Sight Words

The Fry Instant Word list is a list of words that make up between 50-70% of the words we encounter in text. Most of these words are “service words” that must be quickly recognized in order to read fluently. Many of the Fry words cannot be “sounded out” and they need to learned by “sight”. Because recognizing these words is so important during reading, using a variety of activities to teach, practice and memorize the words is critical in teaching children to read. Try using these activities to help your child learn and practice sight words:

Multi-sensory ways to learn and practice sight words:

* Have your child write sight words with glitter glue

* Have your child write sight words with wikki stix

* Have your child write sight words with playdoh

* Have your child write sight words with puffy paint

* Put craft sand on a paper plate. Have your child practice tracing sight words in the sand.

* Put hair gel in a zip lock baggie. Seal the baggie. Have your child write the letters of the sight word in the gel.

* Squirt shaving cream on a plate or table. Spread the cream. Have your child write the sight words in the shaving cream.

* Jump, hop, clap, tap out the letters of the sight word (t-h-e “the”).
 

Sight word games:

* Make sight word flashcards on 3 x 5 index cards and place them on a ring. Short and frequent practice with naming the words works better than longer sessions. Try reviewing the cards during commercial breaks.

* Draw a star on the back of a 3 x 5 index card. Place this card and the flash-cards face down on the table. Take turns turning over a card and reading the words. Try to be the player who finds the card with a star.

* Play “Slap Jack” with the sight word and star cards. When the star card is turned over, the first player to slap it wins.

* Make duplicates of the sight word cards and play the memory game.

* Make several 5 x 5 grids and put sight words in the squares. Make your own chips with the words written on them. Play bingo.

* Write the sight words on sticky notes and place them on a wall. Turn down the lights and give your child a flashlight. Have your child shine the light on the words and read each word.

Here are the lists that we will be working on: