Write the room with digraphs

Looking for another simple printable to build early reading and writing skills? Download this free activity – write the room with digraphs!

I’ve been doing “write the room” activities with my kindergartner for a few months. But now that his reading skills have suddenly (and vastly) improved, he no longer finds these challenging.

In fact, when we did my write the room for short u activity, he complained that it was boring.

Time for a challenge! This write the room activity requires more than a knowledge of CVC words. It also requires an understanding of the common consonant digraphs: sh, ch, th, wh, wr, and kn. I used each of these digraphs to begin simple short vowel words.

As soon as he saw the above page (yeah, I know the lighting isn’t good – it’s been a long winter), my kindergartner’s tune changed. “This is too HARD.”

There’s no pleasing this guy, I tell ya.

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Even though my Six is suddenly reading quite well, his spelling lags behind (this is normal). So I knew we needed to review the spellings of the common beginning digraphs. I wrote them on the back of his page, one by one.

“What sound do the letters sh make? Right, /sh/. What sound do the letters ch spell? Right, /ch/. Let’s look at these letters – wr. What sound do those letters spell?” And on it went. It was a much better move to give him the spelling and ask for the sound rather than vice versa. I knew we needed to start with what he knew rather than quiz him on what he didn’t. That just leads to frustration – at least at our house.

As always, the download includes three different levels. And as always, we only did the most challenging version – which required him to look at each picture, identify the word, and unscramble the letters to write on his paper.

I recommend that you don’t follow my example of beginning with Level 3.

It was tough, and a little frustrating at times. It would have been better to start with level 1, in which learners simply copy the correct spellings. This way my Six would have been more familiar with the words and had a little review with those difficult beginning digraphs.

We could have moved on to level 2 or 3 on a different day.

All that said, it worked out just fine since I was there to help him identify each picture and assist as needed. About halfway through he stopped grumping and (grudgingly) accepted the challenge.

You’ll find the following words with corresponding pictures in the download:

• shut
• chip
• knob
• ship
• whip
• wrap
• knit
• shop
• chop
• shot
• chin
• thin

I hope you can use this freebie! 

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Free Spelling Games

Get this fun variety of sample spelling games from the membership site! The download includes resources for spelling CVCE words, long vowel teams, and multi-syllable words.