/z/ Final — Spelling
Articulation · Grades 1–4 · 12 cards
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Group by spelling and build several in a row. Cheese, nose, rose, hose and please all end in se; eyes, keys, bees and toes end in a plain s, and all four are plurals, which is the actual rule — a plural s after a voiced sound is pronounced /z/. Maze and size end in ze, and buzz doubles. Naming the plural group turns four words into one pattern.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentAfter building each word, the student says it aloud. Wait 3 seconds.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /z/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueSame shape as /s/: teeth close, tongue tip just behind the top teeth, air down the middle. Now turn your voice on so it buzzes like a bee.Log as cued
Adjust it
Drop to syllables ('eez' and 'ahz'), or use fewer cards.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /z/ in it or mix in /z/ words from another position.
Matching IEP goal
Given word cards, Student will produce /z/ in the word-final position in single words in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
The twelve final /z/ words — buzz, cheese, nose, rose, eyes, keys, bees, maze, size, hose, please, toes — as a spelling task. Derived from the flashcard deck, and this set is unusually instructive: the same final sound is written zz, se, s and ze, and the sound gives no clue which to use.
What to listen for
Watch the plural group. Eyes, keys, bees and toes are eye, key, bee and toe plus an s, and a student who sees that has one rule rather than four spellings. Notice buzz, which doubles after a short vowel — the same rule as ball, off and miss, and worth connecting to those.
Carrying it home
Ask whether a word ends in se, s or ze. Cheese against keys is a good pair, and the answer for keys is that it is simply key plus s, which children find satisfying.
What's in this activity
- buzz
- cheese
- nose
- rose
- eyes
- keys
- bees
- maze
- size
- hose
- please
- toes
Questions
- How is this different from the flashcards?
- Same twelve words, built from letters. Four spellings for one sound make this version genuinely instructive for a student working on spelling.
- Do I need an account?
- No, it plays free in the browser.
- Why do 'eyes' and 'keys' end in a plain s?
- Because they are plurals — eye plus s and key plus s. A plural s after a voiced sound is pronounced /z/, which is why they belong in a /z/ deck while being spelled with an s.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.