Sunrise Readers Book Three – Home and School – Stars and Rockets Games

These simple word-recognition games provide young learners with the variety that makes learning sight-words fun!

To do in advance:

• Print the free printable pdf rocket and star template words. (Click the link at the end.)
• Laminate the pages for multiple use.
• Cut out the rocket and star-shaped flashcards.
• Draw/ Paint a large moon and display it on the wall within reach of the learners.

Ways to play the rocket word game:

Game One: Simple Word Recognition – Rockets:

Play this game as individuals, in pairs or in groups of 3 – 6. OR – the whole class can play it!

Teacher/Parent displays the moon on the wall, at a level the learners can reach.

Place the rocket flashcards face (word-side) down.

1. Each player chooses any rocket, picks it up and reads the word aloud.
2. He/she then shows the word to the group/ class.
3. They read the word aloud.
4. If the player is correct, he/she may stick the word rocket to the wall on its way up to the moon.

This will create an attractive wall display.

To extend the learners further – after the game has been played a few times, the learner may be asked to make up a short sentence using the word he/she has picked up.

Game Two: Word Recognition/ Matching with words with capital letters

Play this over two days: Day One: Capital letters – Stars

As for Game One, but using the star flashcards. Now the children are recognising the same words, but the first letter in each word is a capital letter. Encourage learners to space the stars out around the moon – on Day Two you will need space to stick a rocket flashcard pointing towards the appropriate star.

Day Two – Matching the lowercase rocket words with the stars.

Play this in the same way – but this time, once the learner has picked up his/her rocket flashcard and read the word aloud, he/ she will find the matching word on the display around the moon.

Free Downloadable PDFs for the Rocket and Star Word Cards:

Credit goes to Twinkl – and Educational Resource Company – for the use of their templates. Please note – the Rocket Star Game resources are not to be sold for commercial value. They are free downloadable resources created for you by the Sunrise authors – our passion is literacy for the next generation, to empower them to read! Our goal is to support teachers and parents. All of our resources are free.

https://www.twinkl.co.za/