Roll to the Top Christmas Phonics
Turn phonics revision into an exciting whole-class game with Roll to the Top: Christmas Phonics – Class Edition. This interactive resource combines reading practice with friendly competition as students race to claim columns by accurately reading decodable words matched to their current phonics knowledge. With no preparation required, simply project a board, divide the class into teams and start rolling the dice.
The resource includes six progressively sequenced game boards covering short vowels, common digraphs, beginning blends, ending blends, silent e words and vowel teams. Each board is designed around phonics progression rather than year level, ensuring every word is fully decodable for students working at that stage. A built-in support rule allows teammates to quietly assist developing readers so every child participates successfully and gains valuable decoding practice. The resource also includes an optional "Sleigh Race" cooperative mode where the class works together against the clock instead of competing.
Perfect for the final weeks of Term 4, literacy warm-ups, phonics revision, small-group intervention or Christmas celebrations, this engaging game encourages repeated reading while building confidence, fluency and decoding skills.
Learning goals
- We are learning to blend sounds orally to read and write CVC words.
- We are learning to read short, decodable and authentic texts using phonic knowledge and monitor meaning.
- We are learning to use vowel sounds, consonant blends and digraphs when writing and reading one- and two-syllable words.
- We are learning to read decodable and authentic texts fluently using phonic knowledge and to monitor meaning using context and grammar.
- We are learning to use most letter-sound matches including vowel diagraphs, less common long vowel patterns, e.g. ight, consonant clusters and silent letters, e.g. knife, thumb, when reading and writing words of one or more syllables.
- We are learning to read texts fluently and use strategies to make meaning.
Curriculum alignment
Australian Curriculum covers QLD / SA / WA / NT / TAS / ACT.
Differentiation
Modifications
- Begin with the board that matches students' current phonics knowledge rather than their year level.
- Play the cooperative "Sleigh Race" version for classes that benefit from collaborative learning.
- Allow students to whisper-read with a partner before reading aloud.
- Focus on one board across several lessons to reinforce a specific phonics concept.
- Use smaller intervention groups to provide additional support for developing readers.
Extensions
- Challenge students to use selected words in oral or written sentences.
- Invite students to sort the words by spelling pattern after completing the game.
- Ask students to identify additional words that belong to each phonics pattern.
- Encourage students to explain the phonics rule represented on each board.
- Have students create a new Christmas-themed board using words that match a different phonics pattern.