The DONKEY game is so much fun your students will be asking for more. There are 62 CCVCC words (31 rhyming pairs) in three formats designed to make differentiation easy.

• - Picture and Word (see PREVIEW)
• - Picture only
• - Word Only

The words used are:

grand/stand, crack/black/stack/snack/shack/track, plant/slant, stamp/champ, trash/smash, skunk/trunk, blend/spend, shell/spell, check/speck, dress/press, crush/brush, swept/slept, chest/crest, chick/stick/brick/flick, chill/drill/frill/spill, think/stink, sting/cling/sling/swing/thing/bring, sniff/cliff, blimp/chimp, blond/frond, clock/block, floss/cross, clump/stump, truck/stuck, drink/blink

You can leave out pairs without it affecting the game.

DONKEY is my most popular game and designed this way means it can be used with a wide range of ability groups, especially those students still developing phonemic skills. Depending on the needs of your intervention group, you could:

• - Use the Picture and Word cards to ensure the words you are using are part
• of the learners' lexicon (especially for second language learning)
• - Match rhyming pairs using Word and Picture Cards (provide pegs or clips
• to enhance the multi-sensory nature of the activity)
• - Sort into rhyming sets using the Word and Picture Cards
• - Once the pictures are familiar, match Picture Only and Word Only Cards
• - Write the words from the Picture Only Cards
• - Draw pictures from the Word Only Cards

When your intervention group start to demonstrate mastery, introduce the game using the Word and Picture Cards. Subsequently, use it for whole class consolidation. Your intervention students will benefit from the repeated exposure and will be having so much fun, they may not realise they are learning. You may use the word cards for pre and post skill development, as well as tracking fluency.

There is a quick version (10 minutes or so) or a longer version. This is explained in the directions.