Here’s a fun way to jazz up the encoding (spelling) portion of your reading groups! These Acorn Mapping Mats are a perfect activity for in between Halloween and Christmas! This resource is called a “Mapping Mat” because it helps promote the process of orthographic mapping - a process that happens in the brain and helps to commit words to memory. During this activity, students are matching sound (phonemes) to print (graphemes). Here’s how I like to use these mapping mats:

I love to use fun seasonal manipulatives - for this activity you can purchase these fun faux acorns from the Dollar Tree or gather some real life acorns from outside! There are also printed acorns in the resource if you’re short on time!
Print off the Acorn Mapping Mats. Laminate or put in a plastic sleeve for repeated use and grab some dry erase markers and erasers. Select the 3 Sound version or 4 Sound version based on what your students are working on.
Students place one acorn inside each box.
The teacher dictates a word from your lesson. The student repeats the word and slides an acorn up to the squirrel - one acorn per sounds in the word.
Once the student has segmented the sounds in the word, the student goes back and write the letter(s) for each sound in the box - from left to write.
After writing, the student reads the word sliding their finger from left to right along the line, checking that the letters match the sounds. Finally, the student rewrites the complete word on the lines below.
During group work, I check each student’s word and then students quickly erase and slide the acorns back to the boxes.
This activity is an excellent way to reinforce concepts taught during your lesson. The squirrels and acorns make it especially fun!

Squirrels & Acorns Mapping Mats

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