I am a firm believer that students learn by doing and practicing (over and over!).  We cannot simply tell a student to read and write, they have to learn it by doing it!

For many students the process of learning these skills comes naturally as they progress through school.  Students learn their letters in kindergarten. They begin to put letter sounds together, read and write simple words, and by the end of elementary school, students are supposed to have mastered the art of reading and writing sentences, paragraphs, and essays, right?  Maybe so for some students, however, it is very common for students to struggle in one or more areas of reading and writing as they advance in grade levels.  Somewhere along their path of learning these skills, something didn’t “click.”  Now what? One thing that parents and teachers can do is to provide students with activities that help them isolate a specific skill that they struggle with.

One common skill students, especially at a younger age, have difficulty with is flipping letters that look similar (b/d or p/q), particularly when writing these letters. For example, in my own classroom, even at 4th grade, I would have students write “ded” instead of “bed.”  When I would ask them to re-look at the word to see if they missed something, I would get blank stares.  These students truly and honestly couldn’t see a difference unless it was pointed out to them specifically.

In my own experience, it was never enough to just have the student fix the letter in their current writing piece and move on.  The learning wouldn’t transfer over to next activity or assignment.  When a student is working on a writing piece, there is so much for him/her to be thinking about and paying attention to.  For some students, it takes all their focus to write a sentence with a capital letter at the beginning and a punctuation mark at the end.  Other skills take the back-burner and are easily over-looked.  Students can become over-whelmed with everything that reading and writing requires of them.

For that reason alone, it is essential to give students opportunities to focus solely on one skill.  One way to do this is to provide students with a meaningful task, such as a game or center activity, that they will enjoy.  Chances are if a student struggles with a specific skill, they are very aware of it, and in some cases embarrassed.  Drilling students will mostly likely not result in mastering the skill, but rather cause more frustration and dislike for reading and writing.

As the author of The Classroom Game Nook, I specialize in creating games that are grounded in best teaching practices as well as help fulfill the Common Core State Standards that are now adopted by many states nationwide.  For the teacher, my games help eliminate some of the time commitment that it takes in creating different games for different skills.  For the student, it provides authentic practice that result in learning and mastering skills in an engaging and fun way.

One such game is “Flip the Letter!”

It’s easy to put together and works great as a literacy center or individual practice at home!  In the game you will find all the materials you need to put the game together as well as directions on how to assemble.  The game consists of 2 letter wands (one for b/d and one for p/q), word cards that that use these letters, and a recording sheet.

Students read the card and use the picture clue to determine what the word is and what the missing letter is.  They place the letter wand over the blank line to with the correct letter facing up.

There are 16 words to be used for the b/d wand and 14 words for the p/q wand.  Some of the words have the letter missing from the beginning of the word while others have the missing letter at the end word.

Depending on the age of the student and their ability, you may choose to have students only work with one set of cards (cards using the b/d letter wand, or cards using the p/q letter wand).  This way they only have to focus on two letters at a time.  Perhaps as they begin to master the skill, mixing up all of the cards from both steps can be something a student will work up to.

Providing students with meaningful (and fun) tasks, such as games or centers, that isolate a particular skill allows students to build confidence as they master the skill they once struggled with!

Click here for a download of the full game.

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Rachael Parlett lives in Upstate New York and taught for 5 years in the 3rd and 4th grades.  Her greatest passion in education is creating purposeful and practical resources for teachers to use in their classroom. She does so at her popular blog, Classroom Game Nook: http://www.classroomgamenook.com. Visit her blog to find many more helpful resources!