Today, we are very excited to introduce our new Phonics Coloring Worksheets for Word Families, which give kids practice finding & reading words with common phonics spelling rules, & a chance to color creatively, too! They also give children practice reading and contrasting words from two different word families, so this is really great practice in sounding out words.
As children find and color the pictures according to the words that are written inside of them, they get valuable practice thinking of reading words in terms of word families and phonics spelling patterns. The coloring makes it fun, too! I think that these worksheets are the PERFECT addition for “morning work” in phonics, if I do say so myself! And we have a couple of freebies for you to try out yourself, if you like! Scroll all the way down the bottom to find them! Otherwise, click here to purchase them for just $5 per volume! Here’s a link to Volume 1, and here’s a link to Volume 2.
All of the words in these two worksheet sets are the same words that are presented in the Sounds Fun CD/DVD. I LOVE that these two resources compliment each other so well! They are also the same words are also presented in the Sounds Fun Phonics Workbooks, Volumes One and Two. (See the word list below.)
The sound spelling or phonics rule can even be taught by letting the children watch or listen to the DVD! Of course, these may also be taught in the traditional way instead!
For those of you that didn’t know, there are words that are shown in the upper left hand corner of the Sounds Fun DVD as it plays. My class enjoyed singing a phonics song once through, and then watching it again with the sound muted, reading the words together as they appeared on the screen. (See below.)
So in order to introduce the worksheet, all you really need to do is review the Sounds Fun Phonics songs that the worksheet focuses on. Then have them watch again with the sound turned down while they practice reading the words on the upper left hand side.
Suggested Instructions for the Worksheets
1. Introduce the phonics spelling pattern or rule to the children. Practice reading the words on the worksheet together. I use the Sounds Fun Phonics CD/DVD for this, but you could use any method, of course! There is a clip below for those of you that are not familiar. If you have the DVD, have the children read the words on the upper left hand side after singing and dancing along with the video.
2. Read the instructions on the worksheet aloud to the children. Demonstrate what to do with one or two examples.
3. I found it easiest to have the children find and underline the words that they should color FIRST, and then I could release them to relax and color. So, before I passed out the worksheets, FIRST I modeled how they should find the spelling patterns in each word and then underlined that word with the color indicated on the worksheet. Then I removed my worksheet so that they could not simply copy mine, of course!
4. Pass out the worksheets, reminding the children to start by finding and underlining all of the target words with the correct color before coloring. Children can put a colored dot or underline with a different color the words that don’t fit the target spelling pattern. Watch for and correct any mistakes in the underlining before they begin coloring, when it is easiest and less frustrating for the children to correct!
5. After they have found each target word and underlined it with the correct color, they may begin to color those words according to the instructions. You may wish to have them double check the words with you first before they begin coloring.
6. When the target words are colored, then they may color the rest of the words “any other color,” or follow the instructions as stated on the worksheet. This works out well, because some children will want to make rainbows out of some of the objects or color them very carefully, and that should be done after the rest of the “work” has been completed.
7. You may want to let children with special needs simply underline the words with the designated color and not require any coloring, etc. They could even place markers on the correct words instead of using a pencil or crayon. The thought process is the same, so it’s up to you!
These worksheets are meant to be a little bit open ended in terms of how much of it needs to be completed. That means that some children that enjoy coloring may want to color in all of the objects and have fun with them! Others may only want to find the ones that are part of the targeted spelling pattern and perhaps cross out the rest, etc. Feel free to differentiate for your students as you see fit!
I usually ask my students to keep working on it until the given time is up, and then turn it in. So even if they are not quite done with the rest of the “any other color” words, it should not matter. They can be done with it when the bell rings, unless you would like them to complete the entire thing.
I hope you enjoy this resource and that it is useful to you! They are available NOW on the website. Only $5!! Here’s a link to Volume 1, and here’s a link to Volume 2. You can try out a couple of freebies by clicking below!
-Heidi 
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