Overview 
The children will play a racing board game as they practice reading and spelling words with the short vowel sounds of a, e, and i.

Literacy Activities

• Prepare the game
  • Cut out the picture and word cards (see below) on the solid lines and fold on the dashed lines to create double-sided cards with a word and picture.
  • Place the racetrack game board (see below) on a table for all the children to see.
  • Sort the cards into three picture-up piles, one for each short vowel: a, e, and i. 
• Have a child roll the assembled paper die (see below) and move the game marker (e.g., bean, penny) the number of spaces indicated on the die. 
  • If the marker lands on a vowel, have the child pick a card from the pile with that vowel, identify and spell the name of the picture, then read the word.
  • If the marker lands on a vowel brother, have the child say the short sounds of the five vowels (/a/ as in cat, /e/ as in pet, /i/ as in fit, /o/ as in hot, and /u/ as in nut).
• Invite the children to write each word on their whiteboards and underline the vowel.
  • Give support as needed by helping the children stretch out the word and identify the beginning, middle, and ending sounds.
• Have the children take turns until one child has reached the end of the racetrack. 

More Practice

• Have the children take turns drawing two or three of the cards and creating sentences using the words from the cards.
• Have them draw pictures to illustrate what happens in the sentence. 
• Mix up the cards and repeat until the children have written and illustrated 2-3 sentences.