As a Reading Specialist, How Do I Calm the Chaos Around the Holidays?
I’ve noticed a striking difference in my family dinners; as daylight savings time hit and made the days shorter, so too did my family dinners. And this pains me because I love my family dinners. Before Covid, when the kids were really little, Chris often couldn’t get home from work in time to eat with us. But during and after Covid, office-culture shifted and allowed for him to join our group consisting of myself and three kids at the dinner table. I cherish the sixteen minutes that we sit as a collective unit and sometimes chat about our days. But lately, these sixteen minutes have almost halved, and during that time, the conversation has, well, not quite enjoyable or even manageable.
The shorter days mean that our dinner is surrounded by pitch black windows which gives off a much later vibe. And as the darkness makes me more sluggish, I notice that the converse has happened with my son. The shorter days and colder temperatures have kept my kids more inside than outside, and the energy from the holidays starting the week before Thanksgiving and onward has been a Herculean force I have struggled to battle.
And so, like the Godfather went to the mattresses, I went to my teaching skill set. And let me tell you, knock on wood, some of my literacy games have stimulated their brains just enough to counterbalance Sammy’s desire to bounce up and down while eating next to his plate, Quinn’s propensity to dance while standing on top of her chair, and Cici’s wish for the dinner to over. My kids call these game “Booktrition bites” or “book bites”(named after my website) and they are often the first thing they ask me for as soon as I sit down next to them at the table. The games are variations of classroom games which I often used with my twenty-two first and second graders during transition times, down times, or as warm-ups right before reading.
The games are detailed below require no set up or physical pieces; just the kids’ minds and willingness to participate. I especially love the Scattegiries- like game because it really asks all members to participate, and at the end, you really feel like you’ve accomplished the task of making it through the full alphabet. I hope this helps you and your family tack on at least a few more minutes of family time!
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Literacy Games (best played with two or more players):
Start and End – the first player says a word and the next person must start their word with the last letter of the word that the person before them said. Example: first person days “top” then the next says “potato” then the next could say “octopus” and so on.
Alphabet Categories (pretty much like Scattegories) – the family chooses a category. Popular categories are animals, foods, fruits and veggies, things at school, colors, books or book characters, and for a funny and silly one, that that smell! The first player must choose a word that begins with the letter “a” that meets that category and the second person would go with the letter “b.” Example: if the category was animals, the first person could say “alpaca” and the second person could say “bobcat.”
Three-word Stories – the first person begins a sentence using three words, and the second person continues by adding another three words. Example: The first player could say, “The girl went” and the second person could say “to the mall” and the next person could say “to get a…” and so on. This one can be especially funny and silly.
Guess My Word – one person thinks of a word that the group has to guess. Each person can take turns asking one question at a time about the word. You can limit the number of guesses each person can ask to make it more challenging. Example: the people asking questions could ask what the word begins with, ends with, how many syllables, how many letters, is it a noun, adjective or verb, and so on.