Picture Sorts, Picture Sorts, Picture Sorts!

Let's talk some more about sorting....Picture Sorts!

Word Web on Smart Board

With Phonics Workshop you get picture cards for 48 different word patterns. We use these picture cards to create our class word web (bubble map) on our Smart Boards. (The Smart Board Files are included in the vowel packs.) You can use the hard copy picture cards to tape to a chart paper and make your class word web (bubble map) also. (It's what we did before we had the Smart Board.) We would show the picture card, count the sounds, identify the initial, medial, and ending sound, tape it to the chart paper and write the word underneath the card as students wrote it on their white boards in front of us. We would circle the picture and the word and draw a line to the middle sorting card (the word pattern; ex. -at) to show that it belongs to written pattern and the sound of the pattern. We would post the charts in our classroom to use for student support and practice when needed.

ap picture cards

at, an, & ap sorting headers

at picture cards

What's even better about these cards, is that they can be printed over and over. If you have a color printer, it's even better, but they still look great in black and white. We also use the cards for a sound sorting work station. After we do -at and then -ap, we make copies of the cards and put them in a bag with the header cards. We teach the students to 'read' the pictures and sort them accordingly. Each student has a white board and after the 

pictures are sorted, they write the words together on their white board. Just another authentic practice that our materials can be used for. We were very mindful of being able to have all of our materials do double or even triple duty. As the word patterns progress, we just add them to the bag in the sorting station. The first bag ends up with at, ap, ag, an, ack, and all in it. Then we start short o. The pictures are printed out again to create a short o bag which grows from ot and op, to ot, op, og, and ock. We print out more sets of card to create more types of sorts like at and ot, ap and op, ag and og, and ack and ock. Once we start short i, the same happens again. The possibilities with these cards and sorts are endless.

We also use the cards for interventions. Struggling students use the picture cards they are already familiar with to learn to count sounds orally and then write the words that the pictures represent. The more practice they get, the better they get, the more they advance. Because they are already familiar with the picture cards, they feel more confident in themselves and don't get lost in a multitude of directions.

When you purchase a vowel pack, all the picture cards for those word patterns are there. We also have packaged the picture cards for all 48 word patterns as a pack. We do understand if you would like to use some of our materials for supplemental items to what you already teach.

These are just the word sorts; Check out all the vowel packs on the left hand margin of our blog if you need the other materials as well!