Wilson Reading

This Month's Tip

Crazy Y's (3/16/15)

In Step 5 of the Wilson Reading System®, students learned that y can be a vowel
and can make the sounds /ī/ and /ē/ in an open syllable (as in shy, tiny). Now, in
Step 11, students learn that y can make the sound /ĭ/ in a closed syllable (as in the
word system) and /ī/ in a v-e syllable (as in enzyme) or in an open syllable (as in
justify).

Play Crazy Y’s to give your students practice reading words with the three sounds
of y: /ē/, /ī/, and /ĭ/.

1. Deal five word cards to each student. You can find the word cards for this
activity here. file:///C:/Users/dperry/Downloads/WRS_Crazy_Y_Cards_Expert%20Tip%20(1).pdf

2. Set a timer for three minutes.

3. Place the remaining word cards face down to form a Draw Pile.

4. Turn over the top card from the Draw Pile to start the Discard Pile.

5. Students take turns discarding a word card from their hand. The sound of y in
the word must match the sound of y in the Discard Pile word card. The student
must read the word aloud as he discards.

6. If a student cannot discard from his hand, he must draw from the pile until he
can discard a matching sound of y.

7. Exception: if a student holds a “y” card (wild card) he can discard it on his turn
and change the discard rule to another sound of y.

8. The first player to discard all his cards wins. If there is no winner at the end
of three minutes, the student with the fewest number of cards wins.