Hello there friends! This week, I am on Easter/Spring Break, and it’s been GLORIOUS! I have time to work on my blog, and other aspects of my life! I also have the chance to reflect over the past quarter of the school year, and prepare for the final stretch. I can’t believe it’s already here! Today, I am going to share three activities I use to help my students practice those tricky sight words that we are learning! I know this last part of the year we will all be pushing to get our students as high as they can be before enter the next grade, and these things have worked to help my students recognize and make their sight words!
1. SPLAT
Splat is one of my FAVORITE games for the classroom, and can be used in about any subject imaginable! Best of all, it NEVER GETS OLD for the students (at least for my kinders!). I purchased a few of these colored pointers from the Target Dollar Spot this past summer, and we love using these to point to our sight words!
The concept of Splat is that you put whatever you want your students to practice up on the wall or board (sight words, for me), and the students come up two at a time to race against each other to point to (or cover, if you use fly swatters) the correct answer. So, how I use this game is, I create two teams. Then, I pick one student from each team to come to the board. I say a sight word that I’ve placed on the board, and the students have to find that sight word and point to it. Whoever points to it first correctly, gets a point for their team. Then, the game continues for however long you want!
The cards that the words are on are my word wall cards, that I’ve pulled off and put on the board. But I’ve also done it where they point to the word on the word wall! It’s a great time-filler activity if you finish something five minutes early, while still keeping them learning!
2. SIGHT WORD PUZZLERS
This is a fun literacy center that can be used over and over again! My students LOVE puzzles, so I made sight word puzzles! This activity is the most prep-heavy out of the three, but still, it’s pretty easy! Begin by writing the words on these word strips (from the dollar store). Try to write the letters with a little space in between, because then, I cut them into pieces in fun designs, to make puzzles! I also used different colors for different words, to help them look for the right letters.
Once your words are cut into puzzles, just place them in a literacy center and have your kiddos go to work! You could start with just a few, to help them discover strategies to use, etc. Then add more to practice lots of sight words! They work together to make the sight words.
And then, I made a quick little recording sheet that they write the words they make on the paper! It’s just for accountability purposes, so they’re little half-sheets! It helps me see who works hard to make the words, and who isn’t doing their “job” (like the student below, who is drawing stars, instead of writing words 😉 This activity really helps the students build awareness of the letters in the sight words, so they can master writing those words, not just recognizing them.
3. BUILD AND BUZZ
I call this game Build and Buzz, because students work together in groups to build a sight word that I say, then buzz in! I created this game, because my school has this “Eggspert” game, and I knew my kinders would love being able to use something new and different to practice the same skills!
I split my class into groups of three, and gave each group a bowl of letter tiles. I set up this buzz-in style game, and we got started! See, super low-prep! Easy peasy! The students each got a turn to buzz in, as a “practice.” I knew this was necessary or pandemonium would have broken out! I also made sure that each student got equal chances to buzz in for their team, during the game.
After the introductions, rules (no slamming on the buzzer, no buzzing in when you’re not supposed to, all the things that a student could POSSIBLY do to break this game!), and practice, we got started! I said a sight word, and the groups had to work together to build that word with their tiles. Once they thought they had it correct, they would buzz in and I would check. If they were right, the game would stop, and I would award that team one point. If they were incorrect, I’d clear their buzz-in and they would all keep working. The first team to buzz in with the correct spelling, wins a point!
This game could totally be adapted to what you have! You could do the same thing, and have a student raise their hand if their team has it. Or, they could start singing a song. Or, whatever you can think of to make it fun and exciting! Again, practicing these skills is going to help all your students, from the ones who are just learning English, to the highest-leveled in your class!
(Don’t forget to pin this post so you can find it again!! Use the image above!)
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If you stuck with me to the end of this post, THANK YOU! I appreciate you so much!! I wanted to share a FREEBIE with you all! I have a new free product in my TpT store that is perfect for the lower elementary grades! It’s a “Label and Color” activity that has three different forms, so you can differentiate what your students need, but they all still look the same! It’s an awesome center activity, and is a great way to see how your students can segment the phonemes in words and put those phonemes into writing! Click the picture to get your freebie!
What do you do to help your students practice their sight words in your classroom?! Let me know in a comment, or tag me in a picture of what you do on Instagram! I’d love to get some more ideas!!
Much Love, Allie
