Explore Words Containing a Long A Sound

Long vowel sounds in the English language can be represented by various graphemes (combinations of one or more letters). Some of the more common ‘long a’ graphemes include:

• ai (as in rain)
• ay (as in tray)
• a_e (as in cake).

This set of word searches has been designed to familiarise your students with these common ‘long a’ graphemes. Perfect for English groups, independent work or as a take-home task, your students will love challenging themselves to see how quickly they can find all the words!

Differentiated Phonics Worksheets? Yes, Please!

We know that early years classrooms are filled with students who are learning at a diverse range of levels. That’s why we’ve provided three differentiated versions of this ‘long a’ words word search:

• Word Search 1: Words in the word bank contain the entire word and an accompanying image. Students use this word bank to circle or highlight the words in the word search with the ‘long a’ spellings (ai, ay, a_e).   
• Word Search 2: Words in the word bank are missing the ‘long a’ graphemes. Students must write the missing ‘long a’ spellings (ai, ay, a_e) into the word bank words, then circle or highlight these words in the word search.  
• Word Search 3: Only an image is provided in the word bank. Students must write the correct words next to the pictures in their entirety using ai, ay, a_e, then circle or highlight these words in the word search.  

Easily Download This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown menu next to the Download button to access the PDF or Google Slides version of this resource.

Because this resource includes an answer sheet, we recommend you print one copy of the entire file. Then, make photocopies of the blank worksheet for students to complete.

To save paper, why not project the word search onto a screen and work through it as a class? Have students take turns coming up to the board when they spot a word!

This resource was created by Alessandra Pastor, a Teach Starter collaborator.