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    • About Us
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    • Información del virus Covid-19
    • Staff & Board of Directors
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    • Contact Us
    • Employment Opportunities
    • College Internship Opportunities
    • Annual Report and Media
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  • What We Do
    • Literacy Lab Preschool
    • Tutoring
    • Afterschool Clubs
    • Practice K Summer Program
    • SOAR Summer Program >
      • FAQs
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      • Language Exchange Program
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Resource Blog

Building Vocabulary: Effective and Fun Tactics to Help your Student Learn

1/8/2018

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Vocab, vocab, vocab! Something you are always hearing about from educators, but why is it so important for your student to build his or her vocabulary? The primary answer to that question is that a rich vocabulary bank is the backbone to comprehension, both in reading as well as learning through listening. On the other side of that coin, a strong vocabulary base allows your student to adequately express herself, bolstering her ability to assert her ideas and engage others during communication. Basically, wide-ranging vocabulary skills help your student understand and be understood. Sounds pretty important, right? So how do you help your student build her vocabulary base? Read on for tips and tricks that our staff have found beneficial in helping students learn new vocabulary!
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Utilizing Context – help your student use the context in which the word is introduced to solve for the meaning of the word. Did the word come up in a reading you are doing together? Use the surrounding words and sentences—or context—to help your student understand what the word means. Did the word come up in a conversation or lecture? Discuss the context of that conversation or lecture with your student, focusing on aspects such as what was being discussed, the point the speaker was trying to make and the tone in which the word was said.

Ultimately, relating the word to the context in which it was used will allow your student to connect the word to a bigger picture, making it more likely that she will retain the meaning of the word.

Synonyms & Antonyms – a great way to help your student understand a new word is to provide your student with synonyms (mean the same thing) and antonyms (mean the opposite). Indeed, as your child’s vocabulary grows, many of the new words they learn can be related to another word that means the same thing, or the opposite. For example, the word “enormous” might be related to the words big, huge, large or gigantic. Conversely, you might provide the words small, little, teeny, tiny, minute as antonyms.
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Much like using context to solve for meaning, providing synonyms and antonyms will help your child relate a new vocabulary word to easier, more manageable words.


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Get Outside! Sight Words in Summertime

6/5/2017

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Learning "sight words" or "popcorn words" doesn't have to be a drag! We have compiled a list of fun ideas to boost your child's sight word knowledge, all while enjoying some fun in the sun! 

Need a list of sight words? Click here for a list of high-frequency words by grade. 

Now, to the fun part! Let the games begin!

1. Sight Word Soccer:

Supplies Needed:
  • Index cards with sight words written on them
  • Tape
  • Cones, cans, buckets, or another similar object
  • Soccer ball
  • Goal or area marked as a goal

How to Play:
  • Tape one index card to each cone.
  • Ask your child to say the words as they dribble around the cones. Ask your child to circle back and re-try the word if they can’t say it.
  • Allow your child to shoot for a goal at the end.

Other Ways to Play:
  • Option 1: Call out a word and ask your child to kick the soccer ball towards the correct cone to knock it over.
  • Option 2: Call out a word and ask your child to dribble over to it.

2. Jungle Gym Sentences:

Supplies Needed:
  • Index cards with words written on them that make a complete sentence when put together
  • Tape
  • Playground

How to Play:
  • Tape index cards to different places around the playground.
  • Challenge your child/children to find all of the index cards.
  • Once all cards have been found, work together to put the words in an order that makes sense.
  • Read the sentence out loud together. This is even more fun if you make the message something related to a run reward! Example: “You did a great job climbing all around, so we will be getting ice cream as a reward!”

3. Sight Word Basketball:

Supplies Needed:
  • Basketball
  • Sidewalk Chalk

How to Play:
  • Write different sight words on the pavement.
  • Call out a word and ask your child to dribble to the correct spot.

Other Ways to Play:
  • Play a math version by writing equations on the pavement, like “2 + 4” or “6 x 6”, and then call out the answers. Ask your child to dribble to the equation that matches the answer you called out.
  • Play a phonemic awareness version by writing different phonemes on the pavement, like “m” and “ou”. Call out the sound and ask your child to dribble to the matching letter or blend.

4. Sight Word Sprint:

Supplies Needed:
  • Index cards
  • Markers

How to Play:
  • Write sight words on index cards, leaving one letter off. For instance: "__at" or "sa__d." Your child might fill in the blank space in the first example with "c" making the words "cat". Your child should fill in the letter "i" in the second example, making the word "said", but other options like sand do exist as well. 
  • Scatter the cards around your lawn or living room.
  • Ask your child to run around and fill in the missing letters. Some words may have more than one correct answer.
  • Make this more fun and challenging by making it a race with a sibling, peer, or parent!

5. Sight Word Swim:

Supplies Needed:
  • Pool or pond access
  • Any type of ball that floats

How to Play:
  • Throw a ball into the pool. If two children are playing, see who can get the ball first.
  • To score a point, the child who gets the ball first must read it out loud. If they don’t read it correctly, the other child may have a turn.

Other Ways to Play:
  • Write on diving sticks instead of floating balls if your child feels comfortable diving to the bottom of the pool. Ask your child to dive to get the stick.
  • Once your child resurfaces, ask them to say the word written on the stick out loud. Make this even more fun by timing how long it takes to retrieve and say the words on all of the diving sticks, and then attempting to beat your own record!

6. Water Gun Game:

Supplies Needed:
  • Squirt guns or a hose
  • Sidewalk chalk

How to Play:
  • Write sight words on the pavement with sidewalk chalk.
  • Call out a word and ask your child to squirt or hose down the correct word.
  • To make this more fun, squirt your child if they squirt the wrong word, or let them squirt you if you do!

7. Water Balloon Battle:

Supplies Needed:
  • Water Balloons
  • Containers or Buckets
  • Sharpie

How to Play:
  • Divide your family or your children’s friends into two teams. Divide the water balloons equally between the two teams.
  • Designate an area to play on your lawn or around a field.
  • The object of the game is to hit the other team with as many water balloons as possible. The first team to get rid of all of their balloons is the winner.
  • To throw a balloon, the person throwing must shout the sight word and then aim it at a member of the opposing team.
  • If the balloon doesn’t pop, the person who threw it must retrieve it and try again.
  • If a person throws a balloon without saying the sight word, they may be hosed down, squirted, or forced to run a lap around the field. (You choose the “punishment”)

8. Water Painting:

Supplies Needed:
  • Sidewalk Chalk
  • Water
  • Paint brushes

How to Play:
  • Write sight words in sidewalk chalk on the pavement.
  • Encourage your child to “paint away” the words with water by tracing the letters with their brush.

9. Sight Word Hopscotch

Supplies Needed:
  • Sidewalk Chalk
  • Stone

How to Play:
  • Draw a hopscotch with chalk with words written inside the boxes.
  • Ask your child to toss a stone into one of the hopscotch boxes. Ask your child to read the word and hop to the box.

10. Sight Word Bowling

Supplies Needed:
  • Bowling pins, cans, bottles, or something else that can be knocked down
  • Index cards with sight words written on them
  • Tape
  • Ball

How to Play:
  • Tape your index cards to your pins.
  • Set up your pins on any flat surface, inside or outside.
  • Take turns bowling down the pins, following regular bowling rules.
  • Once a pin or set of pins is knocked over, remove them. To get the point for each pin, the player must say the sight word taped onto the pin out loud.
  • The winner is the person who gets the highest score after 10 rounds, or however many rounds you establish. 

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Spring Break: At-Home Ideas

3/20/2017

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Looking for ways to keep your child active over spring break?
Check out these suggestions! 

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Sight Word Slap (K-12): Put up written sight words (on slips of paper or post-its) onto a wall or table. Two players/teams will compete, while one person will call out a word they’ve chosen from the wall. The first person to slap the sight word (with an object like a fly-swatter or home-made light saber) wins a point. You may either remove the word or otherwise mark it as you go with a circle, line, etc. Play until you have swatted all of the words. The person or team with the most points is the winner! 

​Note: This game may be modified in other ways as well. For instance, the caller may call out a definition; the players must find the word that fits that definition. The caller may call out a sound; the players must find the word that includes that sound. 
​

Super Smash (K-2): Use an action figure, small toy, or doll to play this game. Make little "word tents" by folding small papers in half and then standing them up. Every time a word is said correctly, the toy “smashes” the word tent flat onto the table. To make this more challenging, "smash" only words that rhyme with one another. Alternatively, have one person call out the word, while the other person smashes the correct "word tent".

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Dig & Sort (K-2): Pick a material your child can dig in. We suggest items such as sand, dirt, rice, pasta, beans, etc.

Hide different words that have a targeted sound in them. Have cups labeled with each targeted sound. See if your child can find and then place the words in the correct cup. For example, asking your child to put the word “set” in the cup that has the short vowel “e” on it, and not in the cup with long “e” on it.  You may also simply ask your child to make piles of words that share a similar blend. For instance, ask your child to sort "th", "sh" and "ch" words into three piles as they dig and discover words like "ship", "think", and "chip". 



Secret Messages (1-8): Write messages back and forth to one another. Make sure nobody else can see—it’s your secret journal! You may also make this more complex by writing in "code"--pictures, numbers, words, or more!  

Alternatively, use coded messages or pictograms to host your own "treasure hunt" around the house! This is especially fun if you pretend to be spies, pirates, or world explorers. 



Snow Ball Fight (K-12): Crumple up sight words into balls. Have a “snow ball” fight! Before you can launch a new ball, you must open up the ball, read the word, and re-crumple it. See how fast you can get at doing this!

For older students, use complex vocabulary words or more difficult sight words. Count how many "hits" you get and see who wins!  

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Beach Ball (K-8): Write comprehension questions on a beach ball and toss it back and forth. Answer the question under your right hand based on the article, chapter, or story you just read together. If playing with young students, you may want to select a picture or word to represent your question. For instance, drawing a stick figure would represent a question about the "characters", while a picture of a house would symbolize a question about the "setting". 

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Tracing Letters (K-5): 
Person one thinks of a message to give to person two. Person one then chooses an appropriate area of person two’s body that person two cannot easily see. The upper back works best, especially if the message has more than one word in it. Be sure to decide together what the ‘space bar’ will be. Letter by letter, person one writes their message on person two’s skin. Person two cannot guess until either the full word or the full message is complete.




Create a reward chart for reading at least 20 minutes every day. Work up to a fun prize! You may use stickers, draw stars, or select another way of keeping track of progress. Click below for templates to use with your child. 
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Simplistic Template 
Color Template --Shorter Challenge
Color Template --Longer Challenge

Be sure to sign up your child for summer programming as well! Click here for information.
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