Soccer is my sport! I love, love, love soccer. My oldest child was five when we enrolled him in our city recreational league. Our family has been hooked ever since. You know how organizations are always short on volunteers? Well, the soccer league was short on coaches. When I was asked to coach I remember saying, “I’ll think about it” and the next thing I know I received a roster of 15 10-year-old boys. Having never played soccer, I did what any rational person would do–googled “how to coach soccer.” How difficult can it be- right? Well, ever since I’ve coached all three of my kids recreational league teams as well as Lizzie’s travel team. I loved every minute of it.
Here’s a picture of my travel team with my good friend, Mike, who I coached with for many years. When this picture was taken, these little girls were 11 and 12. It’s hard to believe that they will all be leaving for college in the fall. Lizzie is my youngest so I’m going to have to adjust to being “an empty nester”. It’s certainly not something I’m looking forward to.
So, being such a soccer fan myself, I really enjoyed creating these soccer-themed activities. The World Cup is now starting and the memories are flooding back! For my little friends learning sight words, I created a super fun sight word activity. This activity is easily differentiated as you choose which and how many sight word soccer balls to use. Simply have your students take turns choosing the balls and reading words. If a player chooses the “Goal” ball, he/she can choose 3 more balls. If the player chooses the “Penalty” cards, balls must be returned to the pile. The player with the most balls at the end of time wins the game. I love this game as it’s fast-paced and allows many practice opportunities.
This activity is available through my online Teachers Pay Teachers store or through the Make, Take & Teach website.
For my first grade friends working with long vowel sounds, I created the “Soccer Shoot Out! Long Vowel Sounds” game. This activity addresses the common spellings for long vowel sounds. Students read the words on the soccer balls and match the balls to the corresponding soccer net. There’s also a fun little variation of the activity. There are soccer nets for all 5 vowels and 140 soccer balls!
This activity is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store or through the Make, Take & Teach website.
Hoping your little soccer fans enjoy these activities!
Leave a Reply