Western Theme Vowel Teams Activity

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Howdy partner! Are your kids ready for some practice with long vowel words? This free Western Theme Vowel Teams Activity is an engaging way to get some practice in!

*Pair with our CVC and CVCe Word Family Fluency Passages for Emergent Readers Bundle!

Western Theme Vowel Teams Activity

One of the most fun things about living in Texas is the cowboy culture. The rodeo comes to town every year, and out past the suburbs men wear cowboy hats in complete seriousness. At rodeo time, kids have “Go Texan” day at school – they wear cowboy boots and hats, big belt buckles, and just generally look adorable.

My kids also love putting their cowboy and cowgirl hats on to play. It’s fun to pretend to twirl a lasso and ride a horse.

What are Vowel Teams?

Vowel teams are groups of letters that get pronounced as a single vowel sound. They form one of six syllable types in our language that kids need to practice as they learn phonics.

Once you’ve taught the sounds individually, you can review them all together. I’ve chosen 8 vowel teams for this Western theme activity: ai, ay, oe, oa, ue, ie, ee, ea.

Kids can pretend they’re cowboys and cowgirls spinning a lasso. They start by flicking the spinner to rope a vowel team. Then they find that team on the word list page and choose a word. Next, they read the word, and then write it down on the recording sheet.

Vowel Teams Activity Preparation

For the spinner, you can use one from the teacher store, use a paperclip and pencil, or try my DIY version. I used a piece of plastic cut from a strawberry container. I was careful to round the sharp edges as I cut. Then, I colored it with an orange Sharpie pen and punched a hole in the end. I attached it to the spinner with a brad.

After printing, you may also like to laminate the spinner page and the word list. You can give the kids a dry erase pen to cross out words they’ve already chosen – everything is always more fun when you get to use a dry erase pen!

I hope your kids will find this an engaging way to practice reading and spelling words with vowel teams.

Grab Your FREE Copy

Ready to saddle up and practice vowels? Grab your free copy of the Western Theme Vowel Teams Activity by clicking the large, yellow download button below!

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Heather

Heather is a teacher turned work at home mom of three. She loves creating fun early literacy activities and crafts for preschool and kindergarten. She blogs over at Books and Giggles where she hopes you’ll find some fresh inspiration and helpful resources whether you’re a teacher, homeschooler, parent, children’s librarian, or daycare provider.

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