Sight Words
I miss teaching reading so much. It was always one of my favorite parts of teaching; the excitement in a child’s eyes when everything clicks and they can read is just magical. It opens up an entire world for them that they’ve never gotten to experience before. It’s been even MORE amazing watching my children in their reading journey, and now that homeschooling (or quarantine schooling) is becoming the norm, I wanted to share some teaching reading tid-bits with you.
PHOTO OF THE TREE DIAGRAM
If you think of reading (and writing) as a whole tree, there will be lots of different branches that need to be addressed for a child to learn to read. Some children will naturally do this completely on their own, and others need much more step-by-step guidance.
One of the easiest things you can do at home, without a lot of materials or training, is to work on sight words.
Simply put, sight words are words that we often see or use but don’t necessarily follow the conventional rules of phonics.
These are words we have to memorize by sight to know what they say. (Seriously, why does English have to be so complicated?)
I’ll Share Some FREE Sight Word Lists By Grade Level Below— But First, Here Are A Couple Of Activities You Can Do!
INDEX CARD SIGHT WORDS
This is a super simple version that my son’s public school actually uses! Take your words, and put each one on an index card (or cut an index card in half.) You can use a hole punch and metal ring to make it easier to use, but keeping them in a pile is just as effective.
Every day, my son reads his sight words to his teacher (or of course, your child could read them to you!)
In my son’s class, he gets a little stamp or check to help keep track of what words he has mastered. When he has gotten one correct for five times, it is then put on a different ring, and he gets a new word to his first ring.
Sight Words Should Be Read Instantly, Without Thinking Or Trying To Sound Out.
(You know your child best of course, so take that with a grain of salt!)
If your child pauses for a bit, tries to sound it out or misses a word, I gently remind them of the word and then move on to the next one.
If my child is enjoying the activity at the moment, I’ll sometimes go back and have him redo the words he may have missed the first time around, but if he isn’t in the mood, I don’t worry about it!
Sight words on rings- the left one are the words my son was working on (when the quarantine started, anyway, and the right are the words he has mastered.
INSERT PHOTO OF THE KINDERGARTEN SIGHT WORDS ON RINGS
By all means, alter this activity to however it makes sense for you and your child. Montessori style doesn’t generally “quiz'“ students, but I wanted to share this method anyway. Some children will really have fun with it! Keep it positive and focus on the words that they got right.
POPSICLE STICK SIGHT WORDS
Same concept, different presentation. This is what we have switched to since schooling at home.
PHOTO OF THE RAINBOW POPSICLE STICKS AND RAINBOW BOWLS
Sight words on rainbow popsicle sticks- craft sticks were purchased at Walmart pre-quarantine and a Sharpie marker works perfectly! Rainbow bowls added for fun.
We keep ours in a repurposed glass jelly jar. If we run through all of the words, I put the ones he knows back in the jar, while holding the ones to do over in my hand. Simple!
INSERT PHOTO OF POPSICLE STICKS IN THE JELLY JAR.
Sight word popsicle sticks in a repurposed jelly jar- raspberry, specifically.
Check back for more sight word activities as we get to them- there are so many games and fun things to do with them, including some that are more Montessori-style!
Now- CLICK ON THE BUTTON BELOW FOR The FREE Sight Word Lists You’ve Been Waiting For…
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