a fish out of water: games to practice sight words

Owen and I had to play a few extra games of Go Fish! this week to celebrate the Water Fun we’ve got on our calendar for the Smart Summer Challenge, but also because he is only weeks away from kindergarten.

Right now, he wants to read, read, read. But he also wants to play, play, play.

And the really cool thing is there is a place where both can meet–so I’m doing what I can.

He’s reading anything and everything he can–from signs, to newspaper headings, to the programs on the DVR, you name it.  I’ve limited his Word Feud queries to a minimum of five per day, but he’s started saving them and adding them to his ‘bank’.  He’s at 18.

He’s ready for school.

So I’ve tried to mix it up as much as possible, but he’s always been a card playa, so card games are his #1 choice.

Here’s how we played a quick game to practice his sight words, right after he woke up and before Maddy and Cora had come down for breakfast, before our day really started and while Owen and I–early birds of the family–have our chance to hang out a bit.

• Games to Practice Sight Words:  Owen asked for Go Fish! so Go Fish! it was.

We started by  using the Early Emergent Word cards, since most of these are the ones that were on the Kindergarten summer work packet.

First, we put all of the cards out on the table and found pairs.

 

Owen finds pairs of words to use for Go Fish!

 

We chose fifteen pairs to play with, and we put the remaining cards in the bag, and then we started Go Fish!-ing. We turned all of the pairs over and chose five each.  Then Owen asked me if I had a word, and if I did, I handed it to him. If I didn’t have it, I told him to ‘Go Fish!’, and he chose one from the pile.

The person who ends up with the most pairs–and the person who can then read those word cards–is the winner.

 

 Owen got lucky. I didn’t even finish my coffee yet. . .

 

And before I knew it, the O-man had beaten his mom pretty badly.  Good thing we’re still practicing our Game-Playing Etiquette, even for our early games.

He was reading the words with ease, so I asked if he was ready for a bigger word-reading challenge: the next set of words. He was, so we rocked it with the Upper Emergent Word Cards, cards that are a bit more tricky (for emergent readers) and are still mostly sight words–words that need to be memorized because they are so frequently found in print that readers need not take the time to sound them out.  And most sight words can’t even be sounded out in the first place, like ‘the’ or ‘you’.

Just like our first game, we spread the words out on the table and searched for word pairs. We used ten cards, since these words are not all familiar to Owen.

We read the words we planned to use, and we started playing. We turned the ten sets of cards over and mixed them up, then we each picked three.  And we Go Fish!-ed a while, and he beat me each time.

And that’s it–super-short bit of learning in a teeny bit of time, all before two kids had come down for breakfast, playdates started, and life got nutty.

 

QUICK! Today is your last day to link up your ideas to win last week’s prize. SO worth it–so take a second and share your ideas for a chance to win BIG from LeapFrog!

We’re now only one week away from our HUGE giveaways which I cannot wait to share.  Please check out the skinny on our Smart Summer Challenge, the 6-week fun summer learning campaign I’m running with Candace and MaryLea, where we’re challenging all parents to do what they can to throw in a little bit of fun learning every day (or as often as they can!). And seriously–summer reading counts!! So link up your ideas through the whole week and win prizes.  That’s how much we love our readers and value summertime learning!