Kindergartners across the country have one thing in common right now. Sight Words. If you have elementary-aged kiddos, you know that schools either start or start cracking down after Winter Break. Never Fear, Macaroni Kid Henderson & Boulder City has your back! We even have the Macaroni Sight Words Game!
What are Site Words?
Basically, sight words are high-frequency words that appear in books. These site words are difficult to decode (sound out). They usually do not have a concrete image. The word 'cat' can be decoded by sounding out each letter and running together; while under an illustration of a happy cat. However, words like "the, come, is" present more of a phonetic challenge and will not have a photo for context clues.
Where do I find the list?
No doubt your kids will come home with lists of words. Maybe they have a word of the week on a bracelet. Perhaps they have an intimidating page with 100-200 words in an ugly font. Site words started with Doctor Dolch. way back in the 1930s and 1940's he developed a list of 200 "service words" and 95 high-frequency nouns. Fast forward to 1950 and Doctor Fry expanded the words. The list has been updated in 1980, thankfully, so our children would be asking, "Where art thy bathroom?" At any rate, the Fry list remains most common with 1,000 most common words in the English language for grades 1-10.
Fry Sight Word List Level 1
the | of | and | you | that |
for | with | his | they | have |
from | had | words | but | what |
all | were | your | can | said |
use | each | their | them | these |
Dolch Sight Words List Kindergarten
all | black | eat | into | our |
am | brown | four | must | please |
are | but | get | like | pretty |
ate | came | good | new | saw |
be | did | have | now | say |
What do I do with these Flash Cards?
I am so glad you asked. The best thing you can do is READ to your child for 30 minutes every day! The flashcards are to help your kids memorize the words that are very common. Spend 5 minutes before school on them. Spend 10 minutes after school on them. Maybe get crazy and spend 10 minutes in the bath with them. May I suggest laminating them first?
Ya, Flash Cards can get old.
I also recommend games! Get some chalk and head outside. You can also get some washi tape and a kitchen floor. Make a grid like the one above and place flash cards. This is completely customizable. If your kiddo is struggling, make the grid smaller. Use the same words over and over. If your child needs more of a challenge, adjust accordingly.
Grab the Macaroni! We know you have some! Read a site word and hand over a Macaroni. Now your little one must place the macaroni on the correct word. Boom. You are Now a super parent! Once your little one is comfortable, you place the Macaroni on a word and they have to read the word. (It's a bit harder!)
More Games Await!
Here are a couple of other games. I'm not going into too much detail.
Sight Words Bingo- Print out but do not cut a sheet of sight words. Give macaroni pieces to kids and call off the words until a BINGO or BLACK OUT hits!
The Floor is Lava Site Words Style- Place Flashcards all over the ground and call out a word. Then count down from 5. They have to land on the correct word to be safe.
Go Fish- Print and cut two sets. Shuffle and play cards like Go fish. "Do you have any DO?"
Sight Word Memory- Print two sets. Shuffle and place face down. Take turns looking for a match
Sight Word Swat- Place cards face up. When you call out a word, your little one swats it with a hand or even a fly swatter!
Musical Site Words- No Chairs needed. Place site word flashcards on the floor in an oval. When the music plays, the walk begins. when the music stops, your kiddo must read the word they are on.
ProMomTip: Your kiddo can "Keep" the words they got correct during the game. At the end of the game, go over the fun you had and reread the words! Boom!
