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As you know, sight words are so important for our kinders to learn! We are always trying new ideas and ways to get those sight words to stick! There are so many wonderful ideas out there for teaching sight words in kindergarten. I wanted to share with you some things that I do in my classroom to help get those sight words to STICK!
Try focusing on one sight word each week. This really allows you to do lots of different activities with that particular sight word and it really helps students identify, learn, and remember the sight word. Of course, you’ll still want to go over other sight words that you’ve learned and are going to learn. I think you’ll find that you love having a sight word of the week!
When your students arrive in the classroom on Mondays, they should be able to immediately see which sight word you’ll be focusing on all week. Having your sight words on display throughout your classroom will give students many opportunities to identify the word of the week during your daily routine. Here are a few places where you might want to display sight words:
You can add the sight word of the week to your calendar display.
Include the focus sight word on a large piece of paper, then add smaller word cards to display words you’ve already learned. This makes it easy to review sight words during calendar time or any time you have your students at the carpet.
You can also display your word of the week on a flip chart that is visible throughout the week.
The sight word of the week can also be included on a handprint on the wall. Keep reading for tips on these handprints!
You can also have your focus word among your other kindergarten sight words on a word wall. Once students see the word of the week, they will be excited to hunt for the word on the word wall.
A sight word flip book is a great way to incorporate more sight word practice into your daily routine. I made this sight word flip book a while back and it has been used more than I ever imaged! I use the flip book to have the sight word of the week displayed all week in the classroom. I also use the flip book during calendar to review sight words with my students.
When you have a little bit of extra time before lining up for lunch or specials, you can use the sight word flip book for a fun review game! You can show a sight word page to one student at a time. If they identify the word correctly, they can line up.
A sight word flip book is SUPER easy to make! Just type sight words one to a page in large font. Then print and mount onto construction paper before laminating. Once you have prepped all of the words you’d like to use, you can bind the sight words into a flip book. (I took my laminated pages to Kinko’s for binding.)
In addition to using a flip book when you have extra time, there are other ways to add sight words to your regular routine. For example, you can add handprints next to your classroom door for sight word high fives as they leave the classroom!
I put a handprint on each side of my door, since my students are grouped into two lines. I place the sight word of the week on the handprints. Anytime we leave the room, we give a high five to the handprint and say the sight word. Not only is this fun, but it really is an easy way to practice identifying and saying the word of the week.
You never know which activity will make a sight word click for a student, which is why it’s helpful to use a variety of activities. Plus, using hands-on activities is a great way to grab students’ attention for sight word practice. Students always love to “trace” sight words with cereal, especially when there are leftovers!
Another way to bring additional engagement to sight word practice in kindergarten is through movement! You can have students try to twist their bodies into the letter shapes as they spell sight words. Another fun activity that gets students moving is a whole-class word scramble! Give each student one letter of the focus word and have them walk around the room until they find the other letters they need to form the sight word.
We all know that young learners need plenty of repetition to master a new concept. This applies to sight words! My final tip is to use a variety of printable activities throughout the week to give students the repetition they need to master the word of the week. I have written an entire blog post about sight word printables for kindergarten.
To save you some time, I have compiled a variety of sight word printables that you can use in your classroom. Would you like to take a closer look at the activities included in this resource? You can find it in my shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Be sure to add this pin to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find this post whenever you’re looking for ideas for teaching sight words in kindergarten.
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
