Word Hopping

A few months ago, Elizabeth seemed to be taking an interest in sight words. She wanted to participate when Matthew and I looked through his sight word flashcards. She was recognizing "Matthew" and "Elizabeth".

So I jumped at the chance to make her a set of sight word cards. Unlike the picture/ word cards that Matthew started with, Elizabeth's word cards do not have pictures. Each is made of 5-1/2-inch x 14-inch white posterboard with huge red letters, patterned after the word cards described in Glen Doman and Janet Doman's book "How to Teach Your Baby to Read." But like the initial word cards I had made for Matthew, I used words that were of high interest to her.

It took me several evenings to make around 60 words and plan which ones to start with. Then I started with our sight words. After a few days, it didn't seem like she was really paying attention to the words. Maybe I took too long making the cards and she lost interest. Maybe she just wasn't ready to learn it. Maybe she was just interested in the idea of it - the "if big brother is doing it, I want to be part of it" thought process.

So I stopped and decided we would try again in a few months. We put the giant word cards away.

Recently, we rediscovered her word cards. But instead of using them as flashcards, we scattered a few on the floor and hopped on them. It became an addictive and fun sequencing game for both of them.

Taking turns, I'd give Matthew a sequence of 3 or 4 words to hop on. Elizabeth received 1 or 2 word sequences. She wasn't really recognizing all the words yet but with some guidance, she was happily hopping on the words like Matthew was. "What big brother can do, I can do too."