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This post has been co-written with Ben Wolfson, a full-time educator and assistant principal in the USA.
There’s so much learning to do with a space theme in kindergarten. Even though a full exploration of space doesn’t appear in the science curriculum until later in the primary grades, you can still tap into your students’ fascination with the moon, planets and stars in your classroom. Your bulletin boards almost make themselves with references to star work and out of this world learning, and your academic centers can take on all sorts of space themes, from counting aliens to this space CVC vowel sorting kindergarten space literacy station. Whatever you choose, space is a perfect theme for any time of year and breaks up the cycle of holiday and seasonal themes.
Learning CVC Word Families
Your kindergarten students should come into your classroom knowing most, if not all, of their letters and letter sounds. It’s likely that you’ll want to do some revising of these at the start of the year, but for many students you should be moving into sight words and CVC word families fairly quickly. CVC words are a quick way to build vocabulary as they always produce the short version of each vowel sound. Short vowel sound sorting games like this space CVC vowel sorting activity are great for getting students to match sounds to pictures, and to begin to imagine how to use their letter sounds from preschool to spell correctly. Using a variety of different ways to teach CVC words works best so check out my CVC Secret Word Worksheets, CVC Word Family Matters or CVC Onset and Rime Puzzles too!
Preparing Your Kindergarten Space Literacy Station
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Extension Space CVC Vowel Sorting Activities
Your students should quickly grasp and master this space CVC vowel sorting game. They will each need the planet themed recording sheet and a set of the pictures. One by one, they’ll pick a picture card, say it out loud and listen for the correct vowel sound and place it under the right planet. To extend their learning further, try some of these activities:
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Write the words out – the great thing about CVC word families is their reliable spelling patterns. This means that your students should be able to pick a picture card, say the word out loud and write the CVC accurately under the correct heading. This allows them to practice phonetic spelling patterns as well as neat letter formation skills.
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Work with a partner – adding partner work to this kindergarten space literacy station is a great way to bring some social skills to the table, such as listening and turning taking. In this activity, one person has the recording sheet while the other has the pile of picture cards. They draw a card at random and say the word that is shown. Their partner either has to place the picture card correctly or write the word down in the correct column. You can use my Food Friends Pick A Partner Cards to easily pair up your students.
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Find other short vowel words – finally, this game can be extended by introducing other CVC and short vowel sound words. These could be words that you find pictures of to add to the pile, or for an extra challenge you can send your students on a CVC word scavenger hunt around your classroom, adding new words to their recording sheet as they go.
Get More CVC Spelling Practice
Use this cvc spelling printable any time of the year that you’re working on CVC or rhyming word families with your students!
You can use these as teaching flashcards, for a pocket chart or word wall display, as 2-piece puzzles for an individual or small group literacy center, etc.
Students will need to match the onset to the rime correctly. Each vowel is in a different color for added support. 136 CVC words included in total!
Books About Space That We Love:
Other Free Space theme Printables:
1) Space Theme Letter Mazes – A space theme always goes down well with kindergarteners. It’s even better when you can tie in literacy centers to your theme, and this alphabet maze pack is a great way of helping students master their lowercase and uppercase letter recognition skills while experiencing the thrills of outer space.
2) Space Subtraction Clip Cards– If you’re looking for a kindergarten space theme activity that combines subtraction with fine motor skills, then you’ll love this free printable! With the recent spaceship launch to the International Space Station, the alignment of the planets to form the ‘Christmas star’ and all the space themed Lego sets my son received for his birthday, this space subtraction math center is an obvious favorite.
3) Space Vowel Sorting – Kids will love this simple space-themed vowel sorting activity. Which planet does the object belong on? Sound it out loud for some out of this world fun!
Educational Tools For Your Classroom:
Browse My Most Popular Literacy Activites:
1) Valentines Alphabet Clip Strips – Kids will choose among 5 different letters on the strip to identify the matching ones.
2) Alphabet Beginning Sound Coloring Pages – Watch your child become more familiar with each letter of the alphabet as they practice coloring in the objects with that beginning sound.
3) Tommy Turkey’s Alphabet Pie – This turkey-themed letter recognition activity is so simple to prep and makes a great file folder game!
4) Pirate Alphabet Playdough Mats – Just print out the playing mats and ask your child to form the letters out using the playdough provided.
5) Farm Alphabet Find and Cover Letters – Work on letter recognition any time of the year!
6) Werewolf Spin and Cover – Kids will race to find all the letters on their mat this Halloween.
7) Bunny Burrows Game – Fun game for small groups or circle time where students will catch a bunny and say out the sound.
8) Letter-saurus Fossil Digging – Dinosaur lovers will enjoy being a pretend paleontologist and finding all the letters.
9) Alphabet Handwriting Worksheets – Practice lowercase and capital letters with these print-and-go pages.
10) Rainy Day Alphabet – 1 printable, many ways to use.
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