Read and Draw
A fun way to practice CVC words/digraphs
I created Read and Draw the other day when I had a substitute teacher coming in. I figured it would be easier for her to do this activity than to read through and attempt to imitate my complicated daily phonemic awareness and phonics routine. This took about the same amount of time—15 minutes—and it was no big deal if some of the students didn’t finish it.
The activity, of course, is to say the sounds and blend them into a word and then draw a picture to match that word. News on the street was that the kids really enjoyed it.
Before sharing it with you, I tried it with the students again, this time while I was in the classroom. What I saw was all students trying their hardest to read the words so they could get to the drawing. As you know, my students love to draw and feel quite confident with it. I’m sure yours do as well.
I wouldn’t recommend this as an everyday activity. It’s too time consuming if the only goal is to practice blending. But what a quick, easy, and worthwhile activity to have ready in case there is a substitute in the classroom. And I think it’ll be handy in future years (i.e., next year) to start off easy—maybe six words that all have the same short vowel sound, or words in the same word family—and then systematically add in words that contain new phonemes/graphemes we’ve learned. When I do this, I’ll put them all in the same folder and share them with you. In the meantime, you can edit this one or make your own so it is “just right” for your students.
Note: After clicking on the link, you may need to choose File and Make a Copy to create your own editable copy.
My students have been introduced to and worked a bit with th, sh, ch, oo, ow, ar, and oy and that is why I included them on this sheet. The activity provided additional practice in searching for the sound cards, if need be, and trying the sounds out in meaningful reading.
After about 15 minutes of working time, I shared with the class some of the details that students had included in their drawings. For example, one student drew curvy lines above the mug, indicating steam or a yummy smell. Another student drew a flower growing in the pot, instead of just drawing an empty pot. I also liked how some kids put sails on their ship to make it look a bit different from a boat. When we do this again, I will teach my students how to draw an arrow pointing to something specific in their picture, perhaps the “pot,” a “lid,” or the “wing” on a bird they drew.