Activities

     

Teaching words This activity is best used for teaching nouns.  When you are comfortable and have taught her 5-6 words go down the page to the Word Matching activity for information on teaching words that do not correspond to a picture. Your child will match, select, and name pre- chosen words using picture cards and flash cards.

Materials:  index cards with pictures taped to them, word cards   Making the cards: Use one index card per picture.  Glue or tape a picture of a word you want your child to learn on the top portion of the card. At the bottom of the card, print the name of the object using a black marker or felt tip pen. The next step is to take an index card and cut into one inch strips widthwise.  On each of the strips, write the word of the picture. (EX. if you have a picture of a truck glued to a card and the word truck written at the bottom of the same card, you would need a word card with the word truck written on it) you used on the picture card.  To preserve the cards, cover them in clear contact paper.   Procedure: Remember your child is acquiring these words into her sight reading vocabulary.  These are words she was not able to read before now and you are introducing these new words to her.  So you will need to lead her through each of the following levels to make sure she has indeed learn to read the words that both of you have chosen.

 

 

Making the cards:  Use one index card per picture.  Glue or tape a picture of a word you want your child to learn on the top portion of the card. At the bottom of the card, print the name of the object using a black marker or felt tip pen. The next step is to take an index card and cut into one inch strips widthwise.  On each of the strips, write the word of the picture. (EX. if you have a picture of a truck glued to a card and the word truck written at the bottom of the same card, you would need a word card with the word truck written on it) you used on the picture card.  To preserve the cards, cover them in clear contact paper.

 

Procedure:  Remember your child is acquiring these words into her sight reading vocabulary.  These are words she was not able to read before now and you are introducing these new words to her.  So you will need to lead her through each of the following levels to make sure she has indeed learn to read the words that both of you have chosen.

        

 

Level I: Matching Matching is the easiest response.  Your child simply matches the words from the small strips to the pictures.  She may place the strips beside or on the correct picture. Show your child one of the picture cards. Let her look at it and talk about it. Point to the picture and then the name underneath.  Tell her that it says “truck” (I am using this word as an example)  next show her the word card that has the same word on it.  Tell her “This says truck”   “Put the word truck on the picture of the truck.”  If she does not understand what to do, gently guide her through the process.  When she matches the word card with the picture give her lots of praise. Tell her “You did it!”

 

Level II: Selecting  Selecting is more difficult.  Your child has to be able to select the correct word when asked. Take the card with truck written on it and hold it in one hand and a blank card the same size  in your other hand.  Ask her to take the card that has the word truck written  on it. When your child takes the correct card, praise her and then ask her to put the card on the picture of the truck. When she makes the correct match congratulate her and give her lots of praise and perhaps a great big hug.

     

Level III: Naming Naming a word is the most complex response. Hold up the card with truck  written on it and say “This card says___”   Allow your child time to answer.  If she answers correctly give her praise and tell her she is right.   Reading through this activity looks like it will take a long time to teach your child just one word, however this is really a short lesson.  You should only need about 1 minute to match, select, and name a word.  Of course, the process may take longer if your child requires a lot of discussion or corrections.  Try to keep your child on task and flow through each of the steps in a seamless manner.  As soon as she correctly matches a word go right to the selecting process and then to the naming process.  If possible try not to end a session without taking a word through each of the three levels. Once your child has gone through all three steps, introduce another word to her.  After she has successfully gone through the previous three steps successfully, she will need practice to learn how to discriminate between the two words.  The following activity will give your child practice in discriminating between two words.

 

Discriminating Words Activity In this activity, you will be using the two words that you introduced to your child in the previous activity. Level I: Matching Place the two picture cards from the previous lesson in front of your child. Hold up the card with truck written on it.  Tell her to put “the word truck on the picture of the truck.”  Congratulate her on her success and then hold up the next card (EX. horse) and ask her to “put the word horse on the picture of a horse.”   Since this is a matching task, she does not have to read the word.  You should read the word for her while asking her to place the word with the correct picture.  After you and your child have successfully completed this activity move directly to the next level.   Level II: Selecting Leave the same two pictures in front of your child. Place the two word cards on the table  beside the two pictures.  Ask your child to point to the truck.  If she is correct, ask her to point to the horse.  Give her lots of praise upon the correct answer.  After you have praised her rearrange the cards or let her mix them up. Now ask her “Where is the truck?  Where is the horse?”  Give her praise and then ask her to “Put truck on truck” and repeat with horse.  Your child must select the correct card and place it on the correct picture.  Once she has done this with no errors you can move to the next level.   Level III: Naming Leave the same pictures in front of your child.  Hold up the card with truck written on it and say “ This card says ____?”  Then hold up the horse word card and say “This card says____?”  As your child reads the card give it to her to match with the picture. If she does not answer correctly, point to the picture card and show her the correct word.  Show her that she can use the words on the picture card to help her to read and match the word cards. This is a strategy she can use to figure out each of the word cards.   When your child can successfully match, select, and name the first two words, then introduce new words one at a time.  This will give your child more practice with word discrimination.  You will need to judge how many words your child can handle at one time, since as new words are introduced, your child will have more distracters.  If she starts making mistakes, take away one of the words.  She will probably be successful using four words at a time. Once she has successfully read four words, take one away before introducing a new word.  Some children may only be able to handle three words at a time, while others can handle five.  You can decide this by the number of mistakes your child begins to make.  Just remember that you want them to always be successful.  If you take away a word, you can always bring it back for additional practice from time to time.  If your child continually gets the word right, place it in a word bank as a known word.  You will be amazed at how fast they learn new words.

 

Word Bank This is simply a box containing the words that your child has mastered.  If you are using standard index cards, you can purchase a box that holds these cards.  Place the date on the card that corresponds with the date your child mastered the word.  These cards will be used from time to time to ensure that your child has retained the word and can still discriminate it from other words.  Once a week pull out a group of the cards and have your child read them.  If she misses on any of the cards just add them back to the word cards she is working on learning.  She probably will not need to go back to the very beginning to learn the word, but just to the discrimination phase

 

Sticky Words Materials:   For this activity you will need Post-it Notes, pen, and some of the words from your child’s word bank.   Procedure:  This works only with the nouns, but will give her practice reading her words and will improve her reading skills. Remove the words that your child has learned and sort out the words that represent objects in or around your home.  Write the words on the Post-it Notes and give to your child. Together, go around your home and place the Post-it Notes on the correct object. Offer as little assistance as possible.  Try not to say No, this is wrong to your  child. Instead say “ Oops! You put the word doll on the bed. Keep your voice light and happy. Make it a joke just between you and your child.  The second time let your child go alone to see how many she can match without your assistance.  Each correct word placement deserves lots of praise!  Repeat this activity as much as possible since this will give your child lots of practice using the words she has just learned.

 
 

Color Words Materials:   For this teaching activity you will need color swatches (paint chips from paint departments work great for this activity.), scissors index cards, tape, and a black marker. Procedure:  Cut the color swatch and tape onto the index card.  Write the name of the color below the swatch. Take another index card and cut into one inch strips widthwise and write the color name on the strip.  Use the same method of matching, selecting, and naming to teach your child to read the color words.

 

Color Hunt Materials:   This is an activity to help reinforce and practice reading the color names your child has previously learned.  To play this game you will need a basket that is easy for your child to carry, timer, and the word cards used in the previous learning activity. Procedure:  Take the color words and have your child mix them up and put them face down in a pile.  You or your child will draw the top card and read the word.  Set the timer for thirty seconds.  You and your child will have thirty seconds to gather as many items that have that color in them as you can.  When the timer goes off, each person counts their items to see who found the most objects. Before the next round begins, see who can put all their objects back the quickest. Tossing them under the bed does not count!  This game is even more fun played by several children.

 

Word Matching Your child will need to learn many words that are not nouns and do not have a picture that can demonstrate its meaning.  For these words you can use word to word matching to help them learn to read. Words appropriate for this activity are pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs, conjunctions, and prepositions. The first few words taught should be I, see, and a.  This will allow your child to read sentences using some of the nouns she has previously learned (EX. I see a ball.) You will need to work with these words as well as the nouns in order for your child to be able to read simple sentences and later on whole books. Materials:   To teach these words you will need index cards and a marker. Procedure:   To teach the word “I” you will need two flashcards with the word “I” written on both.  Use the same procedure used to teach the nouns to teach this word.  Tell her the word is I.  Give your child the other flashcard and have her match it to the word.  If your child picks up the new words quickly,  try teaching two words at a time.  Instead of laying out one word, lay out two and have her match the             word I to the correct word.  If this is difficult for her, go back to teaching one word at a time.

 

Sentence Swap Materials:    This is a reinforcement activity for the words your child has previously learned to read.  You will only need the word cards from your word bank.  By now you should have several nouns and a few pronouns and verbs. Procedure:   If you taught your child the words I, see, and a; lay those words in order on the table. Have your child read them aloud.  Give her the nouns and allow her to make different sentences by switching the nouns. For each sentence she will read I see a ball.  I see a dog.  Do this several times during the week with new  words she learns.  It is very important for her to see how sentences are made and sound.

 

KayDee@KayDeesplace.com

 

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