Scott Adcox

Doing More With Less Since 1972

Category: Lesson Ideas (Page 4 of 5)

Word Blends (beginning consonants) – Lesson Idea #22

May 11, 2008 / / 0 Comments

This is a phonemic awareness activity – click here for info on why these help. You can use a puppet for this activity to make it more fun.

  1. Tell your child that you will be putting some sounds together to make words. Tell him/her that you (or the puppet) will give them a sound and a part of the word and they will have to put them together to make a word. For example: You say: /n/…eedle. Your child says the word “needle”.
  2. Remember that the goal is for your child to blend sounds together orally, not to be able to read these words. So don’t be afraid to use big words – it’ll really add to their listening/speaking vocabulary!

Samples:

/t/…iger

/d/…inosaur

/m/…onkey

/b/…asket

/t/…elevision

/j/…ungle

/p/…oodle

/m/…idnight

/s/ andwhich

Silly Sentences – Lesson Idea #21

May 10, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Use this activity as a review for letters you’ve worked with. You can do this one whether your child knows how to read or not. Your purpose is to reinforce the letter shape and sound in a fun way.

  1. Write a silly sentence so that all of the words in it begin with the same letter and sound. For example: Handsome Henry hugs happy hyenas.
  2. Read the sentence aloud and have them repeat it with you. They can also try to say it fast several times. Ask your child what letter and sound they think is special in this sentence – /h/.
  3. Ask your child to think of other words that start with the same letter and sound. List what they come up with and go over the words.
  4. Some other sample sentences:
  • Jolly Johnny jiggles Jackie’s jewels.
  • Silly Sam says scallops soak soda.

The listing of words can also help develop your child’s vocabulary. Get ready for tongue twisters!

I Spy – Lesson Idea # 20

May 9, 2008 / / 0 Comments

An oldie but a goodie. You can play this with the focus being on sounds or letters. This helps develop their ability to match sounds and/or letters with objects and reinforce their knowledge of word meanings. Play at home, in the car, at the store, at the mall, or anywhere!

  1. Pick some random object in your surroundings that begins with the sound or letter that you’d like to work on.
  2. Say “I spy with my little eye, something that begins with the sound/letter ____.”
    You can have your child repeat the rhyme when giving you the answer. Then they can even take a turn asking you to find an object!
  • Take this opportunity to discuss meanings of words they don’t know by choosing/pointing out objects they may not be familiar with.

Sound in A Sack – Lesson Idea #19

May 8, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Get a sack or bag large enough to hold several items.
  2. Have your child search the house for things that begin with your target sound.
  3. Go through the items and talk about what they found to further develop their vocabulary and understanding of things around them: Does it match the target sound?, What’s this used for?, What color is it?, Who uses this?, Where does it go?, etc.
  • You can make this more challenging by changing the location of the target sound. Instead of finding things that begin with a certain sound, try having them find things that end with the sound – or have a certain vowel sound in the middle. They’ll have lots of fun hunting!
  • Extension activity: You can work on the comprehension skill, classifying and categorizing, by having your child sort the items into categories. For example: things that go in a drawer, things used to cook, things people wear, things we eat, etc. Or you can reverse it by assigning your child the categories and they must find items that match the category and the target sound.

On My Way… Lesson Idea #18

May 7, 2008 / / 0 Comments

A fun and educational way to spend some time…

  1. Tell your child that you will pretend to go somewhere (park, beach, store, etc.) and see lots of things that start with the letter /(target sound)/ sound.
  2. Practice words that start with the sound you are working with. For example: /p/ – porcupine, potato, pants, panda.
  3. Then you can start by saying or singing, “On my way to the store, I saw a panda, that starts with a /p/.”
  4. Then they can take a turn saying it once they get the hang of it. This game is great in the car, while you’re waiting for an appointment, or where ever. The sillier the answers the better!

Fill In The Rhyme – Lesson Idea #17

May 6, 2008 / / 0 Comments

1. Say these sentences, stressing the words that rhyme:

  • The cat wore a hat.
  • The ball rolled down the hall.
  • Your shoe is blue.

2. Now tell your child that they’ll have to finish your sentence with a word that rhymes. You can get as silly as you want just as long as the words rhyme. You’ll be amazed at some of the responses you get!
3. Sample sentences:

  • The hog chased the ________. (frog, dog)
  • Let’s look at a _________. (book)
  • The pig wore a _________. (wig)

Exit This Way – Lesson Idea #16

May 5, 2008 / / 0 Comments

This activity will really help your child learn to analyze, pay attention to details, and comprehend select stories and books while allowing them to develop and express their creativity. This can be done as a post reading activity to reinforce comprehension.

  1. Choose a book that your child can read independently and that he/she has read before.
  2. Tell your child that they are going to have to think of an alternate ending for the story. This means that they have to go through and analyze what has happened so far in order to decide what will happen to the characters and events in the story.
  3. You can help them out and come up with ideas together to make sure the ending will still make sense with the rest of the story. Using a graphic organizer to map out the story is a great strategy to help them organize their thoughts!
  4. Your child can either dictate their ideas to you or write them on their own. Reread the story together using the new ending and enjoy!
  • You can make this as easy or as challenging as you like depending upon your child’s abilities – just pick a simple book or a more complex one to accomplish this.

Let’s Read It This Way – Lesson Idea #15

May 1, 2008 / / 0 Comments

Big books work well for this, but you can use any book with large print. Try to use a book that you’ve already read with your child and one that has a good amount of dialog in it.

  1. Tell your child that you’ll be reading xyz book, but that you’ll be hunting for different things this time. Write, or show them what an exclamation mark (!) and question mark (?) look like.
  2. Tell them that you’ll be hunting for these in the book and that they should let you know when they see one because you’re going to have to read it differently.
  3. Begin reading the book (maybe with less expression than you normally do) until your child lets you know that they’ve spotted one of the marks. Say “Oh, thanks – that’s an (!), that mark means that we have to read this sentence with a lot of expression. Listen to me first and then we’ll try it together.”
  4. Reread the sentence modeling good expression and then have them read it (or repeat after you if they can’t read yet) with you. Try to have them imitate you as much as possible so that they get into the habit of learning to change their voice when they see these marks.
  5. Do the same with question marks – Teach them that our voices sound different when we ask questions and that they should sound like that when we read questions too.
  • This is one of those easy activities that you can do to lay a strong foundation for good reading habits and fluency. It can be done whether your child can read or not because all they have to do is practice sounding like you (a good reader)!
  • Change this up for older kids (2nd grade and up) that need help with expression by skipping the “hunt” and just calling their attention to the marks when they read. Having them listen to you, reread it with you, and then again by themselves will give them the practice they need to improve their fluency.

Show Me How – Lesson Idea #14

May 1, 2008 / / 0 Comments

You’ll need a book that’s on the bigger side of normal and your “dunce cap” on for this one.

  1. Tell your child that you’re getting ready to read a book and get into a position where he/she can clearly see the book. Hold the book upside down and announce that you’re ready to begin. Hopefully your child will look at you funny and tell you that’s not how you hold a book.
  2. You (in total disbelief) ask him/ her “Why not?” – they give you an answer and you say “Oh, ok, I got it”. Then you fix it by holding the book sideways and telling them that now you’re ready. They’ll laugh and point at you and tell you you’re doing it all wrong!
  3. Do this a couple of times in different ways until you “give up” and say “Ok, show me how to read this book the right way”. See if you can get them to explain to you why it should be read that way. You’re looking for them to tell you things like: the front cover needs to be right side up, the title should be on top, we can’t read upside down, you need to open the book up this way, we need to turn the pages in this direction, the pictures can’t be upside down, the words can’t be upside down, etc. If you need to, point these things out to your child.
  • This simple pretend play can be very beneficial in helping your child understand the concepts of print. Kids love to be right and they’ll have fun telling you that you’re wrong! Don’t we all?

Rhyme Toss – Lesson Idea #13

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments

You can play this with 2 or more people, but the more the better. So get some friends, siblings, or dad involved and have fun!

  1. Sit or stand with players in a circle and have something ready to toss (bean bag, ball, etc.)
  2. Say a word like “cat”, and toss the bag to the next person who has to say a word that rhymes like “hat”, then toss to the next person and so on. Switch to a new word when players run out.
  3. Sample word lists you can use: (ball, wall, tall, hall, mall, call, fall, all); ( blue, shoe, two, new, who, boo, flew, drew, etc.); (pit, bit, hit, fit, lit, mitt, sit, kit), etc.
  • You can make this more challenging for older kids by making the words harder. Sample words: (plate, eight, freight, berate, date, mate, bait, gate, hate, etc.).

Short or Long? – Lesson Idea #12

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Choose some short words (one syllable) and long words(multi syllable) that show up in books, poems, or songs that your child is familiar with.
  2. As you read each word, ask your child if it is a short word or long word. Keep track of what they say.
  3. Then write each word and ask them again. Show them the differences between the short ones and long ones. Talk about how the ones that sound longer usually look longer too because they have more sounds to write. Check if they were right on their guesses.
  • This activity helps kids with early concepts of print as well as developing their oral language skills. You’ll be surprised by how good they become at this and how it will help them in the future when working with words!

Spell Anything! – Lesson Idea #11

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Write a word on a white board or other erasable surface and have your child read it aloud.
  2. Erase and change the first letter/last letter/middle letter – depending on what letters/sounds you are working with. Ask your child what the new word is.
  3. Repeat and repeat until you have a decent list of new words that you created just by changing certain letters.
  4. Have your child read the whole list – blending if necessary and then repeating them quickly to practice fluency. You can extend this activity by having them make up sentences using some or all of the words.
  5. Sample list:
  • start with the word “cup”
  • change the “p” to a “t” for the word “cut”
  • change the ” u” to an “a” for the word “cat”
  • change the “c” to an “h” for the word “hat
  • change the “h” to an “m” for the word “mat”
  • change the “m” to an “f” for the word “fat”
  • add an “s” to make the word “fast”
  • You can see how you can keep going and going with this. You can make this as easy or as hard as you’d like depending on what your child can do. Have fun with it!

Stretch It – Lesson Idea #10

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Tell your child that you are going to say a sentence and that they have to help you stretch it by adding a word to it to make it longer.
  2. Then you add another word and continue to take turns adding words until you have a long sentence (that still makes sense).
  3. For example: You say ” The kitten played.” Then it can become ” The white kitten played”, “The white kitten played outside.”, “The white kitten played outside with a ball.”, “The white kitten and the dog played outside with a ball.”, etc.
  • This game can be adapted for many different ages. You can leave it like it is for younger kids (and keep the sentences shorter) or you can add some requirements to make it harder for older kids. Add things like: “Now you have to add a noun, adjective, pronoun, adverb, etc.” or you can have them write out the sentence when finished. this is a great game for developing vocabulary and practicing extending sentences so that they are more detailed!

ABC Scramble – Lesson Idea #9

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. When your child is not in the room, lay out some alphabet cards in a long row – make sure they are scrambled up and out of order.
  2. Tell your child that you’re not sure what happened, but there’s something seriously wrong with the alphabet and you need their help fixing the letters.
  3. Have your child try to put the letters in a row correctly. They can sing the alphabet or use an alphabet chart to help them out.
  • The sillier you get with this the better! You can make up different stories about what “happened” to the alphabet.

Missing Letters – Lesson Idea #8

April 28, 2008 / / 0 Comments
  1. Lay out some alphabet cards in a row from A-Z. Remove a letter (random or your target letter) and be sure to leave the empty space where the letter goes.
  2. Have your child start pointing to and naming (or singing) each letter. When they get to the missing letter, ask “What letter is missing?”
  3. After they guess correctly, you can repeat with different letters.
  • What makes this really fun for them is when you get silly and “play dumb” like you really don’t have a clue. It cracks them up!
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