Magic Squares

I was recently given a book to take a peak at and let me tell you....it is simple, easy, and has wonderful ideas to help amp up some of your word work and phonemic awareness lessons.  The book Recipe for Reading is now a go-to for me.  I wanted to share a simple and fun way to get your students excited about thinking, writing and using sounds.  These magic squares were a great way to warm-up our brains before beginning guided groups, plus it required higher-level thinking to generate their own set of words.  Here is a quick peak at how it works.

I start off with a quick warm-up using the boxes.  Each child gets a box with a vowel pattern we have been working on (r-controlled, diphthongs, etc).  I set a timer for 2 minutes and have them generate as many words as they can using the vowel pattern and the consonants provided inside the box.  After the time is up, they read and share their words.  I also have them circle one and write it in a sentence on the table top.  

A student might see: chirp, third, bird, first, sir 

The book also has sentences for dictation and sentences for reading using the sounds within the boxes.  I recently made enlarged magic squares using familiar vowel combinations.  You can grab some sample magic squares by clicking the image below.  I am in the process of typing the reading sentences up so my kiddos can practice making words, writing the words in sentences, and reading them.  This short 10 minute activity can cover so many concepts in a short amount of time.  Can you say perfect for RTI and guided groups?