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We all know that it takes multiple exposures to new sight words in order for students to master them. For young students, it’s important to add a variety of hands-on sight word activities to keep them engaged in practicing the same word multiple times! One way that I love to provide students with extra sight word practice is with scrambles! In this post, I’m going to show you how to use sight word sentence scrambles in kindergarten.
If you have never used sentence scrambles in your classroom before, I wanted to give you a quick introduction. Basically, it’s just what it sounds like! Students are given sentences where the words are out of order and they need to reorder them to form a correct sentence. For sight word sentence scrambles, a large portion of the words in the sentence are high-frequency words. There is usually a focus sight word when using a set of scrambles.
I’m always a fan of tasks that allow students to practice multiple skills in one activity! That’s why I love using scrambles for sight word practice and review! There are many benefits to using sight word sentence scrambles in a kindergarten classroom:
Scrambled sentences usually still contain a word with a capital letter and a word followed by a punctuation mark. The students are able to look for these clues to help them put the words in the correct order. This reinforces the importance of capitalization and punctuation.
Most sight word sentence scrambles for young students include cutting, gluing, and writing. This is all great practice for our young students with developing fine motor skills!
Scrambles help students understand sentence structure as they practice putting words in the correct order. This will be a huge help to them as they write their own sentences!
Students will have the opportunity to read the words multiple times as they test and retest their sentences to make sure the words are in the right order. This helps them grow in confidence as they read more and more sight words automatically!
Now it’s time to walk you through how I use sight word sentence scrambles with my students!
It’s important for young students to read the model sentence before they start. It might feel like this is taking the mystery out of the task, but it’s helpful for students to hear the correct sentence and word order. Remember that the primary goal for this activity is to read the sight words, so this step is perfectly aligned with that goal!
In my printable sentence scrambles, I also include a picture with the sentence to help support students in this activity.
Students will work on their handwriting skills as they copy the correct sentence. This is a second chance for students to hear and practice the correct word order of the sentence. After they’ve written the sentence, encourage them to read it again! You also have the option to save the writing until after the next step, as you’ll see in the pictures below. This is up to you and your preference!
It’s time to break out the scissors! By taking the time to at least read the model sentence before cutting, this step will go more smoothly.
Have the students cut out the words of the sentence and give them one last scramble. (This is their favorite part!) Then they will glue the words onto the paper in the correct order. By now, the students should be very familiar with the target sentence. If they are having trouble, you can encourage them to look for clues that will help them put the words in the correct order, such as capitalization and punctuation. They can also use the picture and model sentence for support.
If you have students who would like an extra challenge, encourage them to turn over the paper with the model sentence before trying to put the words in order. This gives them the opportunity to build their sentence without relying on the model. Once they have put the words in the correct order, they can glue the words onto the paper
After the words have been glued down, encourage your students to read the sentence again and color the picture. My sentence scrambles include five different pages for each focus sight word that, when stapled together, create a book! These books also come in two different sizes to best suit the needs of your class.
Providing books like these is even more incentive for students to read sight words again and again! They are always so excited to share their books with family and friends!
The final step in using sight word scrambles is to monitor progress! I have created an additional independent reading page that contains all of the sentences from the book on one page. This is perfect for assessing fluency and comprehension, but you could also use it during intervention time!
Would you like to try sight word sentence scrambles in your classroom? Fill in your information below to have your first set – for the word “you” – delivered straight to your inbox!
Sight Word Sentence Scrambles are just one of MANY ways you can give your students multiple exposures to new high-frequency words. If you’d like even more resources, be sure to check out my recent post with seven sight word practice worksheets that are perfect for kindergarten!
If you’re excited about getting started with sight word sentence scrambles, you’ll definitely want to check out my bundle of 50 books! You can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on Teachers Pay Teachers.
With so many opportunities to practice, your students will quickly become familiar with the routine of sentence scrambles. This means your students can focus their attention on the words they are reading rather than the steps of the task at hand.
Once your students grow comfortable with this sight word activity, these books are a great option for literacy centers or even morning work in your kindergarten classroom!
Would you like to refer back to these tips later? Be sure to save this pin to your favorite board for sight word ideas! You’ll be able to quickly come back to this resource whenever you’re ready.
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!
