A: I have heard this comment more times than I could possibly tell. The very best way to teach words and have that learning transfer into USE is to use the SnapWords™ (sight word picture cards) with your child. The reason is that as you show a child the card and let him really look at it, talking about the images just like you would as you read him a picture book, his brain actually snaps a picture of the word complete with image. As you talk about what is going on, he is also associating the meaning of the word (comprehension help!) as he learns to recognize the word in print.
To transfer that to writing, I would suggest:
- Have him look at a word and study the picture, noticing details.
- Turn the card over for him to see the plain word.
- Read him the sentence on the back.
- Have him do the body motion you find on the back of the card.
- Turn the card back over to the front and tell him you want to play a game.
- Say, "Look at the picture again and then close your eyes."
- "Do you see the picture in your head?"
- Have him open his eyes and see if he can write on paper what he saw in his head.
If you do this activity on a regular basis, the child will learn to rely more and more heavily on his powerful sense of visualization.
Following is another tremendous help that I have used with students with great success; it helps with spelling words correctly in writing.
After introducing sight words a few minutes a day, consider teaching your child the construction of words using The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns.
This book is leveled and will teach all the sound spelling from K through adult words, but it uses a fun format of cartoons and humor; children and young people love lessons in this format. If you teach the sight words and then follow the format and the sequence that is suggested in the book, you will help your child soar in reading in about 35 minutes a day!
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