Sight Words

Sight Word Fluency in 5 Easy Steps

January 25, 2018 by Jodi 2 Comments

Every teacher knows the importance of learning sight words, but so many times, sight words are taught in isolation. In order to really improve sight word fluency, we need to teach sight words in context. Students should be able to easily recognize sight words in the text while they are reading. Sight word fluency allows students to increase their reading comprehension because their focus is off of trying to decode unknown words and can shift to comprehending what they are reading.

Did you know that the first 300 Fry Sight Words make up approximately 65% of all written material? When students are not fluent with their sight words, this greatly impacts their reading abilities. There are so many wonderful ways to practice sight words, but I am constantly trying to think of new and exciting ways to keep my students engaged while practicing sight word fluency. A while back, I created my 5-Step Fluency passages. They quickly became a favorite in my classroom, so I wanted to create a way to combine this with sight word fluency. With that, 5-Step Sight Word Fluency was born.

I cannot tell you how excited I am about using these in my classroom. It is such a fun and engaging way to work on sight word fluency. Each passage follows a 5-Step approach.

1. Read the sight words from the Sight Word box on the top of the page.
2. Read the passage.
3. Highlight or circle the sight words in the passage.
4. Reread the passage in a silly voice.
5. Reread the passage in a regular voice.

The students LOVE rereading the passage in silly voices. It is definitely a favorite among my 1st graders.

I have created two sets of 5-Step Sight Word Fluency. I have a set for the first 300 Fry Sight Words. This Fry 5-Step Sight Word set includes 47 passages using the first 300 Fry Sight Words. The second set includes 37 passages using the 220 Dolch Sight Words. This are great for whole group, small group, or individual sight word fluency practice.

If you need an engaging and effective way to practice sight words in context. check out 5-Step Sight Word Fluency.

I also have a BUNDLE that includes BOTH sets of passages.

All About Sight Words

September 8, 2016 by Jodi 2 Comments

Every primary teacher knows how important sight words are to beginning readers. When many of these words show up in our reading material, all phonics instruction and rules get thrown out the window. I mean, seriously, who decided that have should be spelled with an e? Why is it not spelled hav? So, how do we practice sight words in our classroom?

First off, I assess what the students know. Thankfully, I have a parent volunteer that has been pulling students out to assess their sight words. This is such a huge help, and it saves me so much time.

Have a way of tracking sight word progress.

I give each child a Sight Word Bookmark with words for them to practice. These are great because the students can practice them anytime they have an extra couple of minutes. I went ahead and started each of my students on the first two lists (copied front and back). This way, as they learn their lists, I can place a sticker on the bookmark, present them with their next color, and send that bookmark home. You can find my Sight Word Bookmarks HERE.

They love working their way through the different colors of bookmarks.

Hands on practice with sight words is key.

The students love it, and taking a kinesthetic approach to sight words is going to fit a lot of students’ learning style. Build words with blocks or Legos. Have them make words with letter blocks. If you’re brave, you can have students write sight words in sand, salt, sugar, flour, or shaving cream.

Use games to practice sight words.

I absolutely love using games in the classroom. The students love them, and they learn so much. I use my No Prep Sight Word Games to practice.

These are great for work stations, small group instruction, parent volunteers, or just partner the entire class up and play. You can find my Sight Word Games HERE.

Practice sight words in small group, whole group, individually, and work stations.

Sight Word Sentence Trees are a great way for beginning readers to practice sight words and fluency. You can find my Sight Word Sentence Trees HERE.

Did you know that the first 300 Fry Sight Words make up approximately 65% of all written material? Do I expect my students to sit down and memorize 300 sight words? Absolutely not. In reality, many of the sight words on the list can be stretched out phonetically, which greatly reduces the amount of sight words that have to be memorized.

There are so many great ways to practice sight words. Check out the Sight Word section in my store HERE to find games, poems, and more.

What are your favorites ways to practice sight words?

The Importance of Sight Words

October 12, 2015 by Jodi 3 Comments

I highly doubt I have to convince you that teaching sight words is extremely important.

A couple weeks ago, I posted about the Sight Word Bookmarks that I use. I received a lot of requests for this, and I finally got around to putting it all together for you.

I start off by assessing my students on their sight words to see which ones they know. Then, each student receives a bookmark with the list that they need to work on. I print these 2-sided on bright colored paper, and then I laminate them for durability. The students can keep these in their pencil box, a book they are reading, or on their desks. They can be pulled out at any time to practice.

I put these together into a file that includes all 220 Dolch sight words and the first 500 Fry sight words. The file also includes word lists, recording sheets, and certificates. You can click on the picture below to check it out.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Bookmarks-Dolch-Fry-2146221

Practicing sight words can be kind of boring, so I LOVE to use my No Prep Sight Word Games with my students.

Anything that makes learning sight words fun, is a win for me!

What is your favorite way to practice sight words?

Sight Word Games

September 1, 2015 by Jodi Leave a Comment

Learning sight words is such an important skill for beginning readers. Goodness gracious though! Who came up with some of the spellings of our common sight words? Why does it have to be so confusing? We teach these phonics rules, and then throw more than a hundred words at our students that don’t follow those rules. It definitely makes teaching sight words challenging, but it doesn’t have to be boring.

I wanted to find a way to make learning sight words a little more exciting, so I created some No Prep Sight Word Games for us to use.

The first thing I did was to assess my students on their sight word knowledge. I really like the Dolch Sight Word lists from A is for Apple, B is for Blog. This gives me an idea of which sight words my students still need to master.

Then, I can differentiate my games, and have my students play with the words that they still need.

I have included 10 different No Prep sight word games using the 220 Dolch Sight Words.

Most of the games are available in both color and black and white. This gives you the option of printing in color, and laminating to use over and over again, or just printing in black and white for your students.

I will be using some of these games in a whole group setting, but most of them will be perfect for small groups and a sight word center.

You can check these out by clicking on the picture below and heading over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Games-No-Prep-2062385

Sight Word Poems {The Bundle}

June 26, 2014 by Jodi Leave a Comment

I’ve had a ton of requests to bundle my Sight Word Poems.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Poems-The-Bundle-of-300-Poems-1292688

If you have not already purchased these sets separately, you can now purchase the entire bundle of all three sets at a discounted price. This set includes the first 300 sight words! {Click on the picture above.}

If you need the individual sets, you can click on the pictures below.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Poems-First-100-Sight-Words-1091219

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Poems-Second-100-Sight-Words-1129296

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sight-Word-Poems-Third-100-Sight-Words-1284391

These are simple, easy to read poems that are perfect for Poetry Notebooks.

Sight Word Poems (The Third Set)

June 20, 2014 by Jodi 2 Comments

Teaching sight words is always so tricky every year. Some students seem to learn them quickly, while others struggle all year long. Last year, I created Sight Word poems to help my students and they were a huge hit.

I just finished my third set of Sight Word Poems.

This set includes the third set of 100 Fry Sight Words. {You can download the preview file at Teachers Pay Teachers to see the list of words included.}

You can also check out the first 100 words and the second 100 words.

Sight Words

Sight Word Fluency in 5 Easy Steps

All About Sight Words

Have a way of tracking sight word progress.

Hands on practice with sight words is key.

Use games to practice sight words.

Practice sight words in small group, whole group, individually, and work stations.

The Importance of Sight Words

Sight Word Games

Sight Word Poems {The Bundle}

Sight Word Poems (The Third Set)

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Sight Words

Have a way of tracking sight word progress.

Hands on practice with sight words is key.

Use games to practice sight words.

Practice sight words in small group, whole group, individually, and work stations.

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