Too often, the words are not actually being taught all that well in class, and left for parents to cope with at home. I encourage homework review, but I also try to dedicate at least a mini-lesson or literacy center/group to sight words each and every day.
I recommend this rough outline for a kindergarten class:
We started a 100 Sight Words series that started with the flashcards and now includes games, activities, worksheets and centers.
Here is a game you can play to revise the 100 words in our program, or you can use the idea to play with any set of words. Just choose 5 different colours to write your words on.
You can download a template of the pieces I uses for my dice, by clicking on the image below.
Monday Sight Words
Introduce 6 new words + read them in context (modelled + independent read)
Tuesday Sight Words
Class Game + Literacy Group/Centre Game
Wednesday Sight Words
Literacy Group Game
Thursday Sight Words
Class Game + Literacy Group Game
Friday Sight Words
Final review of words + Possible assessment of last week's words
Change and adapt to reflect your students' needs and any set programs running in school.
Tips for teaching sight words in the classroom
- have focus sight words on display at all times (use the flashacards in our program)
- have a weekly 'focus word' section on the front teaching area
- have the words you have covered through the year to date on a 'word wall'
- pull out the 6 focus words flashcards from a collection you keep for the year
- do quick drills through the day of the focus words
- remind them to attend to the card you are holding visually - encourage students to look at it while saying the word aloud
- make these explicit teaching mini lessons short, simple and focused
Our 100 Sight Words Program
- the words in our program can be color coded
- students can work through the colors/levels
- 20 words in each of the 5 levels
Here is a game you can play to revise the 100 words in our program, or you can use the idea to play with any set of words. Just choose 5 different colours to write your words on.
Here we used cards from our Flashcards Mega Pack
For teaching children to read sight words, we use a font that is perfect for reading - a font that would appear in the little books they learn to read with.
Insert corresponding coloured pieces into a clear pocket dice. Students roll the die, and pick up a word of matching colour. If they can read the word, they keep the card until the end of play. Keep rolling and reading until all the cards have been allocated.
When students are playing games like this, I like to 'tell' the word if a students cannot read it. They repeat the word back to me, while looking at its spelling. This helps visual memory - what we are aiming for.
Please hop over to our website for more information on our Sight Word Program!