Having just come back from a summer well-spent in the garden of my tiny maison secondaire, which had few facilities, including a lack of internet connection, time was available to indulge in some of the boxed games that pass time, especially of a warm evening, or during the heat of the day, when a hammock isn’t in use.
An old game but a favourite is Boggle. It’s advertised as a three minute word game, but sometimes the time is less relevant, as it is equal for everyone. It provides a mental challenge, with an element of competition. The requirement is to make as many words as possible, with three letters or more, with one point for 3 or 4 letter words, 2 for 5 letters, 3 for 6 and 5 for 7+. The letters have to be linked on an edge or a corner to make a complete word.
For me, this year, it was interesting to reflect on my approach to the game, in line with on-line discussions about word attack skills, including phonics.
Letter-sound correspondence is a key starting point as is the ability to blend letters together; examples on the shared board might be ea, st or ng. Each offers the opportunity to extend the sound by adding letters before or after.
An old game but a favourite is Boggle. It’s advertised as a three minute word game, but sometimes the time is less relevant, as it is equal for everyone. It provides a mental challenge, with an element of competition. The requirement is to make as many words as possible, with three letters or more, with one point for 3 or 4 letter words, 2 for 5 letters, 3 for 6 and 5 for 7+. The letters have to be linked on an edge or a corner to make a complete word.
For me, this year, it was interesting to reflect on my approach to the game, in line with on-line discussions about word attack skills, including phonics.
Letter-sound correspondence is a key starting point as is the ability to blend letters together; examples on the shared board might be ea, st or ng. Each offers the opportunity to extend the sound by adding letters before or after.
St links to ar, to make star, with the addition of e, becomes stare, so we have a one point and a two point word, but this can extend further to stared, a three pointer. Patterns emerge in many games, so that a “part word” can be extended with prefixes or suffixes.
Of course there is always the possibility of a non-word, or a suspect word creeping in, so some form of adjudication might be necessary, either an adult, or a dictionary. It can give rise to interesting discussions, extending vocabulary.
Game playing with a real purpose, making lists of words, often within a “family” of sounds, checking each other and challenging as needed, all support word attack skills, but without the formality of a taught lesson. It can effectively become a test, especially of the random nature of the shaking of the box is removed to provide specific letter combinations that have been recently learned.
It might provide an alternative to word searches. However, you have to put up with the sound of shaking dice.
I wonder how many different words you can make from the example above, in three minutes?
Probably available from your local charity shop, for a few pounds.
Of course there is always the possibility of a non-word, or a suspect word creeping in, so some form of adjudication might be necessary, either an adult, or a dictionary. It can give rise to interesting discussions, extending vocabulary.
Game playing with a real purpose, making lists of words, often within a “family” of sounds, checking each other and challenging as needed, all support word attack skills, but without the formality of a taught lesson. It can effectively become a test, especially of the random nature of the shaking of the box is removed to provide specific letter combinations that have been recently learned.
It might provide an alternative to word searches. However, you have to put up with the sound of shaking dice.
I wonder how many different words you can make from the example above, in three minutes?
Probably available from your local charity shop, for a few pounds.
RSS Feed
