Kindergarten is a rough time. Fun, but it turns even rougher during a pandemic with online school. Especially when the school year transfers to in-person part-way through. And your parents both work full-time jobs, so they don't want to figure out when to do homework. And make you go to bed at 8pm, because they are tired.
And when you don't do homework or study? You don't do well on your sight word tests, and your mother feels like a failure! Faye was a reading prodigy from the moment she stepped into Kindergarten. Aedan? He's a whiz at all things math, but reading is just the worst! So, in an effort to HOPEFULLY help on his next sight word test, I made some study materials. Figured they would be worth a share! I can't be the only slacker mom that has fallen on her face in regards to schooling this year, right? RIGHT?
Sight Word Flash Cards
Keep a set of flash cards in your car so you can sneak in a little study time. At a stop light or waiting at the fast food drive-thru, there's always a minute! Get the older siblings in on the excitement too! Faye loves being able to boss Aedan around and play teacher.
Sight Word Tracker
Aedan's gotten pretty comfortable with most of the words from Quarter 1, but he still tries to sound out others. One of our goals is to make his sight words actual SIGHT words that he knows immediately. He's real big on still sounding them out, even though we know he actually knows them. Aedan does well with reward systems and charts, so having this tracking sheet helps him know where to focus.
As for a prize when he fills in the boxes below the word? My kids are easy and think a piece of gum is a perfect reward. But you could make it a bigger prize when the page is filled. Or just ignore the prize situation all together!
Lightning Words
Now the most fun activity has been Lightning Words -- trying to get the words said as fast as possible. You see the time decreasing from the tracking slot, which is a great motivator, but it makes studying a game. Aedan is even more motivated for speed and stumbles less when strongly motivated. We make him pause his fun activity to "do homework real quick". The faster he gets through the Lightning Words, the faster he can get back to his video games.
Matching Letter Game
I remember playing this Matching Letter Game when I was young. I loved figuring out how to spell the hidden word that the picture was showing. I know Faye was more interested in the game than Aedan last time it was out! It's more advanced than sight words, so maybe that's why the 2nd grader was more invested.
Alphabet Learning Locks
We got the Alphabet Learning Locks from a yard sale, and those are something Aedan has really gravitated towards. I think it has to do more with the manual operation of the locks, and the puzzle it offers. Aedan is much more mechanically minded. When you sit down with him, he'll play it correctly and read the words. If he plays alone, he'll just trial each key in each lock, whittling down the options.
Osmo Genius Words
We had our Osmo always set up over summer break, giving the kids some fun study time. Genius Words was too advanced for Aedan at the time, but ABCs really helped him stick those last few letters. Educational video games, why not? And it's much less of a fight than just standard textbook studying. Now looking at it, I need to get Faye back on playing Genius Numbers!
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