Flashcard Fun

Flashcards seem to be an inevitable part of education. It’s such an easy way to practice something until it becomes automatic. It’s really scary what I can still remember from Human Anatomy and Physiology due to flashcards. And that’s from over 15 years ago, so we should all be scared together!

But flashcards for kids tend to be boring. What bores children usually does not teach children–at least not much. So let’s make it more exciting, shall we?

Number one hint is let kids make their own flashcards. Even if your child can’t write them out or draw the pictures to prompt themselves, at least let your child decorate the cards. This is so much more interesting for her. I say her, because he might be a little less inclined for this suggestion. Accept this. Find another way to help him…like tip number two.

Make practicing with the cards a game. Let your child flip, blow, throw or otherwise fling the card when he practices it correctly. Boys seem to find this sort of “naughty” thing fun. So let them do it. Also, it can be fun to set a timer or have races. Divide the deck in half and see how fast you can do each have. You get the idea.

Finally, don’t ever, ever forget that short and sweet is best. Even if you have to practice three or four times a day to build up to twenty minutes, short, focused practice is ALWAYS better than long, drawn out, whiny practice. For you and for your child.

If you look online, you’ll find all kinds of flashcard sites. Personally, I think that they get in the way of the first tip–make your own. And, often the teachers send home flashcard sets anyway. However, I do like FlashCardExchange, because it allows you to play memory online with cards you make. This is best for older kids who are using flash cards for test prep in a question-answer format. It does not work for sight words, letters, colors, numbers and other items where the purpose is just recognition. It does have a “study” option which flashes the cards for you on the screen. This can be good if you have a child with a computer fascination. It might be the thing that gets him or her to practice. To get access to some of the more advanced options, you’ll have to pay a registration fee. I’ve never had a need for that, so I know nothing about it. If you do, I’d love to hear your opinion.

If you don’t want to spend money buying your preschooler flashcards, then abcteach has an excellent set of preschool concept flashcards for free. It even has some blank flashcard templates for you (or your child) to make. Again, if you want access to premium features, there’s a subscription fee, but I’ve never needed more than their free stuff.

So flashcards–make them fun, make them short and sweet. Do you have any other ideas? I could definitely use them. The multiplication tables are on the horizon and I’m going to need some fresh ideas for Dylan. So please share!

Tags: drill, flash cards, homework

Practicing in the Car

Part of the reason that practicing in the car can be effective is that car trips are of a limited duration.  Kids know that it’s going to be over when the trip is over.  So they seem to be able to focus and get some of that boring drill practice over with.

Making Car Practice Successful

• Keep it short
• Pay attention to your child’s mood
• Make it a routine to practice while driving
• Involve singing or chanting, if possible
• Turn practice into a game
• Provide reinforcement and rewards
• Take turns or practice with your child
• Don’t just listen; you participate, too
• Practice different things throughout the week
• Keep flash cards in the car
• Keep oral reading books in the car

Things to Practice in the Car
Names:  Help your child learn his full name, how to spell his name, and the full names of both parents. Use daily repetition for a few days and then periodically do a little “Facts About Me” quizz on names, phone numbers, address, etc. to make sure that your child is maintaining the information.

Phone Numbers: For safety reasons, the first phone number your child should learn is the one that is most likely to get her in contact with a parent (or parent-figure). Once you’re confident your child knows that number, you may want to add in a back-up phone number. Also, it may be wise to start out teaching your child the ten-digit phone number even if that is not required in your area. We have to reteach our kiddos ten-digit numbers by next summer.

Address: I chose to teach our children our address using single digit numbers. For example, I taught them our house number as “one two five six” instead of “twelve fifty-six.” I did this for safety reasons. They are more easily understood by others who may need to know their address and Emergency Operators (9-1-1) are trained to use this format to help prevent miscommunication.

Seasons of the Year, Months of the Year, Days of the Week, Child’s Birthday: I know little songs that teach these concepts. You can usually find examples online. If you ask nicely, maybe I’ll get around to making a video of the kids and me singing for you.

Flash Cards: You can make or buy inexpensive flash cards to teach colors, shapes, numbers, letter names and sight words. Let your child hold the deck and practice while you drive.

Quizzing: Do little quiz-style activities for colors, shapes, counting, rhyming, and letter sounds: What color is your shirt? What does the letter “A” say? What rhymes with “ball”? How many toys are in your car seat? Playing “I Spy” also reinforces color and shape concepts. Quizzing can also be used to teach opposites and synonyms, simple blending (C-A-T), spelling words, vocabulary words, foreign language vocabulary, math facts, states & capitals, and many other assignments. This often works better if you and your child take turns being the “asker.”

Chanting: Chanting is the method I used to teach rote counting (1, 2, 3, 4), ordinal counting (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and saying the alphabet. This can also be an excellent way to work on memorizing parts for programs or presentations.

Storytelling: Ask your child about her day. Prompt with “What happened first, next, last?” if you need to. You can also ask her to tell you the story of a book she read or a movie she watched. Sometimes it’s fun to retell memories of fun activities with friends and family.

Oral Reading: If you keep a few books in the car, this can be a great time for your son to read out loud to you.

What else can we teach our kids while driving around town?  Leave a comment below and share!

Tags: drill, early elementary, homework, preschool

Rote Counting

Rote counting is learned largely through repetition and drill-type practice. So the key to this is keeping kids interested! Frankly, this type of practice is boring for all of us. Have empathy for your child and you’ll greatly improve your success.

First, make sure you’re practicing in short sessions. I rarely set aside a block of time to work on counting. Instead, I find little pieces of time throughout the day and suggest we practice counting while we’re waiting for something else. It’s a form of distraction, and it usually has a fairly clear endpoint. Short, frequent, and consistent practice is the best way. A few happy practice times throughout the day is better than one longer miserable practice session. So do it while you’re waiting for things: the toast to pop up, the dentist to be ready for you, your friend to come over, the crosswalk signal to change, etc.

Second, break up the task into parts. Start with solidifying numbers 1-10. Then work on numbers 1-20. The teen numbers are tricky. Most preschoolers and some kindergartners are still getting a handle on them and often skip one or more or say them out of order. Some children always skip a particular number. One way to address this is to slow way down as you approach the number that your child skips and emphasize it. If your child isn’t predictable in this way, simply count slowly until she starts to build speed and confidence in the sequence. When your child skips a number, do encourage them to try again and slow down. Incorrect practice is not useful.

Next, demonstrate and practice numbers up to 39. This usually goes faster than learning the teens. At this point your child will probably start to recognize the pattern of counting and be able to figure out how to count the 40’s and 50’s etc. The task at that point is to learn the names of the groups of ten. Be generous with providing the next number after 39, 49, 59, etc. You don’t want them thinking thirty-ten and thirty-eleven are numbers. It’s best not to practice mistakes!

Finally, look for ways to add in sensory elements to improve memory. Number songs or rhymes can help young children learn numbers 1-10. Rhymes like “One, two, buckle my shoe” can be helpful. But, even chanting rhythmically will help. If your child is willing to sit down for a more formal activity, pointing to the numbers on a number chart will add in the visual sense and help them with number recognition. Any kind of dancing, marching, or jumping adds a kinesthetic element which will help your child focus and remember better too.

Tags: drill, early elementary, math, preschool

Spelling Word Practice

Word families are groups of words that share the same ending combination of letters (word chunk) and the same ending sound. Early elementary spelling lists are often organized in this way. You can find common word families and examples fairly easily online. Early spelling lists for kids will likely start with word families that can be sounded out such as -at or -an. Later, the lists will progress to more difficult word chunks such as -ight or -ink.

To practice word families with your child, first make sure she understands that there is a pattern in the spelling words. Point out that all the words have the same ending letters. Learn those letters first. I like to compare the words to brothers and sisters that all have the same “last name.” The only difference is the “first name” part and almost always this can be sounded out.

Word families rhyme so this is a natural way to practice the words. Have children write rhyming sentences or make up poetry. You can also read nursery rhymes or rhyming books that incorporate the word families you are working on. Cover up the spelling list words, have your child guess them as you read along, and then spell the words to you.

Children can draw pictures that incorporate as many of the words as they can and then label their pictures.

• a fat cat on a mat with a rat
• a man with a tan can and a pan

If drawing is not interesting to your child, simply making up and writing down sentences using the spelling list can be a good practice.

Have kids use magnets on a fridge to spell the word chunk and then practice the spelling words by adding on the letters for the initial sound. This reinforces the pattern concept of word families. You can also use letter flashcards on the table or floor if you don’t have magnets. Have your child make the card for the word chunk.

Of course, all the other suggestions for studying spelling words still apply. Make sure to study every day for a short time and to incorporate as many senses as you can to increase memory and improve the effectiveness of study time.  And you’ll probably find that your child will need to take at least one practice test during the week with you.  This allows you talk about and practice test-taking strategies like listening carefully, writing slowly and neatly and checking your work.

How does your family study for spelling tests? Share what works for you and leave a comment.

Tags: drill, early elementary, spelling