Five pages of word ladders with four-letter words, two ladders a page. On the first two pages, letter tiles between the rungs say what to change: e to i turns fell into fill, then f to w makes will. On the last three, the bottom and top words are given and the words in between are in a word bank: children work out the order, changing one letter a step, from clam to slam to swam to sway to stay to star. Each bank fits its ladder only one way, and the first step of each page is done as an example.
For the word bank pages, show children how to test a word: does it differ from the rung below by just one letter? Cross each word off the bank once it is used. Partners can race to the top and check each other's ladders against the bank.
Read the word bank together first. When your child is stuck, ask which bank word is one letter away from the word they are on.
Word ladders made of four-letter words with blends, digraphs, silent e and vowel teams, from grin to grip to drip. Children change one letter a step, from letter tiles or from a word bank that fits only one way.
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