The children can simply search for them on their own or you can vary the task. With small finger lights we have some quiet time searching for tricky words in library books. All that remains of the Post Office in central Worcester today. Sometimes I pick a few children to read out their word and sometimes they read their word to their friend – you could have them find someone who has the same word as them or even put their word into a sentence. Nostalgia: When trying to post a letter in Worcester was a tricky business. When the music stops they must pick up a card. Play some music and let the children burn off some energy.
Tricky words are printed on pieces of card/paper and scattered all over the floor, preferably face down.
Both displays are working walls meaning that they start off blank and we work on building them up as we learn our words. I also have a tricky word display which is usually either one of two displays – a tricky word garden or a tricky word wall. Each child has a name tag on their desk and around this there are number lines, letters and tricky words. I make sure that there are constant visual aids relating to tricky words around the classroom so the children are exposed to them as much as possible. We will then write it using the look, cover, write check method. Keypoint Intelligence’s Future of Office Survey found that 43 of workers prefer working in the office, so you’d be alienating a sizable chunk of your workforce if you did close everything down. We will orally put each tricky word into a sentence – for context – to be sure that the children comprehend the meaning of each tricky word. I am not here to make the case that you should close your office and make everyone work remotely full-time. It is important to remember to spell the tricky words using the letter names and not sounds so as to try and keep as clear a division as possible between decodable words and tricky words. However, for senior infants I would expect them to be able to read all 60 tricky words, and I would be also expecting them to be comfortable using tricky words in their writing.Įach week I will introduce my 5 new tricky words (and a quick revision of the older ones). My aim for Junior infants is that they will be able to read tricky words 1-30 and comfortably recognise them in their reading. If you succeed, the children will get the words eventually. You need to try to keep the children interested. This is because we will be constantly going back over the words regardless. I generally have a focus of 5 tricky words each week, and I move on to a new focus of tricky words each week regardless of the attainment of the children. Many, if not all, of the activities I do surrounding tricky words are the same activities presented slightly differently the children rarely notice of course! Teaching them to break that habit and realise that, unfortunately, not all words are decodable can be a challenge, one I have realised can only be overcome with plenty of repetition and patience. Teaching infants to read Tricky Words can be difficult once they have become so familiar with decoding words.