What are the features of a “good” game, particularly for struggling/reluctant readers? Children enjoy it. They often don’t even realise that they are learning key skills. It encourages cooperation and helping each other, even if there is an element of competition …
Storm the Castle is a board game set in medieval times that practises 1, 2 and 3-letter vowel sounds and gives information about life in the Middle Ages. It is included in both Gilead Success with Phonics (Level 7)and The Gilead Success with Reading Program, Part 2. The video clip shows three 11-year-old boys playing Storm the Castle.
I took a year’s leave from teaching to develop this game. The previous year I had had a group of year 7 students who were really struggling with reading. When I analysed the errors they were making, by far the most common problem, and the one that caused them to lose the meaning of what they were reading, was that they just did not know the vowel sounds. This game is what I developed to tackle the problem of getting 12 and 13-year-old boys to learn basic skills in a way that they didn’t see as babyish. I wish I had had it when these boys first came to me for extra help. It is also a game that you can use with younger children playing with an adult.
I have now worked out how to make it available for a modest charge, so here it is. You will be sent an email telling you how to access the pdf files.
Click on the bottom right hand corner of the video to see it full screen. If you have trouble seeing the video try http://youtu.be/EA7wE_FWcVE
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