Today, I want to describe some of my favorite Phonics Activities for Teaching about -ng & -nk! As previously described, it is my goal to develop a variety of phonics-based resources to support classroom instruction with specific phonics skills. However, I often find it to be helpful to see a bit more detail/description of the products, rather than the snippets provided within TPT listings. Blog posts about products are always helpful to me. If you are looking for resources to support this particular skill, then I hope you will gain something from descriptions of one of my highest-rated, best-selling products here.
If your phonics instruction is skill-specific (and it should be!), you will benefit from incorporating today's product into your classroom. My favorite part about this one is that it includes an original story that I wrote to help students retain the concept of spelling with -ng and -nk. My students really enjoy lessons in which I incorporate tales that help bring letters to life for them. I usually just make them up as I go along, but I also try to incorporate them into my products as often as possible. I really had fun with this one! ;)
Spelling with -ng and -nk can be particularly tricky for students. I have seen these skills taught a variety of ways throughout my career, but the method that has been most successful for my students is to teach these as glued sounds, as one unit: -ang, -ing, -ong, -ung, -ank, -ink, -onk, -unk. You may have noticed that the vowel e is not included in this lineup. The story I have written addresses this concept and explains to students why they will never, ever use e before the letters ng or nk. Of course, the story is entirely fictional; but the concept is not, and it really helps my students store this information away for future reference and application in their own spelling.
Here's a little sneak peak for you...
What do you think? Is it off to a good start? As I read the tale, I usually use foam or magnetic letters to help "act out" the story. That really helps students visualize these concepts.
The rest of the tale is in the product, along with quite a few additional resources that might be helpful if you are teaching this skill. I created a general plan for using the materials as well.
Here's a snapshot preview of the whole product...
If interested, you can access this entire product here in the Tally Tales TPT store, along with many other literature-rich phonics resources.
Do you have any specific needs for your classroom? If so, I would love to hear from you!