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Puzzle Me Words
|Grades||K – 1|
Why Use This Tool
Kids like to solve puzzles. In this game, puzzles take the shape of words! Phonemic awareness—or the sounds letters make—is an important skill for early readers. This game makes spelling words fun and rewarding. Just like solving a puzzle, only the correct letters will fit in each slot. Children feel success as they spell words and watch Scoote the school bus, a character in the game, cross the finish line and reward them with a prize! It's a win-win for reading!
In this online activity, children see a picture and listen as Scootie the school bus says aloud the name of the picture. They then drag and drop letters to spell the words they see (e.g., pig and hat). Scootie scoots across the screen each time they get a word correct!
Letters appear inside puzzle pieces, providing support for kids who need it. Only letters with the matching puzzle shapes will fit into the letter slots. Further, as students complete each round, they earn a new puzzle piece toward their prize puzzle: a coloring sheet that they can print, color, and display in a special place.
There are two options for game play:
- Beginner-This level limits the choices to eight letters and requires three correct words per round; three rounds are needed to win the prize puzzle.
- Advanced-This level is more challenging because all twenty-six letters of the alphabet are presented as letter choices and more words are needed to finish each round before winning the prize puzzle.
Built-in save capability allows children to exit but return to their game before earning the final prize puzzle. Clicking the Save tab will provide a special code that can be written down or e-mailed. [Note that the saved game will only be available for 30 days.]
To continue a game already in progress, simply click the Open tab and enter the code provided when saving. For security reasons, it is important that when playing children enter their first name only in the Name field. ReadWriteThink cannot recover a game code should it become misplaced or not be working.
- Practice letter sounds with children in your daily interactions. Point out the sounds in the word stop when you stop at a stop sign. Ask for the beginning letter sound when they ask for a popsicle or the ending letter sound when they play with a ball.
- Use the summary sheet of completed words to find any rhyming words. Talk about why the words rhyme, and brainstorm additional rhyming words.
- Have children piece together a story that contains all of the completed words. Give bonus points if they include Scootie in the story!
We invite you to share your experiences with this resource and provide us with any feedback on how it can be improved.