• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Contact

The Measured Mom

Education resources for parents and teachers

  • Alphabet
  • Reading
    • Printable Books
    • Pre-Reading
    • Balanced Literacy
    • Phonics
    • Sight Words
    • Comprehension
    • Fluency
    • Vocabulary
  • Writing
    • Grammar
    • Handwriting
    • Spelling
    • Writing in Pre-K
    • Writing Workshop in K-3
  • Math
    • Counting
    • Number Recognition
    • Addition & Subtraction
    • Colors, Shapes & Patterns
    • Visual Discrimination
    • Time, Money & Measurement
    • Place Value
    • Graphs
    • Multiplication & Division
    • Fractions
    • Problem Solving
  • Book Lists
    • Letter of the Week
    • Early Childhood Themes
    • Pre-Reading Skills
    • Math Concepts
    • Writing Mentor Texts
    • Versions of Familiar Tales
    • Holidays and Seasonal
    • History
    • Leveled Book Lists
  • Membership
Home
  • Shop
  • Blog
    • Alphabet
    • Reading
    • Writing
    • Math
    • Book Lists
  • Podcast
  • Courses
    • Teaching Every Reader
    • Teaching Every Writer
  • Subscriber Freebies
  • About
  • Membership
  • Contact

PSPKK123 February 12, 2014  •  38 Comments

Read ‘n Stick Mats – long a words

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

I love to teach reading using word families.  After learning to read a set of words with the same ending, my kids start to internalize the patterns and become much more proficient at sounding out words.  It’s a great tool to add to our arsenal of reading strategies. If you’ve been following along, you’ve seen my collection of short vowel word family houses that I began using with my Five when he was 4 1/2.  After using those and other reading resources for quite some time, short vowel words are easy for him. It’s time to move on! Looking for free long vowel printables? Get this set of 11 word family mats and cards for long a. (This post contains affiliate links.) I created this giant set of long a read ‘n stick mats for my Five.  By reading the accompanying word cards, he’s learning the following phonics patterns:

  • ay
  • ai
  • a-consonant-e

Looking for free long vowel printables? Get this set of 11 word family mats and cards for long a. I call these my Read ‘n Stick Mats because you can laminate the pages and attach Velcro dots for extra fun matching.  (Gotta love that rrrrip!)

Why use Read ‘n Stick Word Family Mats?

1) They’re hands-on.  My son enjoys reading the words and sticking them to the pictures.  Flash cards? Not so much.

2) The visual aid of the pictures gives an extra clue for beginning readers.  It makes the reading task more manageable.

3) They’re vocabulary builders. I’d love to make all eight words familiar ones – like whale and sale.  But there aren’t enough of them! The bonus if that your child’s vocabulary expands when you teach him words like gale and vale.

How do you use Read ‘n Stick Mats?

1) Print and laminate each mat on sturdy cardstock.  I love this affordable home laminator and laminating sheets!  Then print and laminate each set of cards. Cut them apart and stick Velcro dotsto the pictures and backs of the cards.

2) You can certainly print the mats and cards on plain paper, and have your child match them. However, for a more durable and lasting activity,  I recommend #1.  A bonus of the Velcro dots is that you can store the mats without the cards getting lost — just stick them on!

3) My mats were constantly getting misplaced until I punched holes in them and stored them in a 3-ring binder.

4) Take off all the cards. Have your child read the name of the family in the center of the board. Then have him read each card and match it to the picture. You will be teaching new vocabulary along the way when he gets stuck on a particular word (“What’s a plank?”).

5) After a few times of doing this with you, this is something your child might be able to do himself.  You can pull out the binder for a reading warm-up before trying some early reading books — or if you’re not there yet, do a few Read ‘ Stick mats after you read books together.  You could even put the binder in a bag and bring it along to the waiting room.

 

Here are some examples of what you’ll get in the download:

Looking for free long vowel printables? Get this set of 11 word family mats and cards for long a.

Looking for free long vowel printables? Get this set of 11 word family mats and cards for long a.

Looking for free long vowel printables? Get this set of 11 word family mats and cards for long a.

Get our other long vowel mats here:

  • Long e
  • Long i
  • Long o
  • Long u

Get your free word family mats!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

GRAB OUR BUNDLE OF PRINTABLE BOOKS & GAMES!

Phonics Books & Games: Long Vowels & More

$20.00

Looking for focused phonics activities for long vowel words, r-controlled vowels, diphthongs, and more? You’ll love this bundle of 56 printable phonics books and 52 printable games.

Buy Now

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

Filed Under: Reading, CVCE Words, Vowel teams Tagged With: first grade, kindergarten, long a, read and stick mats, word families

You May Also Enjoy These Posts:

R-controlled vowel words gamePhonics books for ee and oo wordsFroot Loop worksheet for oo words
Books for Letter P
Books for Letter O

Reader Interactions

38 Comments

  1. Christy

    February 12, 2014 at 10:29 am

    I going to try this with my 5 tomorrow. Thank-you!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 18, 2014 at 11:06 am

      I hope you get/got a chance to try them, Christy! Thanks for checking them out.

      Reply to this comment
  2. Christy

    February 12, 2014 at 10:30 am

    I am going to try this with my 5 year old tomorrow, only with magnets, since that’s what I have on hand. Thank you!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      March 9, 2014 at 2:58 pm

      I hope you had/have a chance to use them, Christy!

      Reply to this comment
  3. Tatiana

    February 13, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    Anna, thank you so much! I’m an English teacher from Russia and I’m going to use the mats with my students. I also teach my son and I’m sure he’ll have fun with the mats, too. I use all your reading materials and I like them very much. It’s real blessing for us you do all these things and share them. Thanks a lot.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 18, 2014 at 11:06 am

      I’m so glad to hear it, Tatiana! Love to hear that students and kids at home can use my materials!

      Reply to this comment
      • neth

        April 1, 2016 at 12:37 am

        very helpful to me thank u and God Bless u

        Reply to this comment
  4. Cindy Howell

    February 17, 2014 at 9:41 am

    These are awesome! My boys are in first grade and are just getting into long vowels. Your mats will be a big help!!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 18, 2014 at 11:07 am

      That’s great to hear, Cindy! Stay tuned for the rest of the long vowels in the next couple of months.

      Reply to this comment
  5. Linda

    February 20, 2014 at 10:31 am

    Thanks!!

    Reply to this comment
  6. Linda

    February 20, 2014 at 4:01 pm

    I downloaded a lot of your mats and I can’t wait to use them with my struggling Kinders!!! Can’t wait for the rest of the long letters!!! Thanks again for such a great freebie!!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 20, 2014 at 8:43 pm

      You’re so welcome, Linda! I have the other mats created, just have to put the posts together. I hope to share another set by the end of the month. If only there were more hours in the day – newborns have a way of using them up! 😉

      Reply to this comment
  7. Linda

    February 28, 2014 at 4:32 pm

    Just wondering if you could help me out!! can’t get the Velcro dots to stick to the laminate- do you use glue on your velcro?

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 28, 2014 at 4:41 pm

      Oh dear, Linda – I’m sorry to hear that. Mine have always stuck with no problem. What kind of laminate and dots are you using?

      Reply to this comment
      • Linda

        February 28, 2014 at 7:49 pm

        Really don’t know what kind of laminate, because we have a school aide who laminates for us, and they were real Velcro dots. I am going to try and make the laminate a little rough in the corner, or try a little crazy glue!!! Thanks for responding to me and thanks again for the great centers!!!

        Reply to this comment
  8. Kara

    April 28, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    Hi!

    I absolutely LOVE all the resources you are sharing! I am a first year teacher (teaching first grade) and I’ve been struggling to come up with fun, hands-on center activities to keep my students engaged. Your Read’n Stick Mats are incredible. I can’t wait to use them from the start of the year with my next group! I used them during small group the other day and my kids were SO interested in working with word families — and in learning new vocabulary (i.e. dale) like you mentioned. The velcro idea is genius, too. Simple but kinesthetic. 🙂 If you ever put up long vowel patterns for e, i, o, and u, then I will be first in line to download. Thank you again SO much for sharing!!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      May 14, 2014 at 1:12 pm

      Hi Kara! I’m so glad you can use these and other materials on my site. You’re almost done with your first year – congratulations! I wish there had been more online resources for me when I started teaching, but those were the days of dial up Internet and it was all so slow! I definitely plan to do the rest of the other Read ‘n Stick Mats for the long vowels, hopefully during the summer. Stay tuned!

      Reply to this comment
  9. Robin

    January 3, 2015 at 4:23 am

    Hi! I love these mats! We homeschool, and my DD loves bingo. Do you have any ideas about an easy way to adapt the card into a bingo card? Maybe I’ll print 2 and cut one out to make it be in a different order than the other. Thanks for the great resource!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      January 9, 2015 at 2:43 pm

      I hadn’t thought about making these into Bingo cards, Robin – I think your way of doing it is a great idea. Have fun!

      Reply to this comment
  10. Karen

    February 3, 2016 at 7:57 am

    This will be a great resource for my Fast Finishers bin. Thank you very much for sharing your work. It is much appreciated.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 6, 2016 at 4:57 pm

      I’m so glad you can use it, Karen!

      Reply to this comment
  11. Alero

    May 5, 2016 at 6:52 am

    do you have this for other long vowel sounds the o’s, u’s and i’s

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      May 6, 2016 at 12:08 pm

      Yes, I do – they’re all linked at the bottom of this post: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/learn-long-u-word-families-free-printables/

      Reply to this comment
  12. Merrin

    August 6, 2016 at 9:39 am

    Anna, thanks so much for your generosity. I’m a Year 3 teacher in Perth, Western Australia. I have a couple of students who’ve struggled to master phonics so I was looking for some bright activity cards to help them. Bravo you!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      August 6, 2016 at 11:45 am

      Yay! I’m glad you can use these, Merrin!

      Reply to this comment
  13. Melisa Bradee

    February 25, 2017 at 7:32 am

    Wow!
    What a great assortment of mats! You are helping me out with an observation where I can show differentiated learning. Thank you for your insight and creativity.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna Geiger

      February 27, 2017 at 9:40 am

      Yay – so glad you can use these, Melisa!

      Reply to this comment
  14. Sonal

    December 12, 2017 at 1:55 am

    Thanks a lot. These mats are super fun and my kids love them. They provide a great deal of vocabulary and also kids get to see the picture along with the word. Thanks once again for sharing these resources. 🙂

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      December 14, 2017 at 7:22 am

      You’re welcome, Sonal!

      Reply to this comment
  15. John

    March 6, 2018 at 11:27 pm

    I am teaching preschool and Kindergarten to ESL students in China and this will be wonderful! Thanks so much for posting.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      March 7, 2018 at 7:22 am

      You’re very welcome, John!

      Reply to this comment
  16. Grace Sugiyama

    April 16, 2018 at 8:54 pm

    Hi, Anna

    I want the Colored Long vowel family word (Is there any?).Please direct me to the right link.

    Thank you.

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      April 17, 2018 at 5:18 am

      Hi Grace!

      I actually had to pull the bundle out of my store because I need to recreate from scratch. Kind of a long story, but until I do that I won’t be selling them. I hope to have it done within a month or two. 🙂

      Reply to this comment
  17. Rivka Zirkin

    May 7, 2018 at 10:22 pm

    I recently found your website- and your stuff are amazing! Thanks so much for such creative, innovative, hands-on activities!

    Reply to this comment
    • Anna G

      May 8, 2018 at 5:37 pm

      You’re welcome, Rivka!

      Reply to this comment
  18. Agie Torres Barrosa

    April 26, 2019 at 2:51 am

    Thank you so much! love this one!

    Reply to this comment
  19. Sucheta

    March 24, 2020 at 9:25 am

    Hi,
    Even though it says its a free resource, I am unable to access it. The link for download seems to have disappeared.
    But I do love your resources, they are very creative and fun for kids.
    Thank you
    Sucheta

    Reply to this comment
    • Kate Dowling

      March 24, 2020 at 11:00 pm

      Hi Sucheta!

      This is Kate, Anna’s assistant. Please be sure your ad blocker is turned off so that the link is clickable. Then click the green download box and enter your email address. The file should be sent right away. If you have trouble with the link in the email, please forward it to Anna at anna(at)themeasuredmom(dot)com and she will help you!

      Reply to this comment

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Grade Level Key

  • PS Preschool (ages 2-3 years)
  • PK Pre-K (ages 4-5 years)
  • K Kindergarten
  • 1 1st grade
  • 2 2nd grade
  • 3 3rd grade

Hello, I’m Anna!

Welcome to The Measured Mom. I’m so glad you’re here!

Meet Our Team

Free Reading Printables for Pre-K-3rd Grade

Join our email list and get this sample pack of time-saving resources from our membership site! You'll get phonemic awareness, phonics, and reading comprehension resources ... all free!

Shop these popular reading resources!

Editable Seasonal Sight Word Game – MEGA PACK!

$24.00

Phonics Books & Games – Complete Set

$49.00

Reading response sheets & Early chapter book lists

$18.00

Shop All Resources

Members get more!

The Measured Mom Plus is the perfect online membership for Pre-K to third grade educators.

Learn More

Love Freebies?

Subscribing to our email newsletter is completely free. And when you do, you'll get access to our library of subscriber freebies! Sign up below to get access to a wonderful variety of math and literacy resources.

Join our online courses and get the tools you need to teach every learner in K-2!

Confidently teach every reader in your classroom. Still have time to live your life.

Learn More

Get everything you need to teach writing well, including over 200 ready-to-use lessons.

Learn More

Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher

Check out these recent podcast episodes:

  • How the brain learns to read
  • My reaction to Emily Hanford’s article, “At a Loss for Words”
  • What are the reading wars?
More Episodes

Join the conversation over on Facebook! We have three separate groups for Pre-K through grade 3.

Join Facebook Group

Check out these FREE email courses...

Get strategies and tools to teach a particular topic with a free 5-day email series! Just click an image to sign up. We recommend signing up for just one at a time.

For Pre-K Educators

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

How to teach letters and sounds to preschoolers

Learn my must-follow tips for teaching the alphabet in this free 5-day email series!

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

How to teach phonological & phonemic awareness

Learn how to develop this important pre-reading skill with a free 5-day email series!

How to teach preschool math

How to teach preschool math

Learn exactly what to teach your preschoolers in this free 5-day series!

For Kinder & 1st Grade Educators

How to teach kids to sound out words

How to teach kids to sound out words

Learn my top strategies for teaching kids to "sound it out"

How to teach sight words

How to teach sight words

Get strategies and tools for teaching sight words to young learners!

Tips for teaching phonics

Tips for teaching phonics

Sign up for our free 5-day email series to learn what phonics skills to teach and how to structure your phonics lessons!

For 2nd & 3rd Grade Educators

How to build reading fluency

How to build reading fluency

Learn smart strategies for helping your learners become fluent readers with this free 5-day series!

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

How to teach writing in 2nd & 3rd grade

Learn the most important writing skills to teach to 2nd & 3rd graders in this free 5-day series!

How to build reading comprehension

How to build reading comprehension

Discover the essential reading comprehension strategies for 2nd & 3rd grade and how to teach them!

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” –Matthew 6:33

Copyright © 2021 The Measured Mom •  All rights reserved  •  Privacy & Disclosure Statement  •  Site Design by Emily White Designs