Flashcards!!!
Flash Cards!!
Salam Alaikum!
In this week’s article, let us focus on the importance of reading. Reading is an important component of learning. A child starts his/her educational journey by reading. Reading the alphabets, words, sentences, paragraphs and then a book. It all starts with being able to read. There are strategies put in place to help one read and understand what they are reading. Many children have difficultly reading or comprehending due to lack of understanding. In this article and coming articles, I will discuss various reading strategies that will help a child read and become an avid reader. One of the strategies that helps one read is with “flashcards”.
What are flashcards? Well I am sure majority of us have either played with it during our young age or have used it for your child. Flashcards are cards that have words, pictures and/or numbers on it What is the purpose of flashcards? Flashcards help in improving the visual or the photogenic memory, associating things and comprehension of a child. Flashcards activities are very simple and children love doing them. A child learns things in a fun way through flashcards. You can create flashcards for any subject of your choice and can teach the child. Now the big question here is how does it work? How does it stimulate the brain? Well brain development takes place between the ages of 3 months to 6 years. During this period, a child’s brain is like a sponge, it can absorb incredible amount of information and learn new things at a quick pace. When the child receives exposure to a wide variety of topics during this age, a content rich library is created, to which the child will have subconscious access for the rest of their life.
Flash cards can be used to help your child read. You can create or buy flash cards with sight words on them. Sight words are words that a child must know and be able to recognize at a certain grade level. Sight words are also known as Dolch words and it can be looked up on the internet. Expose your child to these sight words continuously using flashcards. This allows the child to retain the words in his/her brain. When reading the book she/he can recognize the sight words giving him/her the ability to read sentences fluently. This is the first step to reading.
A child can be exposed to sight words in many ways however flash cards are more effective as children are visual learners. They enjoy learning in fun filled environment. It is important to remember, children learn more and retain more information if they are enjoying and having fun when being taught. Flashcards are fun and it is up to you to make this an exciting experience for your child.
Fatema Abbas-Smile Editor
