Learning Is Fun…Don’t Forget It!

My five-year-old and I made sight word cards to practice at home.  We typed them up on the computer, printed them out, glued them to a poster board (he chose yellow), cut them out, laminated them, put them under a pile of heavy books for the night so that they would be nice and flat, and then we went to sleep dreaming of the finished product.  When we woke up, they were ready to go.

I thought that they would be good for practicing sight words; makes sense, right?  After all, they are sight word cards.  Turn out the big guy was thinking that they would be good for having fun.  Guess what…they actually are!

We made up this cool memory game where we flip them over and line them up like the real memory game.  Each player gets to flip two over to see if there are any matching letters in them.  Each time you flip one over you have to read it.  If the there is a matching letter in the words you have to point it out, and then you get to keep the set.

If there are two matching letters, like in “he” and “she” you get to get really excited about it, then point it out, then laugh and high five the other player/players, and then keep the set.  It’s a real thrill to get two matching letters!  After the game its over you get to count how many sets you each have, then you get to figure things out like how many you have together and how many more one of you has than the other.  Turns out, math is as fun as reading!

When we first started using the cards the kid knew less than half of the sight words.  Now he knows them all.  Granted, he’s not cranking them out the way he’s supposed to with sight words, but he knows them, and he’s certainly on the path.

The best part is that I have to pry him away from the cards in order to get him to stop “playing” with them.  He has to eat and sleep…he can’t just learn sight words and math all day and all night!  He pleads, “Just one more game daddy!”        It reminds me of two things.  First of all, there’s no substitute for a strong partnership between school and home.  We simply must support one another in setting high expectations for our children and fostering a love for learning in each of them.  Secondly, we can never forget that learning is fun!  When kids get excited about it, we’re responsible for fanning the flames of their excitement.  When they’re not excited about it, we’re responsible for working to understand them well enough to be able to provide them with exciting learning opportunities around every turn!

In what ways is learning fun for you?  When was the last time you shared that fun with your students or your children?  If it’s been a while, give it a shot…you can’t beat it!

Live. Learn. Lead.

Dream Big.  Work Hard.  Be Well.