Organizing the Phonics and Morphology Magnets

You have your Phonics and Morphology Magnets, and keeping track of 360 tiles so you can use them effectively (and efficiently) is a critical task. If you already have them organized, this post isn’t for you. But if you want to see how one experienced tutor (and co-creator of this product) organizes them, read on…

The tiles are magnetic, so Cathy uses steel cookie sheets. They are widely available commodity items. Just make sure to get the steel ones — magnets don’t stick to the aluminum cookie sheets.

The tiles are color coded. The Latin and Greek colors are fairly close, so Cathy puts them on different sheets. Here is a picture of the Latin roots on their own cookie sheet:

Picture showing Latin roots of the phonics and morphology magnets on a cookie sheet.

The prefixes, suffixes, and Greek roots are on another tray:

Picture showing prefixes, suffixes, and Greek roots of the phonics and morphology magnets in a cookie sheet, with prefixes on the left, suffixes in the middle, and roots on the right.

This is one way to organize the prefixes, suffixes, and Greek roots.

The rest of the tiles–the phonics tiles–are on their own cookie sheet:

Picture showing the phonics tiles of the phonics and morphology magnets in a cookie sheet, with vowels, consonants, spelling rules, and some digraphs at the top and on the right, and diphthongs and "kind old words" at the bottom

Organize the phonics components of the morphology magnets in a cookie sheet, or other magnetic material

Cathy bought a set of three nesting cookie sheets, so it is convenient to nest them inside each other. They travel best horizontally. If you have a large envelope or plastic bag, you can put the cookie sheets inside so that if a tile shakes loose you won’t lose it. You can also use plastic wrap in a pinch.