Read around the circle; see who’s the last one standing.

The teacher holds a deck consisting of word cards interspersed with SIT cards. Players stand behind their chairs and take turns reading the cards. When a player gets a SIT card, s/he has to sit out for the rest of the round. If a word is misread, the teacher corrects it, and then slips it back into the deck so it will come up again. The aim is to be the last person standing (which is purely a matter of luck.)

I’m honestly not sure why this is such a crowd pleaser. But it works for me as a quick way to identify kids who need more work on a particular short vowel sound, consonant blend or digraph. The word list below includes words from Step 2.2 in the Wilson program. But, of course, you can use any words that suit your purposes.

Word List:

ponds      drags        pests          quilt        thump

flock         trap         bench         squish     chunk

soft           camp       bend          pinch        fluff

frog          clam         shelf           twig          shrug

crop         scab         press           chimp       gulp

trot          plan          self              drill           slush

                  snap                                                pluck

                 cramp                                             snug

                pant                                                  blush