Teaching Sight Words In Fresh And Fun Ways - Proud To Be Primary

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Here is a ton of fresh and fun methods for teaching sight words. Help children learn and gain reading fluency with Fry and Dolch sight word lists with these hands-on ideas!

Fresh and Fun Ways for Teaching Sight Words

You know that glazed-over look your students give you the minute you pull out another stack of sight word flashcards? Yep, we’ve all been there. Teaching sight words is essential, but let’s face it: doing it the same way every year can feel just as boring for us as it does for them.

If you’re tired of recycled routines and ready to spark some actual excitement during literacy time, you’re in the right place. Below, you’ll find fresh, fun, and easy-to-implement ideas that will breathe new life into your sight word instruction for kindergarten students, first graders, and second grade students. Say goodbye to the eye rolls and hello to engagement!

Table of Contents

• Fresh and Fun Ways for Teaching Sight Words
• Why is Teaching Sight Words Important?
• Introducing Sight Words
  • Use Weekly Lists
  • Expose Kids Throughout the Day
  • Build Upon Your Instruction
  • Display Words EVERYWHERE
  • Make it a Sensory Experience.
• Ingenious Methods to Reinforce Teaching Sight Words
  • Use Hands-on Ideas
  • Incorporate Their Favorite Sight Word Games
  • Write the Sight Words Often
• New Options for Assessing Sight Words
  • Sight Word Cards & Booklets
  • Spelling Test Options
  • Let the Child be the Teacher
• Resources to Help You Teach Sight Words
  • Try a Week of Sight Word Activities
• Try the Complete Sight Word Program
  • Dolch Sight Word Curriculum (Pre-Primer, Primer, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, & 3rd Grade included)
  • Fry’s First 300 Sight Word Curriculum (6 units included)
• Learn more about Teaching Sight Words

Why is Teaching Sight Words Important?

Standard phonics instruction is essential for early readers, but so are sight words. Sight words often don’t follow phonics rules, which makes them necessary to memorize. They are high-frequency words (most frequently used words), meaning that these are the words that appear in text and children’s books more often. Once these words are remembered, children have a much easier time learning and growing as fluent readers.

Teaching sight words can be fun! If you need resources for your classroom, you can check out my Dolch sight words curriculum or my Fry’s First 300 words curriculum bundles. You’ll find everything you need to begin an engaging and successful sight words program in your classroom.

Introducing Sight Words

Instead of the traditional “see and say” method (in which flash cards or a whiteboard are used, the child may trace the letters with their finger or a writing tool, and say the word aloud), try changing it up a bit. Find NEW ways to write the words that build fine motor skills at the same time!

Use Weekly Lists

Explicit instruction is the time-honored method of teaching sight words, in which the teacher introduces the word, spells it, and has the child repeat until mastery. Stick with that; it’s a proven method! But it doesn’t have to be boring and monotonous. The way I run my weekly sight word program is beneficial. It contains numerous ideas for ensuring mastery that students look forward to each day.

Expose Kids Throughout the Day

It’s essential to introduce the weekly sight words in many ways, such as during morning meetings. Some ideas to practice sight words include coloring, printing, drawing pictures, forming words on playdough mats, singing songs, finding words, filling in sentences, spelling words aloud, or stamping them. All of these methods are explained in detail in this weekly sight word program.

Build Upon Your Instruction

During explicit instruction, improve a lesson by adding some meaningful questions. Ask children things like, “What part of this word looks like other words you know?” or “What part of the word is easy to remember? Tricky to remember?”.

If children think about the spelling of the word, the parts, and the sounds the letters make, they will be more likely to remember it again in the future. Ask them to notice the shape of the word itself – where the tallest letters are, the shortest letters, how long or how short the word is, etc.

Display Words EVERYWHERE

Word Walls or Portable Word Walls: Every primary classroom should have a word wall. But even handier is a portable word wall, in which the child has a small, hand-held version of the sight words they use daily, or should practice daily.

The word wall and portable word wall come in handy throughout the day, giving the child easy and quick access to the correct spelling of frequently used words. They will appreciate it anytime they are completing daily writing prompts.

Make it a Sensory Experience.

Think of things you can write words on besides the whiteboard or large chart pad. Kids love to hold items in their hands. Textures that are smooth or rough, slimy, or crunchy, it doesn’t matter.

Find objects that you think your students will enjoy handling and write sight words on them. Ask children to hold them in their hands and repeat the words you say.

Ingenious Methods to Reinforce Teaching Sight Words

There are many things kids can do in a group, at their desks, or for homework. Tuck a few of these ideas away for future lessons to engage students daily!

Use Hands-on Ideas

They can silently write the words in the air by spelling out the letters with their finger or write them in large letters with their fingers on the floor. They can also form the letter shapes with their hands in front of them (bending their knuckles and hands to the curves or crossing their fingers to represent an x, for instance). These things require no preparation or supplies prepared beforehand.

Incorporate Their Favorite Sight Word Games

Board games such as Tic-tac-toe, Connect Four, Sorry, or other “take turns” type games can be adapted for classroom use. Have each child read or write a sight word before playing their turn. The game serves as a reward for getting the word right. There are also online sight word games that students can play as an “early finisher” activity.

Play hide and seek with the words or the parts of words. For instance, if the sight word you wish to practice is they, write they on several cards and hide them around the room. The child who finds a card is required to stand and show the word to their classmates, spell the word, say it aloud, and direct the class to write the word in the air with their fingers, for instance.

You could focus on a “tricky part” of the word too – for example, in they, the “ey” is tricky because it makes the long a sound. You could hide the “ey” part of the word somewhere in the room, and the child who finds it can place it on the board in the correct spelling order of the word.

Write the Sight Words Often

Sight words absolutely MUST be written. Writing words helps solidify phonemes, and the physical act of writing a word cements it into a child’s brain. As simple as it sounds, there are plenty of not-so-simple, fun, and exciting ways to write them!

Let children carve the letters into playdough or write them with their finger in shaving cream. They can use dry erase boards or chalkboards to practice printing words or writing them with invisible ink. Anything new or different than plain old paper and pencil will make a routine chore into a thrilling task.

New Options for Assessing Sight Words

Avoid putting your students through another stressful test. Try out these fun and different ways to assess their acquisition of sight word spelling! They won’t even know you’re “testing” them.

Sight Word Cards & Booklets

A fun alternative assessment is using sight word cards that children can color with rainbow colors and refer to throughout the week. Ask the kids to review their set of flashcards to assess their progress and sight word recognition. Sight word sticker books are another option that rewards children with stickers after they read out their words.

Spelling Test Options

If you prefer to give a weekly spelling test, shorten the list and add in a few important sight words. There is no need to have two separate tests. I also recommend keeping your spelling list to 5-10 words, including sight words. Smaller lists ensure faster memorization and recall, and won’t overwhelm your young students.

Read a book with sight words or make books that have words within them. These small, printable books work great. Have a child sit with you and read the sight words aloud to you as you come to them. They don’t even have to know you’re testing them, and it can be an enjoyable process. This exercise can also be conducted in small, differentiated groups.

Let the Child be the Teacher

Ask a child to teach you sight words! Let them be the teacher, but don’t give the words to start with (tell them verbally). Let them introduce, spell, write, and say the word, and then give you a “test.” If they can teach it, then they know it!

Resources to Help You Teach Sight Words

Try a Week of Sight Word Activities

Get a FREE sample of our Dolch sight word activities. This will help make planning your sight words lessons easy while providing fun, effective activities for your students.

Click the image below to get your copy!

Try the Complete Sight Word Program

For a comprehensive program that leads to growth and mastery of sight words for young readers, check out the Dolch words and Fry Sight Words programs. They come with center activities, printables, friendly assessment tools and lists of sight words, word wall words, and more to help kids master common sight words and build reading skills! Everything you need to teach sight words successfully and in a fun way.

Dolch Sight Word Curriculum (Pre-Primer, Primer, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, & 3rd Grade included)

Fry’s First 300 Sight Word Curriculum (6 units included)

Learn more about Teaching Sight Words

sight word classroom games

simple sight word apps

sight word worksheets and activities

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