Rainbow Words

This is an activity that all primary teachers have been doing for years in one way or another.  Maybe it was a flower with a word family written in the middle and letters on the petals or a sailboat on a lake that had a word family and the sail had the letters. An evening of surfing on Pinterest combined the average word family lists and my adoration of paint sample cards...

...I seriously believe I am responsible for hundreds of paint sample cards being taken each year!  Lowes and Walmart must think I am an interior designer. They are sturdier and prettier than index cards. You can use them for matching games. You can use them for I Have Who Has. You can color code questions for Guided Reading based on Marzano's levels. They are FREE!

Anyways, this is how the center works. This center is meant for readers needing practice in phonemic awareness.  You could adapt it though by using prefixes and suffixes for independent readers. Students select a rainbow strip and a word family card with a hole in it.  They slide the rainbow strip underneath the word family card to spell new words.  They read each word out loud and then use the words in sentences either orally with a partner or written on paper.

Click here for a link to fabulous blog that contains ALL of the word families, diagraphs, blends, and over 500 words to make!  It also shows you how this teacher uses the paint samples.