Games

Games

"We play many games with memory words (sight words). I often put students into groups and develop games with them. We play board, dice, and card games with memory words. The more times children are exposed to these words, the more they will retain!"
– Jeannette Thompson, Special Education Primary Level II classroom teacher, Muscatine, Iowa

"I use a permanent marker to divide a beach ball into 26 sections and write a different letter in each section. Next, I ask students to stand in a circle. Then I call out a student’s name and toss the ball to her. After catching the ball, the student checks which letter she is touching with her right pointer finger. I have the student say the letter, its sound, and a word that begins with that letter."
– Shelly Straub, Transitional first-grade teacher, Tower City, Pennsylvania

"I divide my class up into two teams and line them up facing the chalkboard. Then I say a word. The first child on each team races to the chalkboard and writes the beginning letter (capital and lowercase) for that word. The first child to write the correct letters earns a point for his team. The game continues by having the next two children from each team go to the board."
– Sheryl Hart, Transitional first-grade teacher, Tower City, Pennsylvania