language arts with games

We've done several little file folder games lately and have a few more in the works....I think the lessons stick better in the kids's minds when they have a hands-on activity. It also makes mommy/teacher seem a bit less of a stick in the mud and "summer school" more attractive.

1st grade
Pathways Phonics/Reading, lessons 105 and 108 teach the consonant digraphs "sh" and "ch". Then, lesson 120 teaches "th" and "wh". I used Lapbook Lesson's Rain Shower Digraphs for the "sh" and "ch", then used the blank ones to make "th" and "wh" umbrellas. We used his workbook page clip art for the drawings on these raindrops. We turned the umbrellas into pockets by cutting them apart and stapling, then contact papering the fronts. The raindrops were pasted onto cereal box cardboard and contact papered as well. We have added a half a folder to fold down in order to continue adding more umbrellas inside later--room for 4 more as of now. Mine looks nowhere as nice as the sample pictures on the site--just do what you can!!

Pathways Phonics and Reading, lesson 125 taught plurals that you add "es" instead of just "s" to. I decided this deserved a file folder game for my hands-on 6yo boy. I made up a not so pretty (but functional) Ice Cream Shop, adding "-es" game. I'm sorry, but I did this all by hand and not on the computer--but here is the explanation: You just use a file folder--put a cover on the front and I label my little tab so it can be filed and found again later. Holding the folder up like a regular 8.5x11 paper, you open it and paste your homemade ice cream cones along the bottom. I wrote the letters s, x, z, sh, and ch on these cones. Explain that words that end in these letters cannot just have s added to make them plural, you need to add es. I made ice cream scoops in various colors (glued onto thin cardboard and covered in contact paper) with various words on them like brush, fox, etc., being sure to not use words that need their consonant doubled like bus (those may be made later). I also made cherries with the letters "es" on them, so he puts the scoops on the right cones and then adds cherries to them. Later, for the doubling consonants, I may make nuts with the extra letters--we'll see!! All the scoops and cherries are held in a baggie that I stapled to the folder. You can get a lot fancier--but this worked for us!

2nd grade
We haven't been adding much fun in for my dd, so I decided I needed to look for something in her upcoming lessons. Tomorrow we learn contractions in Rod and Staff Phonics, unit 4, lesson 14. I found this lesson plan and thought it just PERFECT! I hope I feel like pulling it off well--if not, I'll be faking it and hope it sticks to their brains anyway. Contraction Surgery

Also for Phonics, beginning in lesson 20, she will be learning homonyms. They list 25 sounds in that first lesson, so those are what I am using to create Hatching Homonyms, a game that I am trying to partially do on the computer in order to save and share. The nests will be brown pockets with the pronunciation written on them (25 in all). The words and definitions are on eggs and they need to be put into the right nest. If you want these word eggs, please just email me and ask--I have them in Word documents (6 pages=52 words and 2 blank eggs). I will be doing the nests with pronunciations by hand since it is easier with the different symbols. I may use little brown paper sacks cut into nest shapes and, of course, contact paper to preserve them.
My kiddos help with the making of their own file folder games and lapbooks--it's not just me doing all the work. Depending on the difficulty and their age, I may do some of the cutting in order to have a NICELY done game that will last longer. I also do the contact papering since that is not cheap stuff and it's easily wrinkled.......your kids (or yourself) may or may not like artsy crafty things--to each his own, this is just me........