The following idea is not a toy and is not for children under the age of five. It is a game that
requires adult supervision and interaction. It is not intended to be used by a child without an adult present. PLEASE NOTE - I have an alternative jewel idea below for younger children and for children who might like their own bag of word jewels.
Instructions for Adult Supervised Word Jewel Game:
The first thing you will need to do is make the word jewel pieces. This is very easy to do! You will need the large glass discs (1 1/2 inches or more in size), mod podge, foam brush, and a print out of the sight words (I used chalkboard font in size 16).
Cut words out in squares.
With foam brush, apply a coat of mod podge on top of word square.
Press your thumb on top of jewel till the word shows up dark.
When dry, cut around the jewel to remove excess paper.
Seal jewel by applying a coat of mod podge to back of paper. Let dry.
How to use:
The Sight Word Jewel Game for teacher small groups:
Provide each student with a white paper square (I use index cards). This is their place to gather jewels.
- Each student picks a jewel out from the bag without looking.
- Let everyone pick a jewel.
- Next, each student reads the jewel. If they get it right, they put it on their white square. If they do not know the sight word - practice reading it (you say it, they say it). Then put the jewel back into the bag.
- Repeat this process until all the jewels have been distributed. I do not count to see who has the most as this is too competitive. I like to keep the process fun.
Paper Jewels and the Treasure Bag Game
This is the child-friendly version of this idea. You can make enough paper jewels for each student.
With foam brush, gently paint a thin coat of glue over the top. Do not use too much or your paper will curl and wrinkle.
Sprinkle a fine glitter over the paper of jewels. Martha Stewart has a great light glitter that will not interfere with reading the words. It only takes a tiny bit.
I put a single little silver star on each word jewel. Then laminate and cut out! The paper jewels are ready to be collected!
Paper Sight Word Jewel Game
Only use the paper version of the jewels for this activity. Make enough paper jewels so that every child can ultimately have one. I plan to store mine in a craft box that has dividers.
I will set the stage for this activity by building up the treasure of our sight words. As a class we will search for the word jewels in the shared reading we do and in small groups. The wonderful world of word jewels will be built up for a good week before I introduce their opportunity to gather their own collection. In my own teaching I have found that children are much more invested in the process if I build excitement around the idea.
- As a child learns their sight words, I will give them the corresponding word jewel. I will review the words already in their bag as we add new ones.
- I will have their word jewel bag as I work one-on-one in reading workshop to reinforce fluency.
- I will make new word jewels as we progress through the year (including word families).
- I have a bag for each child that I found at Michael's very reasonably. I tied a laminated name tag on to each bag.
