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Wordle Part 2: Classroom Activities
Create your own CVC Wordle puzzles and strategies for making Wordle accessible!
Wordle, the word puzzle game, has taken off and educators are jumping on the Wordle train! (For more information about Wordle, see Wordle: 5 letter guessing game post.) Creative TVIs like Jessica have adapted Wordle to teach young readers word families and CVC words.
CVC Wordle
Using APH’s Word Playhouse and Wheatley Kit, Jessica created word guessing games geared for kindergarten and first grade students who are working on word families/CVC words. The Word Playhouse has individual braille letter tiles with Velcro backing. The Wheatley Kit has various shapes with Velcro backing. While any shape can be used to indicate correct letters and placement, Jessica placed the small circle under the correct letter in the correct position, the short line to indicator the incorrect letter. When the student created the correct letter, a star was placed to the left of the letter.
Jessica suggested that initially, do not use a symbol for the “right letter wrong spot”. Hints can be given like, “It has four wheels.” This expands the game, making it a concept game too. For young students finding and identifying the correct letters might be tricky without the hints.
A center vowel can be given. If you are working on word families, the vowel and last consonant may be given; the student only identifies the missing initial consonant.
Have the optional letter tiles easily available on the game board. Depending on your student’s level, you can have a few options available or the entire alphabet.
Velcro vs. Magnet Letter Tiles
In the previous Wordle post, Jessica shared how she created magnet letter tiles. This post shows how to use the readily available Velcro tiles from the Word Playhouse! Using the Word Playhouse tiles requires no prep time!
Jessica shared that she likes the magnets better than Velcro tiles because:
- The Velcro tiles make the letters far apart, making the words feel different than words on braille paper.
- Velcro tiles are a bit wobbly and noisy; students can find the Velcro tiles fun to fidget with.
- Math Window with magnets and storing options around the perimeter is a great tool and starting young students with similar tools is nice.
Note: You can make a bunch of magnets quickly with the APH stickers (letters, numbers, symbols, words, anything you’ve braille) by putting a whole bunch of sticky magnets first and then cutting each magnet out. The magnet sheets are easily cut with scissors. (e.g. Magnet sheets for the back of 4×6 picture works well!)
Accessibility Options
Wordle has become an overnight sensation and adults and students who are visually impaired also want to join in on the fun! Some creative options have popped up to help make Worlde more accessible. The initial game uses colors to indicate if the letter is correct (green), correct but in the wrong position (yellow) or incorrect (grey).
Make Wordle Accessible – Chrome Extension
Here is a Chrome Extension to make Wordle accessible with a screen reader. They list that this extension has been, “tested with VoiceOver on macOS and JAWS on Windows, should work with other screen readers too.”
Color Blind Mode
The iconic yellow and green colors are replaced with blue and orange shades when you guess the right letters. Blue/orange pallet is more easily recongizable for most people. On your device, go into settings and toggle on Color Blind Mode.
Note: Invert colors on the iPhone/iPad changes the correct letter to purple and the correct letter wrong position to blue. iOS does not have a Color Blind Mode.
Moving Forward
New York Times has acquired Wordle and has said that they have made a commitment to inclusion and accessibility.
UPDATE!! Wordle has moved to the New York Times! Here is the new Wordle link.
By Diane Brauner
