Welcome back! This is Part 2 of 3, of exploring new ways to teach sight words. Last time, I shared how to effectively and explicitly teach sight words using a multi-sensory approach to ensure we are engaging all our diverse learners. If you missed that post, you can check it out HERE!
This week, I would like to share 10 of my favorite ways to practice sight words. Now that your students have been explicitly (and systematically) introduced to their new words, it is time for them to be exposed to these words over and over again. I have read that it takes approximately 30 exposures, for an adult to commit something to their long term memory - I can believe that it may take more for a child, especially a struggling reader to commit these words to automatic memory. The following activities can be used in a teacher guided instructional group, independent or collaborative center, and some can even be sent HOME for your students to practice.
Please be sure to make your way through this post. There are several FREEBIES included, and some are exclusive to YOU, my loyal teacher friends.
I don't know if sight word practice could get any easier than this,and my students love it! All you need to do, is take an index card, fold it in half and write a word on the card. I do this with 4-6 words at a time. You can even have your students make their own 'word tents' in an independent center, so they are ready when they get to your group. To start, I call out a word, and the students hold up the card that matches. Once I see that they are correctly identifying the words, I up the game. I will use a word in a sentence. Now the students can hear how the word is used in context, and they need to be careful listeners to see what word I use, so they can hold it up. You can switch this up again, by spelling the word (or singing it, if you gave it a tune) - then students would need to hold the word up and verbally identify it.
teach new sight words. However, engaging your diverse learners during practice will continue to help solidify these words in their long term memory. We cannot diminish the fun behind using play-doh or wikki stix to spell sight words. I'm not sure if there is a better way to clean our tables than to whip out the shaving cream and let our kiddos go to town writing their words. And there is no doubt, my students LOVE using stamps or an old key board to practice too. These are all amazing, and low-prep ideas to keep your literacy centers fresh! My students also like to use this FREE sight word mat, to practice reading, spelling, and drawing their sight words. It has editable sections, so you can customize it to fit your words for the week. You may choose to put this in a dry erase pocket so you can reuse it again and again. Or, you can make copies for each student, to later add to a practice folder, and eventually send HOME.
When I was a kid, I loved puzzles. I'm finding that my students are not much different than I was. To create
this center/intervention activity, you can just cut up flashcards. To
create mine, I typed up my sight word lists, and increased the spacing
between each letter. Then, I printed, laminated and got to cutting. The
increased space, allowed me to cut between each letter easily. It would
be tight cutting if you were to use standard spacing. If you use Dolch
Sight Words, you can check out my already made puzzles HERE (page 2 and 3 have each level listed separately). This activity would help to reinforce sight word spelling (visual). If you had each student spell/read their would aloud, it would also support your auditory learners, and the hands on manipulation of building the word supports your tactile learners. These puzzles are also a great activity to send HOME with your students, so they can keep practicing. I have sent these puzzles home with my students, and they can send me a picture of the completed puzzles via ClassDojo. 
- a two column board with (the same) 6-10 words on each side, arranged in a different order.
- sight word flash cards
- 2 game pieces
I have created this editable template for you, so you can customize the words (or math facts) for your
students. Once
you have your game board all set, your students will begin flipping one
card at a time. They will be looking for the first word in their
column. As the cards are flipped, the students must read them aloud.
When they see their first matching word, they can move their game piece.
They only move ONE WORD AT A TIME. Once the cards in the deck have all
been read, they are used again...and again...and again. Because students
can only move one word at a time, they end up re-reading the sight
words several times before the game is over. The first student to make
it to the end of their "road" is the winner. Again, you can ask students
to spell the word (especially if it isn't automatic recall) or use the
word in a sentence before moving their game piece. If you are interested
in seeing video directions, I included a video tutorial in the freebie
above! Also, I have created various Road Race games for special holidays and themes.
When bundled together, they will supply you with a full year's worth of
Road Race centers. While the words featured are not sight words, they
are words my students like to use in holiday/themed writing, so my game cards
double as a word wall when writing. 
#notperfect #notreallyeventhatpretty #itstillgotthejobdone #wehadfun
I colored my blocks to match my sight word game cards, which are color coded according to my district sight word lists (Not Dolch or Fry, but a mix of high frequency words). Similar to Hope's game, when a student wanted to pull a block, they needed to pull a sight word card from the coordinating color pile. But, if you know anything about Hope, or any Ron Clark Academy teacher, teaching with a sense of urgency is HUGE - no time for down time. So to get all students involved, in each turn, I had the student pulling the block, and identifying the sight word, read it aloud to the group. At this time, the other players would use a white board to write the word down. They would have to show the first student, who would confirm their answers before pulling the block. This is truly a great game to play in a teacher guided or independent center. This would also be an easy game to share with families at a back to school night, so it could be played at HOME as well.
Our students do not do well in chaos. I do not mean that your classroom is chaotic, I just mean that kiddos thrive in predicable and consistent environments. We can only control our classroom, so we certainly have to maximize our instruction when our students our with us. And we certainly cannot control what goes on at home. We can only hope that our students keep practicing at home, to up
those exposures, and commit these words to long term memory. One way to
provide some consistency is to share ideas at a back to school night and
share the same ideas (plus some new) during parent teacher conferences.
The more our families hear our message, the more likely they will use
our strategies. Additionally, I have found that families like
consistency as much as our students do. By having predicable
expectations of my students' families, it has increased at HOME
participation a ton. For instance, at the beginning of the school year,
I was sending home a variety of ways to practice sight words. I didn't
want my students to get bored; I thought I was doing a good thing. As
it turned out, I wasn't getting a lot of at home participation. I
switched things up and sent home the same activity for a few weeks, and
the participation increased. Let me be real for a second, it is not that
my students' families didn't care, I'm sure it's that they are busy - I
know I'm a busy mom! Busy cooking dinner, doing other homework, running
kids to practice or dance lessons... it was not fair of me to ask the
families to learn a new activity to practice sight words week after
week. I still send home some of the activities. For example, when their
child starts a new sight word list, they get a set of Go Fish cards. I
hope they get used, but if they don't at least I don't know it!Now, my students take home a Bubble Gum practice sheet. On the front, a family member just needs to quiz their child on the sight words, and indicate with a check if it was read correctly. On the back, are ten boxes (one for each word on the front) where the student can write a sentence or draw a picture clue of the word. Grab this EXCLUSIVE BLOG FREEBIE now.
More than anything, I want my students to love reading! But, I also want them to be careful readers, so they can be thinkers and imaginers. So how do you teach a six-seven year old that they need to read just these words quickly? Of course, some words cannot be decoded, so it is great when a student recognizes they can skip that strategy. Other words can be decoded, but they appear so frequently in text, we want our students to be able to breeze over them. We all have that "one" kid whose ONLY strategy is to "sound it out." This need to over-decode can cripple a student's understanding of a text. For these kiddos, I explain that the (red) words we practice need to be recognized and read as fast was they would their name. My students have helped
me construct the "cheetah board" which gives them a concrete visual/tracking of how they are doing. This activity has been named "cheetah words" by my students because whenever you ask a kid, "Give me an example of a fast animal." They always say cheetah. I have created a BLOG EXCLUSIVE freebie for you, but feel free to use this idea in your classroom, and allow your students to select the animals on their board.
To use this freebie, you will just flash through some sight words with your student, and sort the cards into automatic (cheetah), almost there (lion), and still practicing (hippo). I have used the space on the side to tally the number of words in each pile. The running record of tallies helps to show the student their progress. I usually keep the "cheetah" words in my group for about a week, first I sort, then I let the student sort where the words will go. When I feel they are confident (and honest) in their independent sort, I let them work with a buddy, and take their sort HOME. Parents have also enjoyed this activity because it is easy, and some have commented that it helped them to realize just how automatic sight words need to be.
me construct the "cheetah board" which gives them a concrete visual/tracking of how they are doing. This activity has been named "cheetah words" by my students because whenever you ask a kid, "Give me an example of a fast animal." They always say cheetah. I have created a BLOG EXCLUSIVE freebie for you, but feel free to use this idea in your classroom, and allow your students to select the animals on their board.To use this freebie, you will just flash through some sight words with your student, and sort the cards into automatic (cheetah), almost there (lion), and still practicing (hippo). I have used the space on the side to tally the number of words in each pile. The running record of tallies helps to show the student their progress. I usually keep the "cheetah" words in my group for about a week, first I sort, then I let the student sort where the words will go. When I feel they are confident (and honest) in their independent sort, I let them work with a buddy, and take their sort HOME. Parents have also enjoyed this activity because it is easy, and some have commented that it helped them to realize just how automatic sight words need to be.
Check out these related posts:
Establishing Meaningful Word Work Routines
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