Patria Lincoln

Fostering a love of reading from an early age certainly boosts academic development, but also offers an opportunity for parents to connect with their children. 

Classroom teachers often use the term ‘modeling’ when introducing a new skill or assignment. For example, if students are tasked with reading a sentence out loud, teachers will likely read aloud a sentence first so students can hear proper fluency. If students are writing a story in class, many teachers would write alongside their kids. The demonstration and commitment to practice is valuable to the learning process.

Whether your child is listening to a sibling read a board book, performing Shel Silverstein poetry for all to hear, or cuddled up with a chapter book on the couch, parents are encouraged to participate in this activity, too.

Learning Resources’ Reading Comprehension Cubes are a useful tool to spark discussion. The kit comes with six dice-like cubes with questions on each side. The red cubes list pre-reading questions, the blue cubes are for during reading, and the green cubes have post-reading prompts. 

Examples: Red- “Predict what will happen in the story.”

Blue- “Where does the story take place?”

Green- “Summarize the story.”

Parents should take one cube of each color, and children should take the rest. While your child is independently reading, grab your book, too. Set a timer for 10 minutes while you both read silently. When the timer goes off, roll a cube. If the question is about the main character, you can share who the main character in your novel is, just like your child will describe the main character in their novel. Using familiar vocabulary such as “setting” or “conflict” will teach your child that stories have general characteristics. 

There are potentially three different types of reading skills that children may be practicing when they are reading at home: reading aloud, reading silently, and listening to reading. The Reading Comprehension Cubes can help improve and test children’s understanding within the different modalities. For example, a child may be able to clearly explain the conflict while they are listening to a story, but not when they are reading aloud. This would imply that more reading aloud and checks for comprehension would help strengthen that skill.

The Reading Comprehension Cubes can also be used as writing prompts. Instead of discussing, children can roll the dice, read the prompt, write their response, and then share what they wrote.

By adopting into your routine at least 20 minutes of reading each day, children are not only becoming stronger readers, but also stronger writers and thoughtful thinkers. They are witnessing firsthand how a story begins and ends, introduces characters, and develops settings. In addition, they will begin recognizing that the beginning of each sentence starts with a capital letter. The skills of reading and writing go hand in hand. Finally, they are learning to articulate their thoughts, ask insightful questions, and have a meaningful discussion.

Modeling independent reading demonstrates a lifelong love of literature.

There's no quicker way to add extra fun to at-home learning than to turn your lessons into a game. If you're working on sight words in your house right now, check out these fun games that turn sight word identification into a friendly, fast-paced competition for family members young and old. We've even got some suggestions for games you can make yourself with common household items!

Sight Word Bingo

Want an easy, free sight word game you can make at home? Try Sight Word Bingo! This customizable game helps you tailor your fun to your kids' ability level. Simply make some 5x5 grids (enough for everyone in the family to play a few games) and fill the squares with a random assortment of sight words. Have one family member act as the caller, and the rest as players. When the caller says a sight word aloud, look for it on your card; if it's there, mark it with a marker. The first person to make a straight or diagonal line wins!

Sight Word Memory

Here's another easy sight word game you can make at home! Grab a stack of sticky notes, and fill 20 of them with 10 pairs of sight words. Then, arrange them in a random order with the words facing. Have your kids flip over a card, say the word, and look for the match. The player who finds the most pairs wins! Want an additional challenge? Add more word pairs to accommodate extra players or advanced learners!

Pop for Sight Words

Our Pop for Sight Words game bundle helps you and your family discover snackable, munchable learning fun every time you spot a sight word! In this fast-paced game, players pull and read popcorn-shaped sight word cards from the popcorn box to see who can collect the most. Watch out for the POP cards, though; if you draw one of those, all of your pieces go back in the box! With two full game sets, the fun keeps popping!

Sight Words Swat!

Grab a swatter, listen up, and start learning sight words! During games of Sight Word Swat, plays have to pay close attention to the words called out by the reader. When they hear a word, they have to search the bug-shaped cards for the right sight word, and be the first to slap it with their swatter! The player who collects the most flies wins!

@mrs.ashleyann

Slam Ships! Sight Words Game

These sight words are out of this world! Early language skills go intergalactic with Slam Ships!, the sight word game where each player controls a super slammable spaceship. When they spot the right sight word, the race is on: the first player to grab the card with the spaceship's suction cup is one point closer to victory!  

@kbteacherstore

At Learning Resources, we’re here to help you make the best of this challenging time. Stay safe and healthy, and check back with our blog for more tips and learning ideas as the situation unfolds. 

Has your child ever pushed back when it comes to school or homework? My oldest daughter has always been a “workbook kid”. She absolutely loved worksheets and printables. We definitely do a ton of hands-on projects, but when it came to core subjects, like math and reading, she was completely content working in a book…until a few months ago. A daily battle began. She no longer wanted to sit at the table and breeze through concepts on paper. I gave her a few days off, but her resistance continued. I decided that I needed to reach her another way, so I decided to start Gameschooling.

Gameschooling is where you basically teach your child through playing games. What I love about homeschooling is that I can change our curriculum whenever necessary to meet the needs of my children! I sat down and made a list of topics that were age and skill-appropriate for my daughters, and then set out to find games that covered those subjects.

At their ages, a heavy focus is placed on numbers, counting, addition/subtraction, telling time, handling money, letter sounds, sight words and reading. Today I’m going to share a few of our favorite games that teach these concepts!

Sum Swamp™ Addition & Subtraction Game

Sum Swamp was one of the first math games I found that was appropriate and fun for both of my daughters (aged 4 & 6). Many games were either too advanced for my 4-year-old or too easy (and “boring”) for my 6-year-old. I was having a hard time finding something they could play together.

This game is fun, engaging, and competitive - even adults will enjoy it. It easily teaches addition and subtraction, which is something my 4-year-old had never been exposed to prior to this game. You can play a round in 10-15 minutes and there isn’t any complicated setup.

I Sea 10™ Math Game

I Sea 10! is another quick game we like to use to practice addition. The point of the game is to spot numbers that add up to 10. It can be 2 or more number groups and you race to make a number combination first. When you spot a combination, yell out I Sea 10! and the winner keeps the tiles. Watch out for sharks! If you flip one over, they will take your collected tiles along with them back into the box.

Money Bags™ Coin Value Game

We love Money Bags for practicing money concepts. It is a little more advanced because you have to add up the coins to make the correct money amount, so I will team up with my 4-year-old to play against my 6-year-old. I love how realistic the money is and it’s one of the only games I could find to teach this topic. It’s a really fun way to practice math and making change!

POP for Sight Words™ Game

I

really love the “POP” game line and was excited to grab POP for Sight Words. Let’s be honest, sight word practice can be really boring. The problem is, you can’t just skip it if you don’t feel like doing it. Sight words are necessary for reading. I play this game with my 6-year-old and it has made this subject a lot more enjoyable.

You pull popcorn out of the box and race to read the sight word. Obviously, a parent would win, so I give her about 5 seconds to “beat me” otherwise I answer. You try to collect the most popcorn. If you pick a card with POP! on it, you have to put all your popcorn back in the box. We also let her try to race through the popcorn on her own, making a pile that she knows and a pile that she doesn’t.

Snap It Up!® Phonics & Reading Game

Another game that we love playing together is Snap It Up! To make it easier for my 4-year-old, I read out the ending sound for the word family and we race to see if we have a card that would make a real word. The winner takes the card and a new word family card is displayed. The racing element and competition turn another mundane subject into a really fun game. 

Even though we homeschool, Gameschooling can be used with any child or family! It’s a great way to practice subjects from school or work on areas your child might be struggling to grasp. This has been a wonderful teaching option for our family, and it’s so successful that we’ve completely ditched workbooks for the remainder of this year. I highly recommend trying out this method of learning with your little ones.

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