Sight Word Practice at Home

By this time in the year students have learned quite an extensive list of sight words.  Sight word practice can become monotonous and boring--so here are a few activities to help put the fun back into reading.

Jump on It!
Copy sight words on index cards (one word per card).  Make a second set of the same words.  Scatter one set faceup on the floor, leaving about a foot between each card.  Place the other set in a stack facedown.  Turn over the first card in the stack.  Have your child read the word (offer help as needed) and then jump on the corresponding card on the floor.  Turn over the next card and have your child read it and jump on that word.  Continue until your child has jumped on all of the words.  Mix up the cards and play again!

Which Word Wins?
Sit with your child and look at a newspaper to see just how often sight words pop up in print.  Ask your child to choose a sight word from the list and an article from the paper.  Look for the word together.  Highlight and count the word each time it appears.  Try the same thing with a second sight word.  Which word appears most often?

Read My Back!
"Write" a sight word on your child's back.  Can your child guess the word?  Trade places--let your child trace a word from the list on your back.  Continue taking turns tracing and guessing sight words.

Spill a Sight Word
Copy sight words onto small cards.  (You can cut index cards in quarters or cut sturdy paper into pieces.)  Place the word cards in an empty container, such as a tall plastic tumbler or an empty tennis ball can (Pringles cans work great).  Invite your child to shake the container, spill out the words, and read the ones that fall faceup.  Give each word your child reads a score that is equal to the number of letters in the word.  Record the total, then place the remaining words back in the can and shake and spill again.  Add the total to the first score.  Play until your child has spilled and read all of the words.

These are the sight words we have learned so far this year:  we, run, a, can, play, I, am, the, little, like, cat, to, and, dog, not, do, you, want, all, here, big, is, she, with, are, he, funny, make, will, me, pretty, what, us, call, my, jump, see, house, no, said, let, in, come, help, ride, work, find, there, Sunday, keep, away, ran, can't, on, this, if, Monday, good, have, read, any, did, or, too, Tuesday, your, when, that, say, look, go, hot, Wednesday.