Weekend Warriors: Sight Words

Sight words is a topic I could go on and on about. It is also something that I love reading about and grabbing new ideas....so this linky is sure to be a good one!

So I am going to share 2 of my favorite sight word tips... and I have to be honest...these tips came from two older posts I have on sight words that gives even more ideas and info...so I will leave you links to them too.

But here we go.....

This is my favorite. It is a game to use to practice sight words. I introduce this in a small group and will fine tune the words to the needs of that particular level of students.

The main reason I love this game is that it is easy to prep....Sometimes you don't have time to color print, laminate, and cut out some cards to make the cutest sight word game ever! Right? Don't get me wrong, I am all about cute, but sometimes I am all about doing it FAST and meeting the exact needs of my kids.

So...first up... Gobble Gobble Sight Word Game:

Target Dollar Spot is my BFF. That is where I got the felt turkey purse/container thing .... then I used my school's die cut machine to die cut turkeys.

In this case I used the top 10 Fry words... and then 3 cards say, "Gobble, gobble."

 Here are my little ones playing it:

Here's what you do. A group of 3-5 kids can play at once:

1. Pull out one turkey. Read the word.
2. If you can't read the word then have a friend help you read it.
3. If you read the word on your own, keep the card. Otherwise, put it back in the turkey purse.
4. If you draw, "Gobble, gobble!" you have to say, "Gobble, gobble" in your best turkey voice...and sadly lose all of your cards you have collected from previous turns.

The winner is the person to have the most cards when the purse is empty... but to be honest, this little game can last a long time with those "gobble gobble" cards in there.

One reason I don't laminate the cards is because these words were chosen for this year's class... or maybe just this reading group - sometimes different groups have their own words.... So these aren't for use year after year after year... because I have no idea what levels those kids will be.

The best part is that I re-use this game for many many months.....
In October I use ghosts and it is called the "Boo Game" ... In December we play the same game called the "Ho, Ho, Ho Game".....In January with snowmen we play the "Brrr!!!!! Game."

The kids don't realize this is the same game and really enjoy it! You can see my original post HERE for a few more pictures and details

This next idea came from a post with oodles and oodles of ideas that you can find HERE.

I like to use these "magic tubes" (they are test tubes I order from Steve Spangler Science). I've seen other teachers do this same concept with sand instead of water. Can you "see" the word "see"? Why is there glitter floating in that water? It's a short answer: because glitter is fun!

 I sort the letter beads in a box I got from Michaels. There are 2 letters per section, although I will say that putting "E" and "F" together wasn't the best choice I've made:

So I will have between 5-10 tubes out at a time and the kids get to go to this center to just figure out which words are on display.

{P.S. This is also a super fun idea to use with their names at the beginning of the year too, but that is different post}

Lastly, I like to have the parents help me in teaching their children sight words. I have lists I send home throughout the school year. You can check those out here:

Now it's time to check out all these other great sight word ideas:

An InLinkz Link-up

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Book Boxes: For the Home

Many of us use book boxes in class. Whether you rock the Ikea magazine holders or some other box for the purpose of holding books......... but I want to talk about book boxes for the home.

We make so many fabulous {if I do say so myself} books in class all year. I send these home and say, "Please read these to your family at home." And then I just cross my fingers that they do.

And not promising the home book box completely solves the problem, but it is a way to help families organize and make reading a priority.

At the beginning of the year I ask the kiddos to make a book box with their family. The note which you can see here {and just click on the letter to download if for yourself!}

asks them to use a box no smaller than a shoe box and as large as they like....but the kid must be able to carry it on their own. I really can't be carrying 27 boxes all on my own :)

I tell them to be creative.... include your favorite characters....or your favorite colors and just have fun with it. At the end of the month the kids bring the boxes to school and we have a "Book Box Parade" around the school.

We pop into a few classrooms of older students, we zoom by the office and the principal and just make sure everyone is super proud of their special box. And of course we all take pictures...I mean we want to make this box the BEST thing ever!

The boxes head back home with the instruction to put the box somewhere accessible to your child and use it to collect all the books your child makes in the classroom. So as they come home with little readers such as color books or whatever it may be...they have one place to put it all. And the best part is that these are ALL books {we hope} that they can read.

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