As the school year nears an end and seemingly drags on in the eyes of your student, literacy may be becoming a point of contention—they are sick of it! Which is where we must remind students that literacy can not only be fun, but is in fact the foundation of so many activities they see as fun. Indeed, the basis for all television shows and movies that your student enjoys? Written stories and scripts. Their favorite card or board game? Relies on literacy to explain the game, rules and how to play. Their favorite video game? Follows written story concepts. That vacation they want to go on so badly? Not possible to plan without the ability to read details around tickets, directions and lodging options!
Literacy truly is behind the majority of activities kids (and adults) enjoy, a fact that is important to illustrate to you student when they seem to be getting burnt out with reading and writing. Of course these things are best instilled through lived experiences and it is vital to remember that literacy is flexible as reading, writing, listening, thinking and speaking are all components of literacy. See below for fun tactics that will bring literacy to life!
Literacy truly is behind the majority of activities kids (and adults) enjoy, a fact that is important to illustrate to you student when they seem to be getting burnt out with reading and writing. Of course these things are best instilled through lived experiences and it is vital to remember that literacy is flexible as reading, writing, listening, thinking and speaking are all components of literacy. See below for fun tactics that will bring literacy to life!
Make a Movie. Put on a Play! Is your student excited about acting or making videos? Then have her bring literacy to life through making a movie or producing a play for your family. Productions can be based upon a favorite book your student has read or your student can work to write her own script if she is excited to tell a new story. The key is to let your student choose! Your student can work independently on this, with siblings or you can join in and be a part of it.
Art. Math. Science. Whatever Excites Your Student! Does your student love arts and crafts? Read a book and work together on an art project that ties to the book. Or, have your student read the directions for creating a craft they are interested in and then make it.
Does your student love math? Work on story problems together. Use math and literacy skills to design and build an engineering project together.
Does your student love science? Let them perform experiments that interest them, reading directions, developing hypothesis and recording results. Essentially, take what your student is excited about and subtly work literacy in!
Art. Math. Science. Whatever Excites Your Student! Does your student love arts and crafts? Read a book and work together on an art project that ties to the book. Or, have your student read the directions for creating a craft they are interested in and then make it.
Does your student love math? Work on story problems together. Use math and literacy skills to design and build an engineering project together.
Does your student love science? Let them perform experiments that interest them, reading directions, developing hypothesis and recording results. Essentially, take what your student is excited about and subtly work literacy in!
Scavenger Hunts. Students LOVE scavenger hunts and it is a great way to get them to read without skipping a beat! You can target specific phonetic strategies or vocabulary words in clues and once they have found their prize, you can likely excite them into creating their own scavenger hunt and writing the necessary clues for you or siblings to find a hidden prize!
Family Game Night. An effortless way to get students reading and writing is to play a game they are excited about. Most games involve multiple forms of literacy: reading, listening, thinking, speaking and sometimes even writing! Even if the reading and writing is minimal, your student is still being exposed to literacy in a manner that is very fun and engaging to them. Bonus points for your student if they can read the directions and explain to the rest of the family!
Family Game Night. An effortless way to get students reading and writing is to play a game they are excited about. Most games involve multiple forms of literacy: reading, listening, thinking, speaking and sometimes even writing! Even if the reading and writing is minimal, your student is still being exposed to literacy in a manner that is very fun and engaging to them. Bonus points for your student if they can read the directions and explain to the rest of the family!
Cooking. Do you have a student who is excited about cooking? Bring them into the kitchen with you once a week, letting them look through cookbooks and choose a recipe. Then help them read through and list ingredients to be bought, bring them to the store to help you find the ingredients and finally work together to read and complete the different steps of the recipe!
What to Read? Let your Student Choose! While there are many alternative ways to engage your student in literacy, don’t forget good old fashioned reading! The trick is to be open to letting your student read what interests them, be it comic books, the newspaper, magazines or picture books! Giving your student the freedom to choose what they would like to read as well as what they would like to read about will greatly enhance their excitement for reading. Further, make reading fun through incorporating tone and expression while you read. Make it funny, make it scary, make it meek, make it mean—all of it will be fun if you can get your student into it!
Storytelling. Have a student full of imagination? Let them tell their own stories! The can write and illustrate a book. They can orally tell you a story. You can give them a list of vocabulary words that they need to include in their story and you can let those words themselves be based in student interest and silliness. You can work to create a story with them. Again, make it funny, make it scary, make it honest—play with it!
We hope that these tactics give you some new and fun ways to bring literacy into your home. After your student has engaged in and enjoyed these activities, lightly remind them that they just had fun with literacy. And always be willing to walk away from an activity if your student is no longer enjoying it.
What to Read? Let your Student Choose! While there are many alternative ways to engage your student in literacy, don’t forget good old fashioned reading! The trick is to be open to letting your student read what interests them, be it comic books, the newspaper, magazines or picture books! Giving your student the freedom to choose what they would like to read as well as what they would like to read about will greatly enhance their excitement for reading. Further, make reading fun through incorporating tone and expression while you read. Make it funny, make it scary, make it meek, make it mean—all of it will be fun if you can get your student into it!
Storytelling. Have a student full of imagination? Let them tell their own stories! The can write and illustrate a book. They can orally tell you a story. You can give them a list of vocabulary words that they need to include in their story and you can let those words themselves be based in student interest and silliness. You can work to create a story with them. Again, make it funny, make it scary, make it honest—play with it!
We hope that these tactics give you some new and fun ways to bring literacy into your home. After your student has engaged in and enjoyed these activities, lightly remind them that they just had fun with literacy. And always be willing to walk away from an activity if your student is no longer enjoying it.
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