This is a must have for any primary classroom! Building words is a powerful activity for literacy development. Students enjoy the activities as it frees them from the struggle of writing the letters. They can simple focus on the letter names and sounds.

But, oh how I dreaded keeping the letters organized. I tried buying plastic organizers but they didn’t work so well for me. They would spill and we would spend valuable time reorganizing them. Students struggled to find the correct letter as they were upside down and backwards in their compartment. It wasn’t working.

Then, I saw this idea on Teacher Bits and Bobs blog spot. A teacher was using folders with post it notes. On the post it notes were the letters. The students simply moved the post it note to the word-building box and back again when finished. Genius!!

I made some modifications and threw away my boxes of plastic letters. I adjusted the letters this year to accommodate my multi-grade classroom. I didn't want to have folder sets for each grade level so I added more vowel pairs. Now I can use the folders for more levels.

Everything is a work in progress. After I made what I thought was my final product, I found one small change that needed to be made. I changed the color of the building box at the bottom of the page to gray. I noticed that the vowels didn’t pop like I wanted them to, so I made this adjustment after I took these pictures.

Teachers Love This

This is an amazing resource! I am making the folders this summer, and using them in the fall. These will make word building so much easier! Thank you for such a quality resource, and for sharing it with us!!!!
Michele P.
July 14, 2019

Thank you thank you thank you! This is just what I needed to get started. I saw this idea earlier in the year and wanted to get started on making some folders. This is perfect!
Stephanie M.
July 17, 2016

Thank YOU, thank YOU, thank YOU for an EXCELLENT product. And it's FREE! You've proven that some of the best things are free :)
Susan R G.
November 27, 2015

Thank you so much for this freebie! I cannot wait to utilize it during our small group time.
Carey F.
February 16, 2015

Perfect! Just what I was looking for. I love that you included the black and white version. Thanks!!
Diane C.
November 17, 2014