Tara from Looney's Literacy here checking in to share some fun ways we're practicing sight words!
Sight words are an important part of literacy learning. However, there are not many strategies to teach sight words other than memorizing them. Committing information to our long term memory requires repetition. Repetition can become monotonous. So it becomes critical to find ways to change up sight word learning besides the same old flashcard method.
Today I'm going to share with you five ways you can change it up a little with your sight word learners. Hopefully making sight word learning fun and effective!
Sight Word Slap
You could do this game several ways. I would say, adapt this game to fit the materials you may already have available so as not to spend a lot of extra money on supplies. You can also adapt this game to one or multiple players.
Materials:
Large paper, post-it notes, flashcards, etc.
Flyswatters
small container
Directions:
Write sight words on large paper, post-it notes, or just use flashcards you already have. Write the same sight words on little pieces of paper and put them in a small container. Player one will draw a card and read the sight word. Player two will then "slap" the sight word with the flyswatter. If they get it correct they get to keep the card. Whoever has the most cards and can read them wins.
Alternative with just one or more player(s): The adult will call out a sight word from the list and the child(ren) will "slap" the word with a flyswatter. If there's multiple children, whoever slaps the card first gets to keep it and whoever has the most cards at the end wins.
Sight Word Bracelets
Materials:
letter beads
colored beads
elastic bands
(I purchased all of this at Dollar Tree for $3)
Directions:
Give the students a list of words they are working on. I let them choose 2-3 words (unless they're small words - then you may need to do a few more). My groups consist of 2-3 students so I just lay out a handful of each of the beads. Have the students find all the letters they need to build their words and the color beads they will need to put between words.
{Video Clip Coming Soon}
Sight Word Sentence Showdown
Materials:
Sight word sentence strips
Directions:
Type up simple sight word sentences with a variety of punctuation marks to work on expression. Distribute sentence strips evenly. They take turns reading sentences. They usually just get a kick out of reading them in silly voices! They really don't need any other incentive to enjoy this activity!
Shaving Cream Rainbow Writing
We didn't get a chance to try this one but it is next on my list! I found this at Kids Play Box.
Sight Word Chain Links
We haven't gotten a chance to try this either but it's been added to the list as well. You can find this at Maggie's Big Home.
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