6 Sight Word Practice Activities That Will Help Your Kids Master Their Sight Words
Kids need to quickly recognize sight words so that they can read and write fluently, but sometimes it seems like there are just too many words to teach. If you’ve ever found yourself worrying about how to help your kiddos conquer their sight words, this post is for you.
This post will share six sight word practice activities that will help your students learn their sight words. Plus, I’ll be sharing a freebie at the end to help you get started today.
Sight words are hard for some kids to learn.
If your kids are struggling to master all of their sight words, that’s because sight words are difficult. Many of them are phonetically decodable, but because they are frequently used in children’s literature, in directions, and in everyday speech, most kids will need to read and write these words before they’ve learned all of the phonics patterns and spelling rules involved. That means learning them involves a fair amount of memorization.
These practice activities make learning sight words easier.
There are some ways we can help our students learn their sight words. We can reduce the amount of memorization involved, and we can make the memorization fun.
1. Find The Familiar Parts
Most sight words are at least partially decodable once kids have started learning their letter sounds. We can reduce the cognitive load and the amount of memorization required by having our students identify any parts of the word that they can already decode with the phonics patterns they’ve previously learned.
Want is a common kindergarten sight word. Most kids at this stage can decode the /w/ ___ /n/ /t/. They can decode three-fourths of the word!
2. Examine The Unexpected
The parts of a high-frequency word that aren’t decodable for a child yet with their current phonics knowledge must be memorized. These are the parts that make the word a sight word versus a decodable word.
Point out the part of the word that’s unexpected based on the child’s current knowledge. Most likely, it either involves a pattern that hasn’t been learned yet, or it’s a rule breaker. Highlight or mark this part of the word. This is what the child will need to memorize. They don’t have to memorize the whole word because they can already decode part of it!
3. Break Out The Flashcards
Flashcards are a great tool for memorization practice. However, long, boring flashcard drills are not. Keep practice sessions short and focus on just a few cards at a time.
It is helpful to test a small selection of words at a time. Sort the words into two piles: known and unknown. Then, review the unknown words daily or even several times a day. Review the known words occasionally too.
4. Make Practice Multi-sensory
Our brains constantly process what we see, hear, feel, taste, smell, and touch. Using multiple sensory modalities can help make learning new material easier. There are a ton of multi-sensory practice activities for sight words. Pick ones that are fun for your students and manageable for you.
- Writing in sand or salt
- Writing on sandpaper
- Building the letters with dough
- Stamping the words into a piece of dough
5. Play A Sight Word Game
Games are engaging and fun. They can be highly motivating for kids. There are tons of ways to practice sight words with games.
- Play tic-tac-toe with each player writing a specific sight word in place of X and O.
- Let your kids practice with a computer game.
- Try an educational board game. (Psst…these are affiliate links.)
6. Try Editable Sight Word Worksheets
Paper and pencil practice is important too. Like with flashcards, sight word worksheets should be short and simple. The goal is to target the exact words students need to practice. That’s why I love editable sight word practice worksheets.
Find even more sight word resources.
The keys to successful sight word practice are…
- First, identify parts of words that should be memorized and parts that your kids already know. This reduces the cognitive load for your students.
- Target the specific words your kids need to know.
- Plan for short, frequent, and engaging practice sessions.
Grab these editable sight word flashcards and get started.
Do you want the editable sight word flashcards and the printable envelope template? Don’t forget to grab them below.
