Pokemon for the Win: Multisyllabic Decoding with Pokemon Character Names
If your kiddos are anything like my own 8- and 10-year old boys, they are all in on the renewed popularity of Pokemon! They are intense with their collecting and they will talk to me for hours about the characters, their moves, and how each Pokemon evolves.
But in between head-nods and glazed-eyes, I did notice that the character names are all very phonetic. This got me thinking – Are Pokemon character names just a bunch of multisyllabic nonsense words? And from there, my nerdy reading brain took off making a resource to help harness Pokemon’s popularity for multisyllabic decoding goodness!
You can find my Pokemon Multisyllabic Decoding resource in my TeachersPayTeachers store! In the rest of this blog, I will outline some of the ways you could use the resource in your own classroom or at home with your own kiddos!
Card Organization
I have organized the cards in this resource based on syllable type. They are organized in this sequence: (1) closed, (2) silent-e, (3) open, (4) vowel team, (5) vowel-r, (6) consonant-le, and (7) schwa. For more information about the first 6 syllable types, I recommend this article from Reading Rockets. To learn more about schwa, I recommend this blog post from The Literacy Nest.
As you move through the syllable types you will find examples from the previous type(s) included. This provides a good review of previously learned syllable types and reflects the fact that most multisyllabic words include more than one syllable type. In my own classroom, I use the 95% Group Multisyllable Routine Cards for my syllable instruction and I highly recommend this resource!
Assembly Options
One assembly option is to print and keep each sheet of cards together in a 3-by-3 array. To a Pokemon collector, this will likely remind them of storing their cards in card protectors in a binder! All of the card pages include dotted lines to look like perforations and hole punches along the left side of the page. This option is the easiest print-and-go way to use the cards!
You could also cut out the cards to make individual card sets or decks of cards for games. If you choose to cut out the cards, there are two options for the backside of the cards. There is one page that has card backs that line up with the 3-by-3 array front. This back includes the label “Pokemon Multisyllabic Decoding” and gives the cards a really finished look. However, if your printer makes it hard to line up the cards, there is also a general design that repeats over the entire page to make 2-sided copying easy. Just use that page as the back side and then cut out each card.
One last assembly option is printing the cards and turning them into a flipbook. You can make flipbook sets by syllable type so they’re easy to use and store! Three flipbook cover options are also included for this purpose!
Practice Activities
The most basic and general way I would recommend practicing with these cards is by using a consistent routine for decoding multisyllabic words. This is the routine I teach my students for decoding all unknown multisyllabic words, not just Pokemon ones!
Decoding Routine:
Identify and underline the vowels.
Divide the word into its syllables.
Identify each syllable type and the corresponding vowel sound.
Read each syllable.
Blend the syllables together.
Flex the vowel sound, if necessary.
Here are a few variations for practicing this routine:
Use fun markers or pens instead of pencils.
Use coffee stirrers or other thin objects to show the syllable divisions in the word.
Put the card sheets into sheet protectors or pocket protectors and use whiteboard markers to follow the routine. This makes things more reusable! Plus, kids love whiteboard markers!
Add multiple readings by having students reread the whole page of cards after decoding them.
Printing two sets of these cards will also work well for playing games! Games are a fun way for students to practice decoding and get in lots of repetition and practice!
A few game ideas:
Go Fish (or maybe Go Pokemon?): Students will read the cards as they ask for specific ones. Have students re-read the cards if they make a match.
Print 1 extra (labeled Old Maid) and play Old Maid (or maybe Old Pokemon?): Have students read the cards as they make matches. Bonus: Whoever has Old Maid at the end has to reread their cards.
Lay the cards out face-side down and play Memory: Read the cards as they make matches or all of them as they flip them over!
Play Slap Jack: Print a few extra copies of one card to mix into the deck (This is your “jack” card). Divide the deck in half. Each player takes turns flipping a card onto a discard pile. When you see one of the “jack” cards, the first play to slap the pile, keeps them all.
If you have other favorite card games, think about how you could mix in the Pokemon cards for extra decoding practice!
I hope you find lots of fun uses for these Pokemon Multisyllabic Decoding cards in your classroom or at home with your own kiddos! If you have any other ideas or suggestion, send them my way: readingwithmrsif@gmail.com
