| Author | |
Matilda
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 17 2007
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1827
|
| Posted: Jan 14 2009 at 12:28pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Do you have any ideas about creative ways to help kids learn alphabetical order and dictionary skills like guide words,etc.... Spelling is one of those subjects that works better for us to use a simple workbook and they occasionally ask the kids to practice these skills but they aren't really understanding it.
__________________
Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11 , 10 , 9 & 5 ) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
happymama
Forum Pro
Joined: Feb 05 2007
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 410
|
| Posted: Jan 14 2009 at 3:18pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
1- hang a "clothesline" in your home & give the child 26 clothespins & the 26 letters printed out on paper. They can hang them up in the right order
2- if you have a child's picture dictionary, see if there's an index in the back. If there is, pick a letter with about a dozen words under it. Write the words down and cut them all out. See if the child can put them in alphabetical order and then check their own work with the index.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
joann10
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 10 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3493
|
| Posted: Jan 14 2009 at 3:27pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
I love that clothesline idea, HappyMama. I usually print the alphabet on a sheet a paper vertically, then I write the words on strips of paper and the child places the word at the proper letter of the alphabet. This seems to help my kids "see" what it means when we say ABC order-which word comes first, second and so on.
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Maryan
Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 02 2007
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 3145
|
| Posted: Jan 14 2009 at 3:50pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Love the clothesline!
I remember in 4th grade our teacher would yell out a word and we would find in a dictionary and give prizes for the first person to find it. Perhaps for homeschooling you could use a timer and give prizes that way to make a game out of it? I loved when we played the Dictionary Race.
__________________
Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Matilda
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 17 2007
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1827
|
| Posted: Jan 14 2009 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
The clothesline idea sounds like fun but I should clarify that this is for my 4th and 5th graders who are working on alphabetizing words that begin with the same letters like:
guide
guilt
gullible
or finding the words from a list that go in between the guide words "each" and "eat" or "feel" and "fuel". When it comes to putting words that all start with different letters in alphabetical order they do fine. It gets tricky when they move on to after "eac" and before "eat".
__________________
Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11, 10, 9 & 5) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryMary
Forum All-Star
Joined: July 04 2006
Location: Canada
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 535
|
| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 8:52am | IP Logged
|
|
|
I have taken colored popsicle sticks, and written one word on each of them with a sharpie marker, lifted right from the page of a dictionary
eg.
mutant
mute
mutilate
mutiny
mutt
mutter
mutton
mutual
muzzle
I place them in the correct order, then number them on the backs so they are self-correcting, Then I mix them up and give the sticks to the kids. They put the popsicle sticks in alpha order from top to bottom and then turn them over to check if they got the number order right. Hope this makes sense! I am so incoherent before 10 am!
__________________
Mary
Wife 2 1
Mum 2 four blessings on earth and two in heaven!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MaryM
Board Moderator
Joined: Feb 11 2005
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 13104
|
| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 1:35pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
That is a great idea, Mary. Thanks.
__________________
Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
JodieLyn
Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006
Location: Oregon
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 12234
|
| Posted: Jan 15 2009 at 2:02pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Ok it's not practise at that actual alphabetizing.. but one of the things my sister and I did that I think really really helps me be able to do this quickly..
We used to play the game on trips where you search for the alphabet.. well, we'd do it backward.. it's much harder to remember what letter comes next when going backward. And you had to do it quickly because often you'd go through a town and need to get your letters as much as possible especially the rarer letters.. while in between towns was slim pickings.
But you learn the order so much better. When you can say the alphabet forward and backward quickly then alphabetizing is much easier.
__________________
Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Rachel May
Forum All-Star
Joined: June 24 2005
Location: Kansas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2057
|
| Posted: Jan 16 2009 at 1:03pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
This isn't fun or creative, but it's an incremental approach. We started by looking up the bold words in the Faith and Life book in the glossary. Since there are fewer words for each letter, it made it less confusing. The font was big and they could do it without too much effort. Once they were good at that we started looking up words they wanted to know in the children's illustrated dictionary, and now they can do a regular dictionary and the encylopedia.
I like the fun ideas...I just don't have the oomph to implement them most days. 
__________________
Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Language Arts Come Alive
Topic: Help with teaching alphabetical order
