Applying
Phonics Skills
Applying Phonics Skills
Letter Olympics
Children apply various phonics skills in a
set of fun word-building events.
Letter
Olympics
Materials
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shoe box
box label
student directions
scissors
glue
letters and trophy pattern
(page 72)
business-size envelopes
paper
pencils
crayons
Shoe Box Learning Centers: Phonics © 2012 by Joan Novelli, Scholastic Teaching Resources
Shoe Box Setup
M
ake multiple copies of the letter
squares and trophy on card stock.
Cut apart each set of letters and place
them in an envelope. Place the envelopes,
trophies, paper, pencils, and crayons in the
shoe box. Glue the label to one end of the
box and the student directions to the inside
of the lid.
H
ave children try this activity
at different times of the
year. Date and save their work
so they can see how their results for each
event change over time as skills grow. For
example, children might find that later
in the year, their longest word award goes
to an even longer word than it did earlier
in the year. For variety and to include
different prefixes, suffixes, and so on, make
new sets of letters for additional Letter
Olympics shoe box centers.
Directions
1
Choose an envelope. Take out
the letters.
2
Choose an event. You can use the
same letter more than once to make
different words for events 1 and 3.
Event 1: the most words that end in e
Event 2: the longest word that begins with st
Event 3: the most words that rhyme with hug
Event 4: the word with the most syllables
Event 5: the longest word that ends in s
3
For each event,
make a trophy for
your winning word
or words. Write the
word or words on
the back of the
trophy or on a
sheet of paper.
Awarded to
for
Event
First
Place
71
72
s
n
g
i
u
p
d
j
l
r
b
m
c
a
e
i
o
u
g
t
m
n
p
n
w
t
h
e
Shoe Box Learning Centers: Phonics © 2012 by Joan Novelli, Scholastic Teaching Resources
First
Place
Event
for
Awarded to
Letter Olympics
Setting Up Shoe Box Learning Centers
T
he games and activities in Shoe Box Learning Centers: Phonics are designed
to be used by individual students and small groups of two to four students,
but can easily be adapted for whole-class lessons or one-on-one teaching. Each
center includes the following:
To help students get
the most out of using
the centers, model
the activities before
inviting children to do
them on their own.
• Label and Directions: The title of each shoe box center becomes the shoe box
label—simply glue it to one side (or end) of the shoe box for easy storage and
retrieval. Cut out the student directions and glue to the inside lid of the shoe box.
• Materials: Check here to find out which items you’ll need for each center.
• Shoe Box Setup: Here’s where you’ll find simple directions for assembling
each center. In most cases, all you’ll need to do is gather materials and make
copies of the reproducibles.
• Tips: These helpful hints include ways to vary and extend the activities.
• Reproducible Pages: Record sheets, math mats, game boards, and patterns
are just some of the shoe box center supplies included in the book.
Short Vowels
Long Vowels
Vowel Digraphs
Final e
Structural Analysis
Vocabulary
Development
Letter Olympics
Consonant Clusters
Shoe Box
Learning
Center
Consonant Digraphs
Phonics Skills Matrix
Consonants
Shoe Box Learning Centers: Phonics © 2012 by Joan Novelli, Scholastic Teaching Resources
To assemble the centers, photocopy each page on colored paper (or have
children decorate), and cut out the title and directions along the lines as
indicated. Glue the title to the outside of the box (on the end or side that will
show when you stack and store the shoe boxes) and the directions to the inside
of the lid. Assemble and prepare any other necessary materials (such as the
reproducible activity pages), and place them in the box. You may want to enlist
the help of parent volunteers or students to assist with this process.
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