Teaching Sight Words Without A Curriculum

May 16th, 2011

I had a friend ask me recently how I teach sight words.  As usual, I have no tried and true method that I’ve used for each and every child.  Partly because each and every child is different.  But I really like what we’re doing this go ’round and will more than likely use it for the upcoming kids in turn.

I’m a member of Enchanted Learning (which I am not paid to promote, but love and highly recommend, for the record).  It costs around $20 a year and you have unlimited printing capabilities of so very many pages.  It’s great for reinforcing your public school kids’ work, it’ great for homeschooling, I loved it when I lapbooked, and now for anything extra that everyone from my preschooler to 4th grader is learning.

So, anyway I went to Enchanted Learning and looked up Dolch Sight Words.  I printed off all 3 list pages.  I then hung those pages inside our homeschool cabinet.  Since my kindergarten girl has been working through Hooked on Phonics and Teach Your Child to Read in a 100 Easy Lessons, she already knew a few of the sight words.  I pointed to the page to some of the words I thought she knew.  When she can say them without sounding them out or getting them wrong (like, really and truly knows them) then I color in the box with the word in it.  We will do this until the entire sheet is purple.  Then we’ll continue until she’s completed all the pages.

When we come to a word she doesn’t know I point to it, say it for her, have her look at it and say it after me.  Then I write the word on a piece of paper for her (since she’s learning cursive right now too I write it in print and cursive).  I have her write it both ways.  She’s learning quickly enough now that I’m writing 2 words at a time instead of just one like I’ve shown here.

Then the next day before we begin a new word, I will go back to the page posted in the cabinet and ask her the words from the previous day.

If she really, truly knows them we get to color in those words.  I’m not going in any particular order.  And I’m just going at her pace (which for this particular child is like a million miles an hour, please don’t think your child should go at this pace – my 2 older boys went no where near this quickly – do what works for you and your child).

Sight words.  Visually (since I’m visual to the core)!

So, tell me.. how do you or have you.. taught sight words to your little ones?