Multisensory Monday: Fly Swatting Y as Long i

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Welcome to Multisensory Monday!

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Fly Swatting Vowel Y

A group of teachers I was training on Saturday asked me for an activity to use with Phonics First Lesson 2-12 y=/i/.  In keeping with the mission of this blog, ask and you shall receive.  Here is Fly Swatting for y as long i at the end of a one syllable word.  The Phonics First keyword for this lesson is “fly”, so this activity is a perfect fit!

You’ll need some notecards, markers and a fly swatter.

I have a couple variations of how this could be played that can be easily used with a whole class, small group or one-on-one.

4 Ways to Practice Y as Long-i

1) Place notecards of words ending in y as /i/ on a table, or tape to the wall.  Students fly swat a word and read it.

2) Use the same set up as the first ideas, but the teacher says a word and the student must find and fly swat it.

3) Use notecards with a mixture of words: y at the beginning, open syllable with long i and y as long i.  Students can fly swat words and read them or the teacher can say words for the students to find and swat.

4) Place notecards with single letters on the table or taped to the wall.  The teacher shows the students a word ending with y as i.  Students must slap a letter that could be put in the beginning to make a real word.

 More Ideas for Fly Swatters

If you invest in a few fly swatters for this activity, they won’t go to waste.  Here are some other uses for fly swatters.

• Review Red Words using the same ideas as above.
• Use fly swatters for vowel intensives.  Students can swat the vowel sound they hear.  Or use word cards and have students swat words with a specific vowel sound.
• Practice vocabulary by giving the definition and asking students to fly swat the matching vocabulary word.
• Use fly swatters instead of buzzers or hand-raising in Jeopardy-style review games.
• And of course, squish pesky bugs flying around the classroom!

Comment with other ideas you have for fly swatters!

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