Tips For Developing A Sight Words Lesson Plan
For teaching kindergartners basic sight words, you should consider putting together a lesson plan focused on sight words appropriate for their grade level. Be sure to remember to add the fun into the lesson plans along with structured lessons.
- Take a close look at the resources you have around you in the classroom. Come up with a few objectives and goals which you would like your kindergartners to accomplish.
- The next part of your lesson should specify how you intend to teach the reading and spelling of the sight words. Use some of the activity ideas listed above, as well as any other sight word games or teaching methods appropriate for the subject matter.
Before you know it you will have a rock-solid plan on how to teach your students about their basic sight words.
Printable Sight Word Booksand The Other Is About Camels
A lack of sight word knowledge can leave a child stuck on low level books. To accelerate a struggling readers progress, expose her to sight words. In the following book, kids can learn sight words and fun facts about camels, like how they have thick lips that can tolerate the spikes on desert plants. for the other of the free printable sight word books:
In the above book, kids can practice the following sight words: have, one, two, their, are, of, the, they, from, eyes, many, to, different, very, walk, sometimes, enough, water, does, another, would, you.
Again, to make memorizing sight words a bit more tolerable, you can quiz your student on fun camel facts at the same time. Write questions like the following on your board. Read the sentences out loud on your own. Then, pause at sight words. Have your student help you read the sight words:
Question: How many humps can a camel have?
Answer: Camels can have one or two humps.
Question: Why do they have many sets ofeyelashes?
Answer: Camels havemany sets of eyelashes to help shield their eyes fromthe sun.
Question: Why do camels have thick lips?
Answer: Camels have thick lips so they can eat many different plants in the desert like cacti.
My Journey From First Grade To Kindergarten
My name is Melissa Gregory, and I am a kindergarten teacher at a Title I School near Cincinnati, Ohio. This year was my first year teaching kindergarten, though Id taught first grade for many years. I sent Katie the video of my class in late October, as I wanted her to see how fast my kindergartners were soaking-up all of the Secrets! These little kindergartners knew ALL of the them by the end of October, even though they were still learning their individual letter sounds with the Better Alphabet Song.
Having only taught first grade before, I had no preconceived notions about what kindergartners were supposed to do, and so we just played with the Secrets all the time. The Secrets were not only their favorite stories, but also their favorite toys. They didnt just know them, they were actively using them to read and spell words! With every day came new growth and discovery, and being new to kindergarten, I felt like I was learning right along with them. I was just so excited that I had to share it, and from the moment that Katie posted our little video back in October on , we both began receiving so many comments and questions. Most wanted to know if the Secrets they knew in the video actually transferred to their reading and writing, and if so, how? So, Katie asked me to track of all of this years data and write this post.
This comment, in particular, sums up what many who saw the video back in October were curious to learn
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Sight Word Books Series And Individual Books
Look for sight word books that kids will love, and that include interesting characters and storylines. Choose ones that look interesting on the cover, and have fun illustrations inside. Also, take a look inside with the child to see if the sight words used are familiar. If they arent, practice them ahead of time. In doing so, kids feel more successful when they read the text. These top sight word books include the most common sight words and will keep kids interest.
1. Ed & Fred Books: Fun with Ed & Fred and See Fred Run Kids will have fun learning with Ed and Fred, two silly characters who help kids learn more than 50 sight words. Emergent readers will learn the most common sight words, as well as more advanced ones.
2. Learn to Read with Fat Cat Heres a book that is both educational and funny! Kids practice the most common Dolch sight words with this set of silly stories about, well a fat cat.
3. Sight Word Readers by Rozanne Lanczak Williams: Each book in this series introduces a new sight word within a delightful story. Written by a popular childrens author. Titles include:
4. Sarah Gets Angry Will the main characters in this story solve their problems? Kids will enjoy discovering the answer.
5. High-Frequency Readers: Books such as School and I Can See in this series by Scholastic keeps childrens attention. They have vibrant photos that will keep kids interested as they learn all about topics like school days and wildlife.
Free Printable Sight Word Books
posted on August 31, 2018
As a reading interventionist, I often meet kids that are behind in sight words. One student, Jesse, a first grader, didnt know her sight words. She was stuck reading low level kindergarten books. At school, she was given a list of 100 words to memorize. She practiced them everyday. Yet, she didnt retain them. It appeared that she was blind to sight words. I tried to find books to teach her sight words. I was unimpressed. Most sight word books are repetitive and teach kids to guess. In my free printable sight word books I made sure to incorporate:
-text that is not guessable
-fun animal facts to keep kids engaged
-a picture that is for fun
-a few easy sight words like: the, many, theyetc.
-a few harder sight words like: enough, different, throughetc.
Many struggling readers have significant difficulties when learning sight words. In fact, dyslexic students can almost seem blind to them. Jesse, for example, had to review they across multiple lessons to retain the word. Struggling readers need systematic exposure and books that allow them to practice. In this post, Reading Elephant offers two free printable sight word books.
In addition, Reading Elephant also offers systematic phonics books.
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Secrets In Daily Reading & Writing
I am not the gatekeeper of phonics skills and my program shouldnt be either. To think of it another way, I am not the waitress who holds back the dessert until youve eaten all of your greens. The Secret Stories provide for a banquet-style availability without having to eat this before that. You dont have to wait to teach the /th/ Secret until the fall of first grade, as you tell the Secret to kindergartners on the very first day of school.
Your name ends with a /y/ and you dont understand why it makes a long /e/ or a long /i/ sound? Let me tell you the Secret about Sneaky Y®.
I know that I am incredibly fortunate as classroom teacher, as I get to choose a curricular resource like the TCRWP Units of Study as my Tier 1, core instructional guide. The lessons are fabulous mixes of joy and knowledge, and my students are pumped when its time to learn with Rasheed! I love that.
So, thats how I know that my phonics instruction is working.
P.S. If youre curious why ou/ow might end up in the hospital, then just reach out and ask, as you shouldnt have to wait until Unit 4 to learn the sound that those guys make! -)Kristina Weller Writing and Laughing Blog
Pics by @HappyChatterClassroom and @RoarKallie on
Special thanks to Kristina Weller for sharing this post, and if you have questions for Kristina, or would just like to know more, you can find her in the new
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Paper Color Words For Flash Cards
Once youve chosen one or two words, write them clearly, in large, thick lowercase letters on a piece of paper or notecard. Write only one word per piece of paper or notecard. Have your child color the paper to give it a blue background. Or use color paper or notecards. Using any color will help the word stand out visually and in your childs memory. Use these as flashcards for your child to go over their sight words each day. It will only take a few minutes and kids will feel proud to master their words!
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Sight Word Stories Printable
Each book includes the following activities:
- A cover page which contains the sight word that they can read as well as a place for them to write their name
- The second page has the word that they can read and then they will trace the word multiple times
- There are two pages that contain the word in a sentence with a picture that children can read and color in
- The next page contains boxes where they could write the letters of the word on their own or they can use the boxes on the last page to cut out and paste in these squares
- Following this, there is a page for them to write a sentence using the sight word
- Lastly, there is a page for them to draw a picture that relates to the sentence they wrote, or they could practice writing the sight word in the box on this page
Sound Walls For Independent Reading & Writing
The more I learned about Secret Stories, the more excited I was to get them, and after waiting for what seemed like FOREVER, they came! We immediately laminated the posters and put them all up to make a sound wall that kids could use to help remember the new secret sounds they would be learning
I joined the and found so many great ideas from other teachers on how to get started! I even found a cute idea posted in the free group files to create a secret cover for the section of my Secret Stories book that contained the Secrets!
Now we were ready to go!Granted, we only had about six weeks of school left in the year, but I wanted to see if there was truly magic in these Secrets.
Having no clue where to start at the almost END of this school year, I just jumped in. The first secret I saw was in our school name, Lovejoy. So, Sneaky Y was the one that we started with, and I made a big deal about it being a grown-up reading secret that kids werent supposed to know. I even made them go and check the hallway to make sure that no one would hear! Then they all gathered around on the carpet and I told the secret about WHY /y/ was so sneaky, as well as the sounds he could make. THEY ATE IT UP!!!! After that one, we literally blew through the rest of the Secrets! They spotted them everywherein books, on the walls, in read alouds, at homethere was no escaping them!
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Using Secret Stories With The Reading And Writing Workshop Model
Our district has used Lucy Calkins Reading and Writing Workshop Model for the past 15 years. Before the Secrets, I would follow the Readers/Writers Workshop books like they were my Bible!
I was teaching first grade when I first heard about the Secret Stories from my sister, who was also a first grade teacher, as her school had just purchased them. She would rave and rave about them, telling me all about her schools success. I was intrigued, but as with any new program, I was a little apprehensive. The last thing I needed was something else to teach, and I didnt really want another book with more lessons that I would have to squeeze into my already overstuffed day. But once she explained how easy it was, and that it really wasnt a program at all, I was all in!
I decided to purchase it with my own money and immediately begin introducing it to my first grade class. Some of my first graders at the time were already reading, while others were still working on letter sounds and sight words, though all of them were captivated by these little secret stories. A wave of learning began to rise across the different levels in my classroom, with everyone taking something away from each Secret that I told.
Sight Words Word Families And Phonics Rules
Everything was taught in isolation and nothing was authentic.or fun. Students would learn the sight words, word families and phonics rules for the week, and then we would move on with hope that they could retain those words and rules. There was no spiral-teaching, except for the weeks we reviewed, and those were only for the sight words, not the word families or phonics rules. I look back now and wonder how my class ever reached the levels required by the end of each school year? During the week, I would use rainbow word worksheets, word sorts, letter tiles and magnetic letters to practice the sight words, and I had a block of time set aside for word study each day.
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Secret Stories To Sound Out Words For Reading
When my students are reading and come upon an unknown word, I dont tell them what it is. Instead, I tell them to look for the Secrets.
Several years ago, when I started teaching first grade and hadnt yet discovered Secret Stories, my kids were usually unsuccessful when attempting to sound out most words, unless they were simple C-V-C words, like cat, bed, cut, etc Now that my kids know the Secrets, they wouldnt even start sounding out a word without first noticing the Secrets that are in it. For example, before they knew the Secrets, my first graders might try to sound out the word first like this, ff-ih-ruh-ss-tuh, making each letter sound individually. With the Secrets, even my kindergartners will automatically say, f-ir-st, because they immediately notice the Secrets and blends.
This is another reason why it is so important that all of the Secret Stories posters are up on your wall where kids can easily see them, as its the first place theyll look when they cant read or spell a word. Its also important to encourage them to use the motions or action that naturally goes along with each story sound. Unlike a program the Secret Stories motions arent arbitrary actions that you have to know and remember, but just the natural physical response of engaging in the action/making the sound, like holding the steering wheel and slamming on the pretend brakes when saying, Errrrrrrrrr or sticking your tongue out and making a mean face when saying thhhhhhhhhh .
I Am The Teacher Not My Phonics Program
The beauty of this dual-track approach is its acknowledgement that I am the teacher, not the program! I can give my kids more of the code they need to read and write faster. My hands arent tied by a scripted, yet random order of skill introduction. With the Secrets, I have an easy way to immediately give my kids what they need, the moment they need it, with no designated waiting time just because the book says so. I am their teacher, not the program.
The long and short of it is that I have used the Secret Stories in my classroom from the very first day of school this year, and each and every day thats followedwhenever and wherever they are needed.
Yep. Im playing it fast and loose over here. Whenever a student needs it, I provide it. How cool is that?! This is a very different approach to the traditional idea of just following each lesson in the order it appears in the book and doling-out the phonics rules across each grade level trajectory. Seriously, why wait?!
Advancements in brain science have carved an accelerated path for phonics skill acquisition that leads straight through the social-emotional backdoor, so why not take it? The truth of the matter is that despite how it might sound, my phonics instruction isnt loosey-goosey, but research-based and incredibly intentional.
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Sound Walls Word Walls And The Science Of Reading
The purpose of a sound wall is to clearly represent the connections between speech and print in a way that students can easily understand and use as a source of reference to read and spell words. It is a way to organize and display the different sounds heard in speech and the spelling/phonics patterns that represent them in print.
With advancement of new research on the science of reading, there is a clearer understanding of the roles that phonetics and phonology play in beginning reading and spelling. Because learning to speak happens long before learning to read, teaching the connections between the letters on the page and the sounds they represent in speech is critical.
Unlike a word wall, which organizes words in alphabetical order so that students can find and copy them, sound walls are organized by sounds alongside the letter patterns that represent them.
The biggest difference between the two is that word walls give learners access to only a limited number of words, whereas sounds walls empower them with ALL of the phonics building blocks needed to read and spell ANY word. However, in order for students to actually USE a sound wall to independently read and spell, the sound-to-print connections represented must be obvious and easy to understandeven for a five-year old!