[lexismom]

Hello! I am teaching kindergarten for the first time this year. Now that I'm moving more into sight words with my class I'm very confused!! My colleagues all have a different approach: one introduces a few here and there, one introduces words she finds in shared reading as popcorn words and one is striving for a more structured approach with lists that go home to parents to help reinforce.

We only have 12 "no excuse" words my students are expected to read and write by the end of the year but I know they are capable of much more. I'm uncertain which is a better approach: a structured tiered program with frequent "spelling tests" to assess progress or a more laid back approach with only introducing and pointing them out in books.

Could you please explain to me how you introduce and assess sight words in your class?

[KenzLuv2Teach]

Each week in my class, students have 5-9 sight words that they are expected to spell & identify.

This week's words:
purple
pink
green
went
play
please
well
good
came

We also have certain activities that we do to go along with the sight words. I will attach these later when I have more time.

[Lalacristo]

we have 70 sight words in Escambia County, FL (Pensacola). Our district has mandated which ones are introduced each nine weeks. Some are included in our Pre-Decodable books with our Reading series. Our district added more so some of them are not in our books. I go over sight word flashcards every day. A list has been sent home with parents indicating which words will be included on the report card each grading period. I do a "Reading Bee" with my kids every Friday. They LOVE it! I hold up a card with the word and the child reads it, if they can't, then the next player from the other team gets a turn. I pre-set the two teams so they are basically pretty even with high, average, low kids. I also just finished making a "Sight Word Bingo" game. Good luck!

[ReadingTchr28]

I recently bought The Best Sight Word Book Ever..which I saw on here.

But what I was doing on here was putting magnetic letters on the board..introducing the letter..scrambling the letters and having several kids come and unscramble the letters and repeating the words. We do a lot of shared reading with poetry and hi-lighting the new sight word in poems.

Also using the books from Hubbards Cupboard
http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/sigh....html#ABCorder

[kls1103]

Currently I teach one a week. In about January I will move to two a week. Our district only requires 25 words so I go way beyond what I need to. I, like you, know they are capable of more.

I use heidisongs and the 100 Sight Words Mini Books from Scholastic (about $10) to teach the words. We have a shared reading where we make it a really big deal when we find a sight word. Also, we have a "insert sight word here" celebration when we put it up on the word wall. For assessment I just have a sheet with the sight words and students point and read. It is not fancy, I am interested to hear how others assess.

[luckytoteach]

Our new reading program includes only 40 sight words. I am used to twice that amount so I have been adding words as we go along. It turns out to be about 20 words a quarter. And I do not expect them to be able to spell them. For my higher level students, they automatically end up being able to spell many of them.

[Sticky Mickey]

I use the sight word books you can buy out of the Scholastic book orders. There are 18 books entitled, School, Lunch, I Like, Kittens, Dogs, What is it?, We are Painting, Big... These books have a blackline master that has all the books in reproducable form. I copy all the books for each of my students. We begin with the first one and each book adds a new sight word and usually reviews others we've learned. We read these books together as I teach the new sight words and concepts of print. The kids love these books and they learn their sight words. They take the books home. Many families save the books for students to read in the future. It's very effective. I also do a morning message. After we read the message together, the students identify the sight words while the leader circles them. This also works as an assessment for the student who is the leader because I know if they know their sight words if they can find them to circle when the students identify them. All my students left knowing how to identify and spell at least 40-50 sight words. I introduce one to two books a week depending on how my students catch on.