e word deck

He placed the cards from each phonics pattern down on our table, read through each word, and then identified the word that was the oddball. For example, in our short e deck, they is the oddball because the e does not make the short e sound (like you find in press or smell.)

 

supporting answer with explanation

He then used the recording sheet (pg. 3 of download) to write down the oddballs from each short vowel pattern deck and the reason WHY that particular word was the oddball–this is an important step…don’t miss it! In order to get kids thinking deeper about how words work, we must ask them HOW they got their answer!

 

We worked through the entire pack (20 word decks altogether) over the course of the week and I was pleased with how well he read the words, found the oddballs, and was able to support his answer through his explanations! Phonics patterns reviewed? Check!

 

More Phonics Activity Resources:

  • Phonics BINGO Pack {a 62-page bundle pack for $2.99}
  • Helping Spellers Make Phonics Generalizations
  • Phonics or Sight Words? Teaching Kids to Read {and Spell}
  • FREE BOB Book Printables– phonics and sight word activities for sets 1-5

 

Find the Oddball Phonics Activity Pack {FREE} - This Reading Mama

Download Find the Oddball for free HERE!

 

 

 

~Becky

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Filed Under: Phonics and Word Study Tagged With: SWS

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Comments

  1. Lisa says

    May 16, 2014 at 8:23 am

    i am a reading teacher and am finding your posts to be incredibly helpful and useful. Thank you so much for sharing them.

    Reply
    • thisreadingmama says

      May 16, 2014 at 10:51 am

      Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. You are very welcome!

      Reply
  2. Phyllis at All Things Beautiful says

    May 16, 2014 at 9:44 am

    I just bought the Words Their Way book from your recommendation. Now I have a game we can play, too. Thank you.

    Reply
    • thisreadingmama says

      May 16, 2014 at 10:50 am

      You are very welcome! 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Learning to Read: Sight Words and Phonics Together - Imagination Soup says:
    August 17, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    […] pattern. But it does not make the short i vowel sound. Asking a child to read through the words and locate the “oddball” word is a great way to get kids to analyze and think critically about how words and word patterns […]

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Becky, a homeschooling mama with 4 blessings who keep me on my toes {and knees}. Before homeschooling, I was a classroom teacher (M.Ed.) and reading tutor. Read more about me here.

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