Make-a-Word Support your child’s literacy development at home with this range of magnetic reading games. Which games should I buy? The four Make-a-word games are designed to be done one after another. Game 1 is ideal for children who have just started to read and will be the best starting point for many children. There are four assessment pages, one for each game. Each assessment will tell you whether or not the associated game will benefit your child. The assesssments are easy and quick to use and simply involve your child reading some words aloud. Ask your child to read the words on the screen or printed off on a sheet. If your child is unable to read some words, makes mistakes or ‘works the words out’ very slowly on any assessment, then the game linked to that assessment will help your child with reading and spelling. If your child reads all the words on an assessment page easily, accurately and without hesitation, then the associated game is probably too easy for him/her: go on to the next assessment. Go through the assessments 1 to 4 in order. Assessment 1 Make-a-word 1 Three-letter words ( e.g. cat, pen, bin, cot and jug ) Assessment 2 Make-a-word 2 Four-letter words ( e.g. hand, belt, tent, lamp and nest ) Assessment 3 Make-a-word 3 Four and five-letter words ( e.g. frog, plug, swim, pram and stamp ) Assessment 4 Make-a-word 4 Words with long vowel sounds ( e.g. snake, queen, slide, nose and screw ) Please note: your child needs to know the sounds that some letters make in order to benefit from the Make-a-word games. If you are unsure of this, ask your child’s teacher or use the Make-a-word readiness test. Ask your teacher Instead of using the assessments, you might prefer to ask your child’s teacher which game would be suitable. Show the teacher details of the games, or show her/him this page. Make-a-word games: Additional activities Before starting these activities you need to use the Make-a-word materials and the related instructions. Make-a-word game 1: Additional activities Make-a-word game 2: Additional activities Make-a-word game 3: Additional activities Make-a-word game 4: Additional activities Remember: as with Make-a-word, do these activities little and often, use lots of praise and make sure you both enjoy the activities!