Before homeschooling my four kids, I didn’t realize just how drastically different learning styles between siblings could be. My kids have been a mixed bag when it comes to learning how to read.
Two of them dove in head first with enthusiasm, constantly asking me to sit down and practice with them. One shocked us all by sounding out words before her third birthday. And one, my reluctant reader, struggled with reading and would become so frustrated that she would completely shut down.
At that point, she was classified as an emergent reader. She had all the tools: how to sound out each letter, how to blend sounds, and exposure to many sight words.
But for emergent readers to become independent readers, they need practice, practice, practice. And no matter what I did to coax her into practicing with me, she just wouldn’t do it.
For certain types of kids, the constant mistakes that are inevitable in the early stages of learning to read can be so discouraging that at some point they balk at reading anything. All the time.
If you have an emergent reader who hates to read out loud, then you know the struggle.
One day, when I was at my wit’s end, I decided to throw out the lessons and practicing for the day and shake things up. I started writing easy to read clues on scraps of paper- the beginning of something that changed my reluctant reader into an enthusiastic reader.
The Reading Scavenger Hunt was born.
Make it a Game
The idea is simple: write 3-6 clues and hide them around the house. Tailor them to your child’s reading level, keeping it fairly simple in the beginning to build confidence. For example: Go to the tub. The level of difficulty is up to you and your child’s ability.
Give your child the first clue that will lead him to the location of the second clue. The second clue will lead him to the third and so on.
Write as many as you think your child will be willing to read the first time and increase them as you go. At the final clue, you can leave a little prize like a Hershey’s Kiss or a quarter- something to make it fun and rewarding.
Each time you play the game, you can include more challenging words or a sight word that needs to be memorized. Include that sight word in several of the clues, and you will see that your child starts recognizing the word faster each time he reads it.
The Results
Not only did regularly playing this game increase reading speed and help with sight word recognition, it also massively grew my child’s confidence and interest in reading.
Instead of feeling pressured to read perfectly and frustrated for not being able to read fluently, she was caught up in the excitement of the game and the race to the prize.
And guess what? Her confidence built up every time she was able to read an entire clue independently.
After awhile, I was able to slowly bring back more structured reading practice.
Several years have passed, and now that kid who hated reading more than anything is now the most voracious reader in the family. Never in a million years would I have believed that when we started this journey.
If getting your child to practice reading has become an epic power struggle or always ends in tears, try switching things up with a reading scavenger hunt. Nothing encourages learning more than having fun!
<<<Pssst! Want to see how you can teach geography in a fun, game like way? Check out my post How to Teach Geography in 5 Minutes a Day!
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[…] like the reading game I use to get my emerging readers to practice, making math practice fun will get them to do more […]