How to Build Sight Word Vocabulary for K-1
Sight words are words used frequently in print and usually cannot be pronounced phonetically. Beginning readers (K-1) should start learning and memorizing sight words in kindergarten and continue in first grade to be able to read them quickly and accurately. To help your students accomplish this in your classroom, practice, review and reinforce these words every day and encourage parents to do the same at home.
Instructions
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How to Build Sight Word Vocabulary for K-1
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Use explicit instruction. Introduce sight words directly at the same time every day if possible. For kindergartners, introduce one word per week at the beginning of the year. After Christmas, this should increase to two or three. First-grade students should be able to learn several words a week.
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Use the "say spell say" method when teaching sight words. You display the word on a flash card or write it on chart paper. You model the technique by saying the word, spelling the word and saying it again. You can also have students clap or snap their fingers as they spell. This movement may help some students remember words more effectively.
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Point out the words when you encounter them in print while reading to the class. After children begin reading simple books, have them look for these words themselves. Keep your old magazines and catalogs to be used during afternoon learning center time, a small group cooperative period in which students complete a variety of activities to increase reading and math skills. As the groups rotate through the sight word center, they will find and cut out sight words and glue them to a poster or construction paper. Their sight word vocabularies will increase the more they are exposed to them. If you teach first grade, include sight words on weekly spelling tests.
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Keep high frequency words in kids' sight in the classroom. Post them on word walls and bulletin boards. Give students worksheets that reinforce the words. Educators Box has many printable sight word activities including word searches, scrambled words, and trace and write.
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Get parents involved. Send updated sight word lists home periodically so parents can help their kids at home. Suggest ways they can reinforce these words like spotting them on road signs when they are traveling or in stores when shopping.
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Play games to reinforce sight word knowledge. An effective team game is Sight Word Race. Group the class into two teams. Students line up by a dry erase board or chart. You call out a sight word, and they race against each other to see who can write the word first with correct spelling.
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Tips & Warnings
When introducing sight words, be sure the whole class is assembled. Allocate about ten minutes in the morning during "circle time" when children are most alert.
According to an article on Education.com, "Kindergarten Writing: What Happens April to June?" by Gina Dal Fuoco, most classrooms will have a list of 20 or more words that kindergartners should know fluently by the end of the year.
There are some great suggestions for sight word games online at My Teacher Pages, including Sight Word Bingo, Sight Word Soup and Concentration.
