By Julia Mohamed Going on a road trip? Here are some great literacy games you can play in the car. THE LICENSE PLATE GAME● One person begins by spotting a license plate and announcing the letters (not the numbers) on it. ● Everyone else, in turn, must come up with […]
Tag: 15-minute ideas
The "Air Mail" game
My son’s friend likes to play “air mail” whenever he comes over on a playdate. It’s a great game and I know that it works on their literacy skills because I’ve seen improvements. It involves a bit of the adult’s time, but it’s such a fun game that I indulge […]
Set up summer reading rewards
Stats show that kids who read throughout the summer have a great kick-start to school in September. And kids who don’t, typically start the school year a bit behind. With the school year ending, now’s the time to plan your child’s summer reading and writing projects. Does your library have […]
Numeracy activities
A few posts ago, I listed some great literacy activities from our school board. Here are some numeracy activities to get kids doing math (same source, TDSB). Again, I’ve put in bold the ones I think are particularly interesting. Estimate speed/distance/time relationships while travelling with your family. What was the […]
Quick and easy literacy activities
Our school board issued a list of great literacy activities. They’re simple and fun, and are great examples of what I like to call “guerilla literacy” – using tons of little tactics here and there that add up to… a kid who likes to read. You may want to print […]
Reading Incentive: KidsCash
Try KidsCash to get your kid reading. If you’re looking for an incentive to get your kid to read, you may want to take a look at KidsCash. I saw this product on Breakfast Television, and I think it could be applied really well to help encourage kids to read. […]
Physical literacy games
It’s a good idea to link learning to physical activity. I was inspired this week by my son’s teacher, who was teaching them fractions by having them throw balls into various buckets marked 1/7, 1/3, 1/4, etc. They had to add them up and avoid making an improper fraction. I […]
Read the signs
Signs are great “flash cards.” The other day, I was speaking with a mom whose son is having some trouble with reading. It was recommended that he start learning “whole words.” (As opposed to phonetically sounding things out.) I’m all for the whole-word approach to learning to read. It’s a […]
Read to your child. Every day.
It’s the single most important thing you can do to get your kid reading. Statistics show that if you read to your child, every day, even for 10 minutes – it’s likely that your child will grow up to become a reader. The New York Times recently published a heartwarming […]
Getting active kids reading
Sitting and reading is not the only way. At age five, girls are able to sit still and listen about 2.5 times longer than boys, according to studies. But we don’t need research to tell us that most boys would rather get up and move around than sit and read. […]
