My 6th Visit

This visit was a little hectic! This week Ms. Pretty said that if we thought our kids were doing well with the pre-primer sight words that we could move onto the primer words. I made the switch because after working on the same words over and over again each week, my kids pretty much knew each word without hesitation. Ms. Pretty let us know that some "candy land" board games were donated to the school and she wanted volunteers on trying out the game with the kids.
This candy land was a bit different than the other candy lands that we remember playing when we were younger. This candy land had the same characters, but they looked a little different and sometimes their names were changed. Princess Lolly was now just plain Lolly (which sort of made me sad).
I was excited to have something new for my kids because they always complained of doing the same activities over and over again. So after I met up with my kids and we talked alittle about our weekends we got down to business. First, I started with some of the new primer sight words and I was very impressed that they knew almost all of them. They did get stuck on a few but I didn't have them try to sound it out because they were supposed to know the sight words by memory. (it is impossible for them to sound out sight words, because they would get the wrong result if they sounded it out, hence the name sight word). After our quick lesson on the sight words we moved onto the candy land game.
The candy land game basically had the same rules as it normally does (each person picks up a card, each card has a color on it. Whatever color is on the card is the color that you move your character to on the game board, first person who reaches the end wins. But sometimes you land on a "gum drop" and lose a turn, or you may get a card with a picture on it, in that case you move your character to that particular picture. This may be good or bad depending on where the picture is located on teh game board. Sometimes you end up moving backwards, sometimes you end up moving very close to the finish line). For this candy land, each child had to pick up a card, each card had a color and then a sight word written on the back of the card. In order for the child to move their character to that color on the game board, they had to identify the sight word and then use that sight word in a sentence.
After I explained the directions to the game, they kids were eager to start. We had a bit of a struggle starting the game, because all of them wanted to go first, but I had them pick a number and Cindy guessed correctly so she started the game. At first all of the kids were having a great time, but after awhile Cindy got upset because she was no longer in the lead. I told them that if they would continue to act the way they were, if they were going to be "sore loser" (I didn't say that to them, I said that if they were going to get upset if they werent winning) then I would no longer indulge them with board games, I told them that I will start bringing only the sight words and a poem every week and that no matter how many times they complained about being bored that I wouldn't budge because they didn't appreciate it when I did bring something new. This got their attention very quickly, Cindy said she wasn't getting upset over not winning, but was getting upset because "her tooth hurt". I could tell right away that this was a cover up, and that she was in fact upset about not winning, after weeks of working with her, I knew she always liked being in the lead. So we all started over and played the game again. This time, I could tell that some of them were getting upset that they weren't winning, but they didn't express it in any way. They were quiet, they paid attention, and they waited patiently for their turn.
Before I knew it time was up, the game made the time fly by very quickly and this was something I was grateful for because they were all being very distruptive (until the end when I lectured them.) The only person that received a feather this week was Sophia, she never once complained, and she didn't get upset that she wasn't winning. I mostly gave the lecture because of Cindy and Tom. The other two were kind of mad that they didn't get a feather but I explained to them that they weren't on their best behavior that day. I said that if they were better behaved next week that I would give them all two feathers each. This excited them and they ran off to their classrooms.
Afterwards, I talked to Ms.Pretty about my experience with the game. I told her how frustrated I was with the fact that they were all being sore losers (with the exception of Sophia). She said that that was normal behavior, keeping in mind that they are kindergardeners, they all love to win and compete with each other. She said not to let this get to me because in time they would learn to be more understanding. I told her that it went pretty well and that they knew most of the words, but I corrected them on a few of them. I then filled out my paperwork, got my log signed and then made my way back to RIC. I'm hoping if I use the candy land game next week the kids will be a little more laid back.