oa ow Worksheets- Flower Coloring Activity

Ryder was in first grade. He couldn’t read long vowels yet. His peers surpassed him. They were reading sight readers like Frog and Toad while he was stuck on Kindergarten phonics books. Although he brought home long vowel worksheets, the long vowel patterns simply didn’t stick. He did oa ow worksheets one week and the next he couldn’t read glow, float or soap. What is going on? his parents wondered. They thought he might have a memory-deficit.

Interleaving is mixed practiced: weaving old phonics sounds into new lessons

Kids that struggle with reading need research-based instruction. The science is clear: research-based instruction includes interleaving. What is interleaving? In sum, interleaving allows kids to practice old material while learning new concepts. This ensures that students don’t guess, as they would if they completed oa ow worksheets with all the long o sound: toast, flow, moat, row, mow, moan…etc. Of course the child knows to say long o… all the words say long o!

In oa ow worksheets that only include oa ow words, the child simply memorizes that long o is in the middle. This does not facilitate learning that lasts. To make the phonics sounds actually stick, use interleaving in your lessons. For example, kids usually learn oa ow after learning some other long vowels. Thus, weave those other long vowel patterns into your lessons. Change your list from 1) glow, flow, row, float, mow to look more like 2) fond, glow, reef, Gail, moat…etc. In this second list, your student cannot guess.

oa ow worksheets with interleaving

Click the link below for a free oa ow worksheet with interleaving:

oa/ow

The above link will allow you to print this:

Interleaving…

• includes mixing old phonics sounds with new phonics sounds.
• includes mixing old sight words with new sight words.
• is, in general, weaving old content into new content (or today’s lesson).
• boosts learning.
• in the short-term, appears to hinder learning since it is more effortful.
• in the long-term, dramatically enhances retention.
• is an important part of research-based reading lessons.

If you are interested in learning more about interleaving, check out: The Power of Interleaving in Phonics Lessons.

Reading Elephant offers systematic phonics books that teach k-2 struggling students how to read. Our books use interleaving.