- A fun, interactive game based on the Go-Fish playing card format that supports students’ mastery of word patterns;
- Appropriate as an interactive word study in the classroom or for use by parent, tutor, teacher assistant, and/or children can play by themselves!
- Helpful to beginning readers, English language learners and struggling readers;
- Promotes interactivity, engagement, and language development;
- Ideal for home or classroom use. Easy set up and clean up! And no bandwidth required!
For supplemental texts that are aligned with the Go Fish playing cards, please visit: Books for Short and Long Vowel Sounds.
To hear the pronunciation of short and long vowel sounds, you and your students might enjoy the The Vowel Song: Long and Short Vowel Sounds.
For interactive teaching resources that are aligned with the Go Fish playing cards, please click on the Pinterest link above.
Go Fish for Short Vowels
Best played with 2 to 4 players
Ages 6 and up
Click here for a printable PDF version
GOAL – To collect the most sets of vowels. One vowel set = four vowel sounds (e.g., bat, cat, sat, fat).
SETUP – 40 CARDS – Includes two sets of short vowel sounds for each of the five vowels: a, e, i, o, u. Dealer deals five cards to each player clockwise face down. No player may take more than two consecutive turns.
THE PLAY – The player to the left of the dealer goes first. On his/her turn, s/he asks an opponent for cards with a vowel sound that matches a vowel sound from his/her hand. See key below.
For example, a player might ask, “Do you have any short a’s as in cat, Bob? The player must already hold at least one card that matches the vowel sound that s/he has requested from Bob. Bob must handover all the cards with the vowel sound that is requested. Bob must respond in full sentences saying, ”I do have a short a as in cat. I have fat, sat, etc OR Go Fish I do not have any short a’s as in cat.”
If the player gets one or more cards with the same vowel sound from his/her opponent, s/he gets another turn. S/he may then ask any opponent, including the same opponent, for any vowel sound s/he has again – only if s/he has not already had two turns in a row.
If the opponent has no cards with the vowel sound requested, s/he says, “Go Fish I don’t not have any short a’s as in cat” as an example. The player then draws the top card from the draw pile. If the player happens to draw a card with the same vowel sound s/he asked for, s/he does not get another turn. And it becomes the turn of the opponent who said “Go Fish.”
When a player collects a set of four cards of the same vowel (a vowel set), s/he immediately places the set face up in front of him or her and says each word out loud.
If a player forgets to say the words from the vowel set before the next play begins, s/he loses one point. A player may ask for help with pronunciation of the word from another player. If a player goes out, s/he draws 2 cards (or remainder of draw pile if less than 2 cards) and the play continues.
SCORING AND WINNING – Once the draw pile runs out, players continue taking turns until no one can match any more vowel sounds. When a player goes out and there is no draw pile left, the player to the left continues the play.
Once no one can match any more sounds, players may then enter a bonus round where s/he can get
can extra points by “stealing” an opponent’s vowel set and making a sentence out the words in the
vowel set. Example: “After we crushed the stump, we had fun on the bus.”
At the conclusion of play, players count how many vowel sets they each have. Each vowel set is
worth one point. Points are then deducted from players who forgot to pronounce their vowel sets.
Players also get an extra point for getting two of the same vowel sets. The winner is the player who
then has the most points. See scoring key and score sheet below:
Scoring Key
Go Fish Score Card
© Dr Kim K. 2018 All Rights Reserved
Go Fish for Long Vowels
Best played with 2 to 4 players
Ages 6 and up
Click here for a printable PDF version
GOAL – To collect the most sets of vow- els. One vowel set = four vowel sounds (e.g., claim, same, stay, vein).
SETUP – 40 CARDS – Includes two sets of long vowel sounds for each of the five vowels: a, e, i, o, u. Dealer deals five cards to each player clockwise face down. No player may take more than two consecutive turns.
THE PLAY – The player to the left of the dealer goes first. On his/her turn, s/he asks an opponent for cards with a vowel sound that matches a vowel sound from his/her hand. See key below.
For example, a player might ask, “Do you have any long o’s as in coat, Bob?” The player must already hold at least one card that matches the vowel sound that s/he has requested from Bob. Bob must handover all the cards with the vowel sound that is requested. Bob must respond in full sentences saying, “I do have a long o as in coat. I have boat, oat, etc OR Go Fish I do not have any long o’s as in coat.”
If the player gets one or more cards with the same vowel sound from his/her opponent, s/he gets another turn. S/he may then ask any opponent, including the same opponent, for any vowel sound s/he has again – only if s/he has not already had two turns in a row.
If the opponent has no cards with the vowel sound requested, s/he says, “Go Fish I don’t not have any short a’s as in cat” as an example. The player then draws the top card from the draw pile. If the player happens to draw a card with the same vowel sound s/he asked for, s/he does not get another turn. And it becomes the turn of the opponent who said “Go Fish.”
When a player collects a set of four cards of the same vowel (a vowel set), s/he immediately places the set face up in front of him or her and says each word out loud.
If a player forgets to say the words from the vowel set before the next play begins, s/he loses one point. A player may ask for help with pronunciation of the word from another player. If a player goes out, s/he draws 2 cards (or remainder of draw pile if less than 2 cards) and the play continues.
SCORING AND WINNING – Once the draw pile runs out, players continue taking turns until no one can match any more vowel sounds. When a player goes out and there is no draw pile left, the player to the left continues the play.
Once no one can match any more sounds, players may then enter a bonus round where s/he can get
can extra points by “stealing” an opponent’s vowel set and making a sentence out the words in the
vowel set. Example: “No one spoke when the goalie got hit in the nose.”
At the conclusion of play, players count how many vowel sets they each have. Each vowel set is
worth one point. Points are then deducted from players who forgot to pronounce their vowel sets.
Players also get an extra point for getting two of the same vowel sets. The winner is the player who
then has the most points. See scoring key and score sheet below:
Scoring Key
Go Fish Score Card
Go Fish for Long & Short Vowels
Best played with 2 to 4 players
Ages 6 and up
Click here for a printable PDF version
GOAL – To collect the most sets of vowels. One vowel set = four vowel sounds (e.g., bat, cat, sat, fat).
SETUP – 40 CARDS – Includes one set of long vowel sounds and one set of short vowels sounds for each of the ve vowels: a, e, i, o, u. Dealer deals five cards to each player clockwise face down. No player may take more than two consecutive turns.
THE PLAY – The player to the left of the dealer goes first. On his/her turn, s/he asks an opponent for cards with a vowel sound that matches a vowel sound from his/her hand. See key below.
For example, a player might ask, “Do you have any long o’s as in coat, Bob?” The player must already hold at least one card that matches the vowel sound that s/he has requested from Bob. Bob must handover all the cards with the vowel sound that is requested. Bob must respond in full sentences saying, “I do have a long o as in coat. I have boat, oat, etc OR Go Fish I do not have any long o’s as in coat.”
If the player gets one or more cards with the same vowel sound from his/her opponent, s/he gets another turn. S/he may then ask any opponent, including the same opponent, for any vowel sound s/ he has again – only if s/he has not already had two turns in a row.
If the opponent has no cards with the vowel sound requested, s/he says, “Go Fish I don’t not have any long o’s as in coat” as an example. The player then draws the top card from the draw pile. If the player happens to draw a card with the same vowel sound s/he asked for, s/he does not get another turn. And it becomes the turn of the opponent who said “Go Fish.”
When a player collects a set of four cards of the same vowel (a vowel set), s/he immediately places the set face up in front of him or her and says each word out loud.
If a player forgets to say the words from the vowel set before the next play begins, s/he loses one point. A player may ask for help with pronunciation of the word from another player. If a player goes out, s/he draws 2 cards (or remainder of draw pile if less than 2 cards) and the play continues.
SCORING AND WINNING – Once the draw pile runs out, players continue taking turns until no one can match any more vowel sounds. When a player goes out and there is no draw pile left, the player to the left continues the play.
Once no one can match any more sounds, players may then enter a bonus round where s/he can get can extra points by “stealing” an opponent’s vowel set and making a sentence out the words in the vowel set. Example: “The cat dragged the bag to the man.”
At the conclusion of play, players count how many vowel sets they each have. Each vowel set is
worth one point. Points are then deducted from players who forgot to pronounce their vowel sets.
Players also get an extra point for getting two of the same vowel sets. The winner is the player who
then has the most points. See scoring key and score sheet below:
Scoring Key
Go Fish Score Card
Coming soon!
