Sometime last week Jack came home from school with a report card.  The teacher in me was so excited to how he was doing in school.  I was happy to see he was doing quite well.  Instead of assigning grades they used a scale of 1-3, with 3 being frequently to always observed and one being never- seldom observed. I about freaked when I saw some ones.  This is where the teacher in me freaked out.  I was thinking if he is behind now than holy cow batman, he is in for some trouble once he hits school in two years.  The skills he received a one in are recognizing the letters of the alphabet, their sounds and the numbers on the clock.

So, dad and I took it into our own hands to catch him up and started with flash cards.  Yes, I know you would think I could come up with something more exciting, but it is all we had.  He did participate for a bit, but the next day when we were snowed I came up with some games.

First I pulled the letters for his name and put them on the floor.  I used his name and sang it to the tune of BINGO.  Man, he loved this and in no time he could spell his name.  I was starting to realize this is going to happen and quickly.  Next I took the letters from his name, a few numbers, that I knew he knew, and some additional letters and put them next to each other on the floor.  I told Jack to give me a “J”  sure enough he did and was smiling.  We played this way until we exhausted all the letters.

I told him we had to do something different for awhile and would play with the letters again soon.

After our break, I put all the letters at the end of our hallway and sat on the couch in the living room.  I would tell Jack a letter and he would run and get it from the end of the hallway.  He loved this.  The hardest part was telling him when he picked up the wrong the letter.  He would pout and walk it back while saying negative stuff.

For me, this behavior had to stop immediately because it is decremental to learning.  I told him we have to have a good attitude or we are not playing.  At this point I told him to be the letter man and sit on the couch.  He then told me the letter to retrieve.  I would go and pick up the correct letters most of the time.  He had to check and see if I was correct.  He loved this part.  Every once in awhile I would choose a wrong letter and he would tell me silly mommy that is not a ____.  Here is the important part.  Instead of pouting like him, I would say, “oops, I will try again.”  I made sure to do this with a smile on my face.

When it was his turn to get the letters again, if he pouted I stopped him and asked what I said.  He perked right up and changed his attitude.  For me attitude and learning is huge.  I see so many kiddos who have defeated themselves before they have even tried or made an effort.  I do want this attitude in Jack.  I want him to see learning as fun and a game.  It can be even if a teacher does not make it that way.  The student can if they want.  This is the lesson I want Jack to see and take control of.  Okay enough of my lecture.  Here are some of our pictures from our new letter game.  

He had a blast and wants to play our letter game all the time.  He adores it.  Let me know of any letter games you have.