High-Frequency Word Activities for Kindergarten

Students can use colored pencils to highlight high-frequency words.

Many kindergarten classrooms aim to teach the first 25 words on the Dolch list to their students. The Dolch list is spread across the elementary grades and contains 220 words. Many of these words do not follow phonics patterns and cannot be sounded out. The words are called high-frequency words or sight words, because they occur up to 75 percent of the time in print. It is important to introduce these words with a variety of methods to reach all learners.

Rhymes and Songs

When introducing a new high-frequency word, teach the students the way to spell the word in a song or rhythmic pattern. For example, if introducing the word, "can," make a rhyme, "C-A-N, spells can can can." To help the students remember the song, add movements.

Flashcards

Make simple flashcards on blank note cards; these can be used for a variety of activities. Quiz a student on his knowledge of the words. Place the cards on the board and tell the students they are going to play word detectives. In this game, you give them a clue, such as, "the word has three letters." Have a child guess what the word is and, if she doesn't guess it, give a different clue. Keep giving clues until someone guesses what the word is. Another game is the Bag Word game, where you place all the note cards of the words that have been introduced into a paper bag. This game is best played with four students. Pass the bag around and have the students take turns drawing out cards. If the child can read the card, he gets to keep it; if he cannot read the card, it goes back in the bag.

Morning Message

Each morning, write a short message on the board to your kindergartners. In the message, repeat the high-frequency words that have recently been introduced. Choral read the message together every day, pointing under each word as you read. After you have introduced a majority of the words, start leaving a word out of your sentence. Have the students guess what high-frequency word needs to be written, and have a student write the word.

Books

Give the students little paper books each week, which highlight your high-frequency words for the week. If your word for the week is "can," the students should see this word repeated on every page. Pass out highlighter tape or highlighting markers and have the students highlight the high-frequency word on each page. The students can bring their books to the carpet and practice reading in a group. The benefit of a paper copy is that students can write in the book and take the book home for practice.

References

• Reading Resource: Activities for Sight Words
• Kelly's Kindergarten: Games to Make
• KidZone: Dolch Word Lists