Do you agree that sight word instruction is a must when we are building the foundation for our little literacy learners? Sometimes skill and drill is necessary, but I believe that it is
important to make your instruction with sight words enjoyable. I try to provide engaging activities that are
hands-on to reinforce sight words in and out of connected text. Because I work with students who are below grade level expectations, it is important that they are getting the extra practice in school with me, but it is also very helpful when they get additional practice at home.
When I was writing up my report cards, I found that I was typing the same comment for many of my students :
"____ has made a small amount of progress with his ability
to read sight words. He is able to read ___
out of the 50 sight words kindergarten students are expected to know at the end
of the year. These are words that cannot
be learned through pictures or by their sounds and appear frequently in all
books. It is important he learn these
words and become automatic in identifying them.
Our goal is to have ____ read the sight words effortlessly. On the back I have highlighted the words he
knows. Please practice the remaining
words with ____ at home."
I think this is important information to share with parents, but I also wanted to provide
suggestions of simple activities that parents could do at home with their children in case they didn't know how to practice the sight words at home. This will help provide the children with much needed practice. So I compiled a short list of activities I have come across throughout the years and will be sending it home with my report cards.
(Click on the picture below to grab your copy!)
(Click on the picture below to grab your copy!)
Do you think you would find this useful as a parent? If you decide to grab your own copy, I would love to hear your ideas!
~ What are some activities you use to help develop sight word vocabularies?
~ What are some ways you encourage parents to get involved?
These ideas are great, and they would very easy for a parent to incorporate into their lives. Nothing expensive or fancy so all can do it. I just wish that when my kids were that little I had ideas like that. Now as a grandparent the ideas on the internet are just awesome. I use many and now my grandson is reading...something I was terrified of when my kids were little. I thought I would ruin them if I tried to teach reading to them. Thanks for all of your great ideas for teachers and parents alike.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah...I LOVE the stair idea. I will definitely use that one.
ReplyDeleteThis is so fantastic! I think I discussed the importance of sight word vocabulary at every parent conference I had this spring. All of my students have a take-home reading folder. Every Monday we learn either one or two new sight words and put them up on our word wall. They also read an emergent reader that focuses on the word(s). Then, they write the new words on "Word Wall" stationary and put this sheet and the emergent reader in the folder. It goes home every Monday for the parents to review. The folder also contains the lists of all kindergarten words for the year. That way they can refer to it for the whole year. It has really helped my kids this year. Thanks again. As always, you are wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteI find it so useful! As a parent, I would be grateful to receive something like that knowing EXACTLY What my child needs. Great idea. We do so many activities with sight words, and I think it's such an IMPORTANT aspect to building a strong literacy foundation :) LOVE your blog :) I have a few sight word freebie games on my blog, go check it out:)
ReplyDeleteAshley
I really like the ideas on the letter to parents. I believe that we must teach sight words and try a variety of ways to get them done through the school day as well. I use a powerpoint slide show of the words and tell the kids that they have to read them, as they come up one by one, before I do. I also have a sight word list that we read before I start my guided reading groups. I also have the kids read them during our morning reading lesson. I just try to incorporate them throughout my day, so they are seeing them multiple times.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Connie
welcometofirstgraderoom5.blogspot.com
I agree, sight words are soooo important!! When I taught first grade, for the 1st 12 weeks, we would do 4 sight words stories, which I would send home. Now that I am in kindergarten, I am doing the same thing the last 12 weeks of kindergarten. Here is a link to the book that I use.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.teachercreated.com/products/reproducible-little-books-for-sight-words-3225
This website also has great resources as well.
http://www.mrsperkins.com/dolch.htm
Angela
The Daily Alphabet
Thank you ladies!
ReplyDeleteThe internet is an amazing thing, isn't it Jackie! Let me know how the stair idea works!
Allison-your take home program sounds great!!
Ashley-Thank you! I can't wait to check out your blog more!
I love how you are exposing your students to their students in multiple ways Connie!
HI!
ReplyDeleteI can not wait to share this with my parents!! May I add it to my class website? I will, of course, give you credit and your name appears on the document...If not, I understand!!!
Thank you for sharing this!!
http://teachers.greenville.k12.sc.us/sites/ggrant
Thank you so much for this! My parents will love it!
ReplyDeleteYou are totally terrific!!! I love these ideas and there were some I've never thought of before, like the bath time idea! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Grace!
ReplyDeleteYou're all welcome! Thank you for your comments! I am glad you have found this useful! I have also typed suggestions for phonemic awareness activities for parents. I will try and share that one as soon as I can.
I think this is fantastic - this is a conversation I have with so many of my parents, but I've never done something concrete like this. I am putting in our weekly homework practice folders along with the sight word lists that each of my kiddos is working on.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Valerie
I love this! As a parent of a kindergarten student, I love for the teacher to give me ideas that I can use at home to help her. I am going to share this with my fellow teachers. Thank you!
ReplyDeletelearnplayandhavefun.blogspot.com
Jessica
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCheck the list I give to my parents:
ReplyDeletehttp://mysecondsense.blogspot.com/2012/04/give-me-a-freebie.html
Tania
As a parent I love this. I also do a fly swatter game with my kids. I tape a group of words (on flash/index cards) to a door and then give each kid (I have three that are within a year of each other) a fly swatter or spatula and call out a word. First to hit it wins. We've done it with color words, number words, sight words, etc. We also did letter twister, probably could do sight word twister.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for all of your fabulous ideas! I love each and one of your comments and really appreciate the feedback!
ReplyDeleteVery useful and perfect for parents! :)
ReplyDeleteSecond Grade Sugar and Spice
Thanks for sharing the parent letter! It sounds very easy to implement at home! My kids at school like to 'body spell' their sight words (tip toes and hands on head for 'sky letters' (l,k,t, etc.), hands on hips for grass letters (m,n,s, etc.), and hand on bent knees for mud letters (g,p,q, etc.)).
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to send the letter home! Thanks again! ~Heidi V.