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Key Vocabulary, A Language Experience Activity

Key Vocabulary is a language experience activity that you can use to help your child acquire new sight words that he can read and spell. This activity can be adapted up or down for all ages from pre-school through grade 6. It may also be used with older students who are severely delayed.

Click on the following links to view and print the directions and materials you will need to do this activity.

Directions:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq4rd2_46ckq929gx

Cover Page:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq4rd2_44dpdd6jg7

Key Vocab Page:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq4rd2_43hd9zkbfm

Key Pattern:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq4rd2_50d376fkgd

Reduce Anxiety Towards Timed Tests

Hello Parents!

If you have an elementary school age child, he or she will at some point in time have to take a test that is timed. Any student can experience test anxiety, and if the test has a time limit, that anxiety can increase. Most students participate in regular timed tests as part of their DIBELS progress monitoring. DIBELS stands for Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills. Schools use it to measure students progress on skills such as identifying letters and sounds, segmenting sounds, and oral reading fluency. You can help your child become familiar with the procedure of being timed on short drills by administering timed tests using content that is easy for your child. For example if your child is anxious about being timed on challenging tasks such as sight word recognition, try adminstering timed tests using easy content such as identifying colors or shapes. This will allow your child to become used to the procedure of being timed on a task and to develop confidence, making it easier for him to face timed drills or tests on content that is more challenging for him. Here are some links to word documents that you can use for this purpose.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq4rd2_40cpcxm5c7

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq4rd2_39gn5jgrh6

Click on the links and print the documents. Time your child 3 to 5 times a week. Make it fun by using an incentive chart with rewards. For example, draw a tree or mountain. Mark lines from the bottom to the top labeled 5, 10, 15, etc... The child "climbs" the tree or mountain by increasing his/her score each day. Be sure and offer a reward for reaching the top!

Reading Fluency

Here is a link to a googledocs Word Document that is a one-minute timed test for practicing ten high-frequency sight words.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfbq4rd2_10x2dm76f4

Click on the link above, print the document, then time your child on reading the list at least 3 or 4 times a week. (Be sure and have them read rows from left to right, rather than reading columns from top to bottom). This activity will not only help your child add to their bank of sight words, but will also get them used to and comfortable with the timed-test format. Make it fun by using some kind of visual incentive chart for tracking progress. (For example rungs on a ladder with rungs labeled 10, 20, 30, and so forth.) As the child increases the number of words they read correctly each day, they move up the rungs of the ladder!