Trimming the Tree (with Sight Words)

Greetings Dear Friends,
I hope that this finds you well and gearing up for the holiday season. Putting up the tree is one of my favorite activities. I love how the tree goes through different stages. The tree, then the lights.

 Then the topper (an angel in our house). This is my beautiful wife (the mastermind behind my Mystery Sight Word Pictures) adding some of the more delicate decorations.

 The the kids take over and go crazy hanging decorations like a whirlwind!

As my family put up the tree this year, it made me think about how much I loved decorating as a child. The wonder and awe of adding ornament after ornament to the tree until it was a glowing, eye-catching masterpiece. I wondered how I could capture even a tiny part of the "magic" in a sight word game for my 6th grader's reading buddies.

This is what I came up with:

It was the closest thing I could think up with out actually setting up a tree and having them hang decorations on it with sight words written on them (which DID cross my mind.. ha ha). In the game, up to four students have a tree mat with spaces that must be filled out. Then students take turns drawing a card. If they read the word correctly (it uses Fry's first 100 words), they put the picture on a matching space. If they draw a card that has a picture with spaces that are all covered, they just layer the card on top of a matching picture.
The goal? To "trim" the tree first.

After I made the game, I had my own kids play (5 years-12 years). I wasn't sure they were going to enjoy it. Boy was I WRONG!

I have to say, that even my kindergartener, who can't read all the words yet, LOVES this game. For the words he can't read, he SPELLS them. If he says all the letters correctly, he get to keep the card.

I feel that I have captured the fun and magic of "trimming" a tree while getting kids to practice their sight words.

Check it out for YOUR kiddos by clicking on the picture below.

Cheers!
-MrHughes