
Dot-paint words with a cotton swabīusy day at the sight word office! Use a keyboard cover or any old keyboard. Write words in white crayon and reveal them with watercolors on top! Shhh! Discover words written in invisible ink Or write words on the window!Įveryone wants a turn to write on the window! That eraser track makes for a perfect word card holder! Build words in a sensory tubīecause spelling is just more fun when your hands are covered in beans! This one is easy to modify based on whatever toys are available in the classroom or at home. Spell words on a construction siteīulldozing over each word to read it is the best part! Such a great use of extra building bricks!Įasy-peasy to set up and keep neat if you use plastic pencil boxes. Find words in the morning messageĭon’t forget about old standbys! This is one of our favorite ways to get kids to recognize sight words in connected text. Just add a magnifying glass and clipboard to make kids feel like supersleuths! Give kids a checklist of words to find as they open each egg. Stock up on batteries because kids never get tired of this! If you need a refresher on the rules, Jillian Starr covers them. This classroom classic is perfect for sight words. Read all the words as you try to find the cup that hides the prize. Source: Search for the pom-pom under sight word cups We’d add a line for chanting the sounds in the word! Get sight words stuck in everyone’s head, in a good way. We love new ideas for ways to use magnetic tiles for sight word activities. Wear your word proudly and practice reading others’ words. So easy: Fill a zip-top bag with a small amount of kid-safe paint, seal well, and have kids practice “writing” sight words with their finger or a cotton swab. “My Mom said to wear a helmet!” = so good!

Have kids stick words on items that give them ideas for sentences. Use sticky notes to inspire sight word sentences This is one of many fun ways to use magnetic tiles for learning! Kids love “knocking down” word tiles with a toy car as they read each one. Loud but oh-so-fun! Feel the rhythm while tapping and reading sight words stuck to homemade percussion instruments. Kids can race around hunting for balls to read and toss in a basket, or hunt through a big tub of balls for a certain word. Write sight words on ball pit balls with a chalk marker or dry-erase marker. Serve up sight word pancakes while practicing spelling them aloud. Find a word in an array and WHACK! Swat it with a fly swatter! Find and swat wordsĪn oldie but such a goodie. Source: Sight Word Activities for Practicing Words 6. Hardwire those words in kids’ brains with this comprehensive word intro routine. Lots of handy info in one place for your little learners. It is so super-satisfying to drag those magnetic dots around! Watch the video below for lots of tips on introducing a word using this process. Play dough squishing for each sound is the ultimate multi-sensory component.

Set up a routine that works for any word. This is a genius way to introduce words with appealing materials: Say the word, represent each sound with a LEGO brick, write letters for each sound, and “drive” to read it. Sight Word Activities for Introducing Words 1. Experts often call these words “heart words” to call out for kids that they should learn the unexpected word parts “by heart.” (If all this is unfamiliar to you, it can feel overwhelming, but you’ve got this! Check out teaching guru Jillian Starr’s explanation for more help.)Ĭheck out these low-prep and engaging sight word activities for both teaching and practicing words. Even irregularly spelled words have decodable parts, e.g., kids can use the sounds of “s” and “d” to help with “said,” even if the “ai” is unexpected. Many common words are easy to tackle using beginning phonics skills (like “at,” “can,” “him,” etc.), so staying true to a strong phonics curriculum is one way to support kids’ sight word learning. The science of reading tells us that linking sounds and letters is the most effective way for kids’ brains to learn any word. It’s a myth that blindly memorizing every letter in a sight word is the only way to learn it. Sight words are any words readers recognize automatically “by sight”-for fluent readers, that’s almost all words! High-frequency words, the most commonly occurring words in written English like those on the Dolch list, are often thought of as the most crucial sight words.

Teachers are always on the hunt for great sight word activities.
