Little Game I Learned

This past weekend Brent and I went to the SETHSA (SouthEast Texas HomeSchool Association) Conference in Houston and learned SO much! I was looking over some of the notes this morning, and decided I needed to make this game I learned about NOW, before I forget to!!

This is the second place I've heard Carol Barnier speak and it is always SUCH a JOY!! She's real and such an encouragement. She often speaks on "the highly distractible" child, and I've learned Raegan seems to fall in this category. I've also learned more and more that I probably fell (fall) into this category. BUT this game is for any child that is in the learning to read stage! So check it out!

She taught us about the game in a session called, "Teaching Your Child to Read...made Easy." The game is called Roadblock. Basically, you make this Road (make it with no letters so you can copy and play many, many times!). I scanned and saved mine as a PDF so I can just print it out. When filling it out, use only5-6 letters and repeat them in different orders. The child starts out at the gas station and tells you the letters on the road. If they get one wrong, a roadblock comes down (your hand...or you can buy a plastic toy roadblock). When the child gets one wrong, stop and spend some time working on that letter...make up a little song about it, talk about words that start with that letter, draw the letter, make it out of yarn or spaghetti noodles, etc. Then, start over at the beginning, and repeat. On their 3rd Roadblock, the game is over! Either when the game is over or when they get to the Finish line, count the correct squares and they could get a prize for them or you can keep a running total of their points and let them "buy" prizes with their points. That pretty much is how the game goes and is the first level.


After the letter names, you can move on to next "levels" to help promote reading.
Level 2-Letter Sounds: Stick with just one sound per letter at the time.
Level 3-Squishing: On the road, use letters that make small, simple words and follow with the word Squished together, ie....A, M, AM, C, A, P, CAP, B, A, G, BAG, N, E, T, NET, etc...
Level 4-Expand the Rules: Introduce multiple sounds for those letters, blends, silent e, etc.
Level 5- Taking it to the Limit: Google "word lists" for age/grade level, or point to words in dictionary...OR take a book that is on their level and as you play the game...on the squishing level put all the words from that book in the road, each time you play. Then at the end, pull the book out and have them read the book!

Enjoy!