Last week, first graders practiced a spelling pattern that is common in many words – including the words “spelling” and “including”! The pattern was -ng. We practiced the ng digraph with four of the vowels, looking at words with -ang, -ong, -ung, and -ing. In addition to our normal spelling routine, we also got some additional practice on Thursday by visiting our Kindergarten friends!

While first graders were learning to spell the /ng/ sound with various vowels, Kindergarteners were expanding their phonemic awareness and decoding skills by learning to recognize the pattern in CVng words such as hang, ring and song. We visited our younger friends to practice identifying the vowels in some of the words spoken aloud, and then played a game of NG Bingo! First graders supported their K friends in searching for the word and identifying the correct word on their bingo card. Not only did everyone get to practice their phonemic awareness, decoding and spelling skills – but we also had tons of fun! The students were great helpers and leaders among their younger peers.