Over the past 10 years I have been a foster carer and have volunteered in my local primary school in Year 1 and one of the things that I loved to do was help the kids with their reading. One of the best ways to help with learning to read is with phonics word based games. Got It! Learning have some fun reading and spelling card games, of which we tried out set 4 (of 5).
Learning to read is an essential skill that everybody needs. Reading isn’t just to be able to sit down and read a book or newspaper, it is something that we use in everyday life from reading bus timetables to train tickets, payslips to shopping lists and a whole lot more. Being able to read sets you up for life and is a skill that most people start to learn at a very young age. It isn’t a natural process and takes some effort learning the relationships between sounds and words and how to use them (except for those words that look or sounds nothing like that they are written – for example; the West Yorkshire town of Slaithwaite that is pronounced as Slawit).
Phonics is a system that teaches children how read, write and spell in English, using different sounds to distinguish words from each other. Using phonemes (sounds) associated with particular graphemes (letters) you will learn to decode words, learn to read, write and spell and it can even help with speech. For example, to spell CAT you would first sound it out which becomes /k, æ, t/. This makes it look like a very complex learning tool, but phonics does make it easier (as I found out when having to use it having never been taught it). Despite the English alphabet only having 26 letters, phonics uses 44 unique sounds (phonemes) to learn how different letters work within different words. Once you master the sounds you should be able to use them to decode words and read them.
Got It! Learning have created some excellent phonics card games, designed by an experienced specialist teacher in line with the National Curriculum, that covers phases 2-3 of Letters and Sounds. They include picture prompt cards, multi-sensory and dyslexia friendly cards, teaching simple and high frequency words and word endings in a fun and engaging way.
Got It! Learning cards come in five different sets to cover various stages of phonics from one syllable CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant) such as CAT and DOG to more complex words such as PURE and JOINED.
- Set 1: Includes CVC, one syllable words like: dad, get, his, not, but. Covers all 26 initial alphabet sounds. Focus sounds: medial short vowels – a, e, i, o, u. Includes double final consonants: ll, ss, zz, ff
- Set 2: Includes words like: that, back, ship, much, long. Focus sounds: th, ck, sh, ch, ng
- Set 3: Includes words like: fail, feels, sigh, coats, too. Focus sounds: ai, ee, igh, oa, oo. Includes suffixes: s, es
- Set 4: Includes words like: hood, hard, short, turn, town. Focus sounds: oo, ar, or, ur, ow. Includes suffixes: s, es, ed, ing
- Set 5: Includes words like: joined, clear, pairs, pure, under. Focus sounds: oi, ear, air, ure, er. Includes suffixes: s, ed, ing
Each Got It! Learning deck of cards contains:
- 5x Instruction cards
- 5x Picture prompt cards
- 8x Got it! cards
- 40x Word cards with 5 different sounds
We have been trying out Got It! Learning Set 4. This set focuses on words using the sounds oo, ar, or, ur, ow, making words such as hood, hard, short, turn and town. It also includes the suffixes s, es, ed and ing. The set features 5 different games to play, each taking about 5-10 minutes to play (each game can be played as a READING version or READING and SPELLING version). The games can be played by 2 to 4 players, aged 5-95! (they are not only good for children starting their reading journey but are good for dyslexic children and adults).
- Word Switch – This game is a sound matching game, and the winner is the one to get rid of all their cards by matching sounds to the card currently in play.
- Word Match – The game also using sound matching, and the winner is the first player to cover all of their cards.
- Word Pairs – This game also uses sounds matching and the idea is to collect as many pairs as you can.
- Word Race – This game requires putting your phonics skills to the test as fast as you can with the winner being the first one to discard all of their cards by reading the word on it correctly.
- Word Sets – This game sees the winner as the player that correctly collects three word sets using the blue letter sounds on the cards.
These five games, with two different ways to play each game, in one simple deck of cards are a fun way to reinforce phonics sounds, word building and spelling skills for beginner readers. The varying sounds are printed in blue on the cards (in each corner and within the word in the middle of each card) making it very clear what sound makes up each word. Whilst the games are fast and fun, there is also an added element with the Got It! cards to change the way a game is played and possibly the winner of a game! The Got It! cards make it that more interesting, enjoyable and help level up the different abilities of the players as the best reader will not necessarily always win.
These games are easy to play, the cards are easy to use and they are just the right size for small hands. The cards are not too busy or overloaded with information so young players can easily see what is going on. As they are just a pack of cards they can be played at home or school and make an ideal travel game as well as they take up very little space (just make sure that you have pen and paper handy if you are playing the spelling versions).
This cards are a fantastic fun tool to help support a child’s education at home and to help with those all-important reading skills.
The cards can be purchased as individual sets or as a full collection. Depending on where you child is on their phonics and reading journey you may not need all the sets so Got It! Learning have created an assessment sheet to help you identify the most appropriate set(s) for your needs.
A fun and easy way to support children with their reading and phonics skills that can help with all aspects of their education. The games take very little time to learn and are quick to play, perfect for young children when attention spans are not that great yet. They can play fun games whilst still being educated. Learning through play is always a winner.
If you want to get more involved with your children’s education and support what they are learning at school, the Got It! Learning cards do an excellent job.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £10.95 per individual set pack or £49 for the full set of 1-5.
For more information or to buy, visit gotitlearning.co.uk.
