I love making special gems and jewels to help motivate my students to learn critical skills like letters, letter sounds and sight words (see method here). But my original method was way too time consuming. I needed easy peasy.
I had a bag of those big sparkly jewels (from Michael's Craft Store). Perfect!
Yes! Super easy! Just write the letters or sight words on the back with a sharpie.
Oh. my. word. The children were stoked!
We had some old plastic hinged boxes in our resource room. I let the children stick on little gems to decorate the top. I purchased these self-adhesive little gems here.
Motivation Magic! One of my students knew just 3 letters — half her name. She was not motivated. So . . . . I brought out the Magic Letter Jewels. Goodness me! She was bedazzled.
By the time we left today – she had mastered 10 letters. She is obsessed about having a box full of jewels. She even told me a story about her Magic Jewel Box. The boys were just as excited to have a box of jewels. And here's the deal. They can not take home their box until the letters/sounds/ or sight words are mastered.
My Method:
Individualization: I customize the jewels to fit each student's needs.
- Level One – Mastering Letter Recognition – I put a letter jewel into the box once it has been mastered.
If the child knows all the letters then ~
- Level Two – Mastering Letter Sounds – I put a letter jewel into the box once the child knows the letter sound.
If the child knows all the letters and letter sounds then ~
- Level Three – Sight Words – I put a sight word jewel into the box once the child recognize the sight word.
If the child knows all the letters, letter sounds and beginning sight words then ~
- Level Four – Child's Choice – For children who have mastered the beginning sight words. I let the child pick a favorite word for me to write on the back of the jewel. We build a dynamic vocabulary.
I write the children's names on the side of the box so I can easily see which box to grab.
Storage – You can use a box like this, muslin bags, or manilla envelopes.
Box source (20 boxes for $13.75): here
Muslin/Burlap bag source: here
Learning is a beautiful thing.
Pure genius! Thanks!
Yay! My most creative ideas come out of necessity!!
Awesome! Love the idea!! Thanks!
A fun idea to use in my outdoor class in the school garden where we already embrace fairies.
I love this idea, I could use it with THRASS. I have an authentic-looking treasure chest – pirate treasure, and a collection of pirate children’s books. Now I just have to source some large jewels.
This sounds like a great idea. Looking forward to using it.
Great ideas love it
What a fabulous idea. I am definitely going to use this next year!
I love this idea! Wish I had thought of it! I’m a retired special education instructional assistant. I will pass this idea on to my sister who is a special education teacher.
Some children need a sprinkling of magic and this delivers!
What a clever idea. Thank you for sharing with us. My pre-schoolers will love this idea.
I am so glad you can use the idea! It is a great motivator for memorizing.
What a fabulous way to motivate kiddos! They all adore gems and will be much more excited to learn letters/words using these than boring flash cards or something!
Thanks for another terrific idea 🙂
Thank you Lynn!
Are the jewels carried over year to year or do you make new for each student to keep?
I think this idea will be magical with my class of visually impaired students. Please let me know the size and location of your jewels. I can only find small ones on line Thanks for your wisdom and help, Constance
I found mine at Michaels Craft Store: http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/assorted-large-acrylic-stone-mix-750232/
For visually impaired, or to add extra sensory, what about doing the letters with puff paint?
Hi Sally,
I am so inspired by this brilliant idea you came up with! I use these jewels for behavior management. When students reach the top of my clip chart (Outstanding Student) they get a sticker on their “Hall of Fame” name card. When they have 5 stickers, they get a jewel. They go NUTS!!!!
I never thought of using these jewels for curriculum. I love the intrinsic motivation you have created the personalized jewel boxes.
Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
It is amazing how the little things mean so much to them.
How big are your jewel boxes? The link has several different sizes and I was hoping to find some big enough for sight words, but not too big to store in student seat sacks! Thanks!
The boxes I have are about 3 inches by 4 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 high. Not huge but big enough for a good number of jewels.
I love this idea! It’s all sorts of fun progressive. The program I work at doesn’t focus on children needing to know letters at the preschool age but it would be really cool for the older kiddos. Super fun!
Oh my gosh, I cannot wait to start this idea with my classroom. You are my absolute hero. I adore everything you do and try to use as much as I can in my own kindergarten classroom. Thank you so much, my magical Teacher Fairy!!!!!
Amazing as usual, Sally! I think you talked about this idea a while back, and I completely forgot about it (that, and they moved my grade level like they do every year!) so I’m hoping to use it this coming year. You rock!
I an so excited to do this with my kids!! Thank you for sharing. I just love all your classes!!
What a great idea Sally! I especially love the different levels 🙂 I can’t wait to try this out with my kiddos! I think I will make another set for a fun game of memory.
A lovely idea. Think I will use next year with my new class.
Love this idea
I love this idea! Just think how pretty these boxes will look against the window once they start to get filled!
Jo
Love this idea and a good idea always gets my brain thinking of more ideas. What about a level that would reward children for using their dynamic words appropriately, (maybe with sequins), either in writing/dictation or conversation???
Very creative. Thank you.
Brilliant idea! I can’t wait to introduce it to my students!
Hi, Sally!
I am wondering what I did wrong. I ordered the jewels that you indicated from Oriental Trading. They are self-adhesive. Because of this, I can’t write the letter on each jewel. If I leave on the self-adhesive covering, it has a waxy coating that makes it so that the permanent marker will not adhere. I tried taking off the paper, but that left me with a gooey mess. The jewels are also quite small, so it is hard to write on them. (I was so excited that I bought 2 bags of these jewels.) I also bought the burlap bags because I thought that they would store easier. The bags I got are beautiful, but I don’t know how to label them with the kids’ names. The burlap makes it so the writing just makes an unreadable mess. I was so excited to try these, but seem to be running into a road block at every turn. Please advise.
Thanks!
Sharon
Hi Sharon!
Here’s the breakdown – I purchased the big jewels from my local Michaels – not Oriental Trading. I did buy the little self-adhesive jewels from Oriental Trading for my boxes. There is a lot of information in this post! With the bags – I purchase tags and tie them on. You could easily make tags. If you make them – you can laminate them. Just tie on. Hope that helps!! It is worth the road blocks!
Hi Sally!
When do you actually give the jewels to the students? When they complete a letter activity or do you wait until they remember the letter name/sound after the next assessment?
Thanks!
I wait until they remember the letter name/sound.
Once they have earned themselves a few jewels do they have acces to their boxe during free play, does it go home or do you keep it to use for continious practise?
Did you once post a cute story about a sight word princess/fairy?
Yes – and I will see if I can dig that up!
Hi Sally,
In one of the newsletters that you send out, this activity was in it, but there was lovely story about a fairy that delivered the jewels. I cannot find that post though. Can you help?!
You are SO great! I wish you were my teacher growing up!
Sally,
It was so great to reconnect with you and your mom last week!
I now am enjoying your Fairy Dust emails—hmmm, could it be
nearly 30 years since I was teaching in a classroom??? Your ideas
ALMOST make me want to start again!!
I have been using jewels like yours for loose parts experiences and lately they have been part of our sorting time during open ended math time. My K4 students love them.
I am so excited to try this! And thank you for the story to go with the activity.
I am so glad you love it like I do. It truly is magical and the children adore it!
Hi Sally,
Love this idea! What an inspiring way to introduce and practice Literacy.
Thank you for sharing this.
You are so welcome! I know you will delight in watching your students become dazzled!
It’s a great way for the younger children to learn colours.
Thanks for the ideas they are great.
I think the colors and sparkles really help the children stay engaged. It’s bedazzling!
What an awesome idea! Thanks Sally.
Nothing like gems and jewels to jumpstart interest and enthusiasm. Such a great idea. Love it!!!
My kids love sparkles!!
Brilliant…..
And so effective!
What a delightful idea! Using something the children love to help master a skill! I love that! Thank you for your ideas!
This is brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing this idea.
I am returning to kindergarten this year and love this idea. Do they earn each letter twice? Once for recognition and another for sound? Or do they get it once they know both? Thanks in advance!!
I think it is important to be flexible. I developed this as an alternative to a tradition method in a curriculum package. My biggest goal is to preserve the wonder of learning. I had a little girl in my class who needed it to be a magical journey not a worksheet/rote dumbing down. Adapt it to fit the children you are teaching. What would serve your district requirements and keep the wonder alive?
What an awesome motivation activity!! I love this idea!! Thank you for sharing!
This is magical!!! I want to get one thing right…. each student earns their own jewels to keep? I want to make sure I get enough for each student if that is the case!! Thanks so much for the wonderful idea!
Yes! This was the magic of it. It turned an academic “have-to” in my public school classroom into a treasure. Literally.
Love it!!!!
What a great idea to get your students motivated to learn! I’m thinking on trying your idea but with mastering their colors and shapes. I will use jewels with the girls and colored stones with the boys!
Why not offer a choice, or use the same for everyone?
Beautiful idea
Awestruck!Fantabulous idea! Will use it soon…
Thank you for this. It is an inspiring way to practice literacy.
This is an amazing idea! I currently teaching my daughter the letters of the alphabet. I could see this being a huge motivator to her! Thank you so much for the brilliant idea!
Hi Sally
I love this idea and want to try it with my kindergarten class in September, but will likely have 26-30 kids in my class. I am not sure how many kids you have but my question is where do you store these boxes?
I also read that you give a letter jewel for every letter the kids know and then they get a second one for learning the sound. Is this a plain jewel or does it have the letter on it as well? (I want to know what you do) I guess I could give them another type of jewel or special rock. I would like to keep the cost down as I would be paying for it. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
i love this idea -)
beth
If you are a teacher and are buying items for the classroom, Michael’s will give you a 15% off discount if you show your teacher ID.
The treasure collectors at our school will love this! We use these for patterns and sorting quite a bit!
I love this idea!!!
Thank you for this creative idea can’t wait to use it with my first graders! Trying to plan how they can earn one at a time if sight word assessments are usually a list at a time? Want to avoid them not being excited if they get ten at a time and me having to write out so many at a time… any tips? Thanks!
I love the idea. very creative. Will share it with my Early year’s teachers.
I love this so much! Definitely doing this with my 3 and 6 yr old! Just eating our homeschooling journey : )
I remember a story about a sight word fairy/princess. It was very sweet. Any chance of finding it?
Hi Nancy! Thanks for writing in. Here’s the story:
Once, a long time ago, there lived a little fairy. She was no ordinary fairy. She was an Alphabet Fairy. Yup. She wore a beautiful Red Cape and had a tiny tiny blue bag. She carried in her very secret bag – secret jewels.
Shhhh – – I will tell you Alphabet Fairy’s secret. (I pull out a blue bag).
Alphabet Fairy loved all the sounds of the letters. One day she was telling her best friend the Tooth Fairy how much she loved letters and their sounds. “I wish I could let children know how special the letters and their sounds are. . . .”
Just then, the Tooth Fairy had an idea. “I know! You could leave one of your special sparkling letter jewels every time a child learns a new letter and it’s sound!”
Alphabet Fairy danced and danced. “Yes! Just think! They could have a bag full of 26 sparkling jewels and love the letters as much as I do!”
From that day on – she shared the jewels with as many children as she could.
(I open the bag and pour a pile of letter jewels in my hand.)
(I tell the children) The Alphabet Fairy has given me the jewels to share with you as you learn your letters and sounds.
Thank you for sharing with us. Our pre-schoolers will love this idea.
What an amazing way to motivate kids to learn the letter, sounds and sight words. Thank you. In my school especially where we do not do the phonic programme, I’m sure this is going to grab the kids interest because of their love for sparkles. Will surely try this once I resume school.
This is the cutest idea ever!! I Love it!!! 🙂
Hi Sally
I just love the story and how children were amazed to collect all the jewels.
well it’s not that easy or cheap to get them in Singapore, but I’ll be sure to get other stuff to replace
I love this idea. It is amazing and it ties in story telling, letter sounds and ways the children can create their own story creation.
I’m bedazzled myself! Such a clever way to motivate students learning. I loved that you had levels to it. I’m grabbing this idea.
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing these wonderful ideas. These are amazing. Thank so much.
Wow! Wow! WOW! This has truly blowed my mind! Such a fantastic idea! As soon as I saw the gems, I thought about imagination and storytelling, something we have been focusing on in the classroom. Your story was so great by the way! My class really loves magic, potions and mythical creatures, so this will been very fun for them!
Oh my goodness, what an amazing idea! I teach in a Waldorf-inspired school and this is perfect for my PreK-K class! They can sew or decorate muslin bags and then keep their jewels in them. It will even work for the older classes to learn sight words and vocabulary. They can get burlap bags and embroider their names on them! Thank you so much for this amazing idea!
What a beautiful and stimulating idea for all children! For more advanced children, I can only imagine the magical ways you could construct words from jewels and the introduction of sentences. I have used rocks purchased at the dollar store and introduced letters of the alphabet. The children enjoy the feel of the soft rocks in their hands as they use them in various ways.
Another wonderful idea, Brenta. The children also love the dazzle of the jewels!