Simple Ideas to Help Your Child Learn Sight Words
Sight words are words that cannot be learned through pictures or by stretching out their sounds. The appear frequently in all books. It is important for your child to learn these words and become automatic in identifying them. Take a couple at a time from our Sight Words List. Do not try to learn them all at once! Here are some fun ways to expose your child to the words -
1. Write the words on index cards or small pieces of paper to create flashcards for your child to review.
2. If you carry a purse or a bag, place a set of words inside it. When you have to wait in line at the grocery store, bank, sitting in a restaurant, etc... take the cards out and review them.
3. Write the words your child needs to learn on sticky notes. Stick them anywhere! I had one parent stick them on their snack pantry door and when their child wanted a snack, she had to recite the words to "unlock" a snack.
4. Take words your child is having difficulty with and place them on the car seat back in front of your child. As you are driving, your child will be staring at the words! You can ask him/her to read them to you, to use them in a sentence, to say each letter, count the letters.
5. Buy some soap crayons or foam letters and write the words in the bathtub. Have your child read them to you during bath time.
6. Lay the words on the floor in a little path. Have your child read each word as they hop to or step on it to follow the path.
7. Make two sets of word cards and play "Memory" or "Go Fish" with them.
8. Lay 3-5 cards facing up so that your child can see them. Play rhyming games such as, "I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with me, but it begins with /w/." (we)
9. Play "What's Missing." Lay 3-4 words on the table and have your child read the words then close his/her eyes. Remove one of the words. Ask your child to open their eyes and identify the word that was missing. Then take a turn closing your eyes!