A Sight Word Program that will Save You Time

Every teacher wants a quick and easy way to gear their sight word activities to the level and interests of their group.

One year, I thought I had the answer.  I bought a whole heap of sight word centers and printed them off. Trying to organize them for my different reading groups wasn’t easy. I discovered, a little too late, that the sight words my students needed to focus on didn’t match the premade sight word activities.

Kids are not all on the same word lists. In any classroom, you’ll find many ability levels.  Some students are working on their first 20 Dolch words. Others are on words with three syllables. This can make it very time consuming to find centers that cater to everyone’s needs.

Now I’ve done away with looking for pre-made centers and moved onto editable games and activity sheets.

I can quickly make a center for my struggling readers. One that will be at their level, with the words they need. In seconds I can make another center for my high readers. One that can focus on them learning vowel teams or even spelling.

Using the Sight Word Program

Once you’ve installed the FREE Kimberly Geswin font ‘Neatly Printed’ you’re ready to start organizing your centers.

First, you’ll want an assessment sheet. Simply type in your student’s names and save the file under their reading group. Print the assessment sheets and place them in your assessment folder.

Each week when you prepare new activities, their names will already be saved and you’ll only need to add new sight words.

You can also make individualized word rings for your students with words that are just right for them. Have your students bring them to the guided reading table or send them home for extra reading practice. They can even use their word rings at word work stations.

Making Sight Word Centers is Quick and Easy

Setting up your word work activities is easy. If you’re using an editable sight word and spelling word pack, it’s simply a matter of typing in ten words that you want to be your main focus words.

Activities should contain a mixture of new and known words. Revision is important for reading fluency and confidence. No center is fun when you can’t read anything.

Once you’ve put in your list words you’ll have a choice of eight different activities to use for each of the 38 different themes.

Pets was a favorite of my first graders.

Have your students read their words, cut and paste them, then write them.

Use bingo daubers or colored pencils and let your students spin a paperclip, find the word and read it to their partner, then color it in. It’s easy to turn the activity into a game and see who can get four in a row first.

Practice fluency by having your students spin a column and read the list. If they’re successful, have them color a star. Let them take it in turns to read their words to each other.

Make a colored trail, reading each word as they go.

Kids love fancy writing. Get them to practice reading and writing their words in different colors and handwriting styles.

Practice Spelling Words Too

Editable word work activities don’t just need to be for sight words. If you’ve got students who are learning spelling words, they’ll love these activities that give them extra practice with writing their words.

Add the ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ visual to give students a strategy for learning their words.

Designing Your Sight Word Games

You’ll want a mixture of activities in your literacy centers. Worksheets, games, and playdough mats. (You can check out the game component of this pack here.)

Your ten words are also included in the game along with any revision words you want to add.

If you don’t have a color printer, printing in black ink is still effective. Print on colored paper or use some markers to add a bit of color.

Recording Sight Words

Reading and writing go hand in hand. When a child decodes (reads) a sight word we also want them to encode (write) the word. It all becomes part of a multisensory program, which we know is important.

Use the optional recording sheet for kids to write the words they’ve read. If you’ve got time, you can easily use this list as an assessment too. During a transition to the next activity, call a few kids over to read their list.

And of course, everyone loves a playdough activity. Kids get to read their word, build it with playdough, make it with letter tiles and write it down.

If your focus isn’t on pets then you have another 37 themes to choose from:

Games for Homework

I don’t know any early years teacher who doesn’t send sight words home for homework. Use the black ink game from each pack or the specially designed homework game to send home with your students. There’s one for sight words or spelling. My parents loved these instead of flashcards and students always showed progress when they were reassessed the following week.

This huge pack of editable activities and games will make your prep time easy. The hardest part will be deciding what theme you want.

See How it Works

Love to see how the whole program works? Check out the video below.

Grab Your Pack Today

Do you love the idea of having engaging, rigorous and fun center activities that suit the exact needs of your young learners? Grab your pack from my TPT store by clicking the picture below.