Thinking in Public
I created a game for my daughter. She earns stickers for reading.
It works like this.
English starts with short vowel words like cat and pig, then moves up through blends, sight words and vowel teams. Spanish starts with vowels, then syllables, then whole words.
Adding and taking away, from facts to 5 up to facts to 20, with objects on screen to count on the early ones.
A word or a fact counts as learned when she gets it right twice in a row. Most of a level learned earns a sticker.
Every right answer drops a coin in a jar. A full jar opens a present, and the present is a new sticker.
The stickers and a few things from the shop go on the walls and floor of her own rooms.
A break between lessons, in English or in Spanish.
The game starts with short vowel words like cat and pig and builds up. Ontario's human rights commission, in its Right to Read inquiry, asked schools to teach explicit, systematic phonics and phonemic awareness, so children learn sounds in order. It also found that in 2018 to 2019, 26% of Grade 3 students in Ontario did not meet the provincial reading standard. The report says only about 5% would be expected to fall below grade level when instruction works.
Pick one skill. Break it into small steps. Decide what counts as learned, like two right answers in a row. Pick one reward that the child can see grow, like a jar that fills. That is a game.
It also connects to an idea in Society front loads playing and back loads pressure: practice that feels like play.