Indian Oasis News

As primary students learn phonics and how to create and read words by sound, they also begin to learn sight words. These are words that are often used in reading and writing but don’t necessarily follow phonics rules. They are words that need to be recognized immediately by sight and memorized.
Students will begin to learn these words in kindergarten and first grade, but if you want to give your child a jumpstart or reinforce what he’s learning in the classroom, here are some tips:

• Practice is the best way to learn sight words. Create flash cards for your child, and let him focus on only four or five at a time. More than that could cause your child to become overwhelmed and frustrated.
• As you read aloud with your child each night, allow him to pick out the words he knows before you start reading.
• Show your child a sight word in the book you are reading. For example, “and.” As you read aloud, allow him to “read” the sight word each time you come across it. This will help build confidence and reinforce that reading truly is a fun, engaging, and interactive activity.

As you work with your child, don’t move too fast. Kids all start reading at different paces. Preschool or kindergarten is a good time to start working on sight words, especially since it’s reinforced in the classroom. Some children will master them quickly; others need more time. But if your child doesn’t begin to master those sight words by the end of first grade, it may be time to talk to his teacher.

Sight word lists vary depending on which publishing company or website you visit. For just one list of grade-level appropriate sight words, visit KidZone, choose your grade level, then click on “Dolch Words.” Various games and activities are also available with a simple Web search.

Boys and books don’t always go together. Perhaps it’s because a boy can’t shoot hoops with a book or score a touchdown with one under his arm; hence, finding the right book to spark your son’s interest can be a challenge. Here are a few suggestions that might help:

• Take him to the library or book store, or talk to his teacher about books that will interest him.
• James Patterson’s ReadKiddoRead is a good resource with a list of books that appeal to boys (and girls).
• Find a magazine in his area of interest. If he responds well to it, consider getting a subscription.
• Can’t get him away from the computer? Creative Teaching suggests finding a computer or video game that requires a good amount of reading. Search for some online, or visit your local gaming store.

While reading may be structured in the classroom, allowing him to choose his own material at home will bring him a step closer to enjoying it. According to Reading Rockets, it’s okay to suggest something, but ultimately, allow it to be his choice after first making sure the material is appropriate for his age. With your encouragement, your son could discover whole new worlds contained within the pages of a book.

“Mom, do you have a dozen tiny log cabins on hand for my project? It’s due tomorrow.” If you are experiencing chills running down your spine while reading this, you know what this means. Quickly, you dismantle a train set, a Lego village, and a bulletin board. With sweat pouring into your eyes, you arrange a hundred frilly toothpicks to look like trees, build a paper dock with tiny boats, construct log cabins out of toothpicks, and design a rocky beach using real rocks! Vaguely, you remember that this is your child’s project, so you put him/her in charge of…glue. By midnight, the two of you behold a magnificent graphic map of an imaginary island and its hearty inhabitants who, sustained by the ocean and their rich cultural traditions, would astonish the teacher and the whole junior high!

In a hostile takeover like the island project, your child learned a valuable lesson: Mom or Dad will shoulder the burden of responsibility, and all he/she has to do is nod and glue. Middle schools have lists of learning outcomes for their students, and “Expect parents to craft and complete school projects” is not one of them. While you may have shared some “quality” time with your child, the rest of the family had toast for dinner, the dishes piled up in the sink, and the baby went to bed at 10:00 p.m. without a bath.

You ask, “How could I have avoided this?” Here are some simple ideas that could save your sanity!

1. Create a time line. Even if this is a dreaded “it’s due tomorrow” assignment, a time line will diffuse anxiety.
   1. Outline the steps necessary to finish the project. Insist your child help with this.
   2. Assign a firm deadline to each of these steps.
   3. Agree upon a set number of times you will check on the project’s progress. Don’t allow the “checkpoints” to exceed five minutes.
2. Set up a quiet space, lay out some craft supplies, set a timer, and walk away.
3. No, really. You can do it. Walk away!
4. Praise your child’s hard work.

Junior high is a place where your child is actively asserting his/her independence and establishing him/herself as distinct from the rest of the family. This growth process also includes learning how to take responsibility for his/her assignments. You can secretly pat yourself on the back when you see that your middle school student decided on his/her own to use real pinecones in his/her diorama of a 100-million-year-old araucaria forest.