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! 
(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
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:
Get our other long vowel mats here:
Get your free word family mats!
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Christy
I going to try this with my 5 tomorrow. Thank-you!
Anna Geiger
I hope you get/got a chance to try them, Christy! Thanks for checking them out.
Christy
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!
Anna Geiger
I hope you had/have a chance to use them, Christy!
Tatiana
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.
Anna Geiger
I’m so glad to hear it, Tatiana! Love to hear that students and kids at home can use my materials!
neth
very helpful to me thank u and God Bless u
Cindy Howell
These are awesome! My boys are in first grade and are just getting into long vowels. Your mats will be a big help!!!
Anna Geiger
That’s great to hear, Cindy! Stay tuned for the rest of the long vowels in the next couple of months.
Linda
Thanks!!
Linda
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!!!
Anna Geiger
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! 😉
Linda
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?
Anna Geiger
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?
Linda
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!!!
Kara
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!!
Anna Geiger
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!
Robin
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!
Anna Geiger
I hadn’t thought about making these into Bingo cards, Robin – I think your way of doing it is a great idea. Have fun!
Karen
This will be a great resource for my Fast Finishers bin. Thank you very much for sharing your work. It is much appreciated.
Anna Geiger
I’m so glad you can use it, Karen!
Alero
do you have this for other long vowel sounds the o’s, u’s and i’s
Anna Geiger
Yes, I do – they’re all linked at the bottom of this post: https://www.themeasuredmom.com/learn-long-u-word-families-free-printables/
Merrin
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!
Anna Geiger
Yay! I’m glad you can use these, Merrin!
Melisa Bradee
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.
Anna Geiger
Yay – so glad you can use these, Melisa!
Sonal
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. 🙂
Anna G
You’re welcome, Sonal!
John
I am teaching preschool and Kindergarten to ESL students in China and this will be wonderful! Thanks so much for posting.
Anna G
You’re very welcome, John!
Grace Sugiyama
Hi, Anna
I want the Colored Long vowel family word (Is there any?).Please direct me to the right link.
Thank you.
Anna G
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. 🙂
Rivka Zirkin
I recently found your website- and your stuff are amazing! Thanks so much for such creative, innovative, hands-on activities!
Anna G
You’re welcome, Rivka!
Agie Torres Barrosa
Thank you so much! love this one!
Sucheta
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
Kate Dowling
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!