Educational Game of the Week: ZAP!

Posted March 7, 2017

One of my biggest passions in life is my love, and ability, to teach. Although, my priorities have shifted to being a full- time stay-at-home mom, my love for education has not changed, which is why I use every opportunity I can to impact students through private tutoring. I privately tutor a handful of students, in all different grade levels, throughout the week, typically Monday through Thursday, after 3:00pm, ranging from face-to-face to video conferencing.

For those of you who don’t know me, I have a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education and a Master’s in Reading Education from Florida International University. I’m ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) endorsed and certified to teach up to 12th grade.

Not only is private tutoring my outlet from the everyday mom life but it also feeds the teacher in me. It keeps me in touch with the education world and gives me the time to do what is so near and dear in my heart.

When I’m tutoring students, specifically Pre- K through 2nd grade and/or ESOL students, I always love to reiterate the importance of knowing sight words, instantly! Sight words are words that appear frequently throughout a text but can’t be pronounced as easy as other words. Sight words typically cannot be decoded using specific spelling rules, students must memorize them.

The educational game of the week that my students and I love to play is called Zap! I did not create Zap! but I love it so much that I thought I’d share with all of you, whether you’re a teacher, parent, or a tutor, you and your students can benefit greatly by playing this educational. The best part? Students hear game and don’t even realize that they’re learning.

I won’t be sharing the actual file on here because it isn’t my work but please go to Angelia’s TPT store to download this sight word game. I believe it’s a freebie, so grab it while you can. It does have a limited amount of words but I did create a list of my own words on a Microsoft Word document, depending on my student’s level. Once I printed out the words on card stock, I then laminated it so they don’t tear after a couple of uses.

I love Zap! because it reminds me so much of Uno with the reverse and skip cards. Students draw a card and are to read the word correctly, if they do not, they need to put the word underneath the pile. When a Zap! appears, whoever drew it has to put their cards back. It’s an exciting game that keeps us all on our toes, we DON’T want to be Zapped!

Like I said, Zap! can be differentiated depending on the students’ needs. Every student I have is struggling in different areas so I accommodate the game according to that. Zap! can also be created to support any of the subject areas that need extra help.

How are you and your child or student (s) practicing your sight words? Drop a comment below with your ideas so that I can incorporate them into my tutoring!

Hope you enjoyed this post! I’m looking forward to sharing with you all the importance of education and how we can all impact a child’s learning! Please share this post!

xoxo

♥

Education, Educational Game, Private Tutoring, Reading Education, Sight Words Game, Teacher, Tutor

Amy

Amy, the 28 year-old mom boss behind Amy with a Twist. I’m a lifestyle blogger based in Miami, Florida, where the sun is always shining. Aside from sharing my day-to-day lifestyle, my mission is to inspire other moms in finding their inner voices. Be proud of you are, share it, and don’t let anyone steal your happiness. I believe in the power of self-love. After all, “self-love is the greatest middle finger of all time.” From early on, I always had this immense passion for helping others and changing the world for the better. Following that passion lead me to becoming an educator, the greatest profession in the world. Even though I am a full time stay-at-home mom, I feed the teacher in me through private tutoring. I strongly believe that education is the most powerful weapon in the entire world.