How to teach site words beside using flashcards?

[emilys_mom1]

Can you wonderful ladies help me with some creative idea's for teaching First Grade site words. We have been doing flash cards, but that just doesn't seem to work to get DD to remember them.

Do you all have any fun games or ideas for these?

[theretohere]

Are we talking about sight words?
What about having her play matching games with them, writing them, or drawing a picture that reminds her? What time of learner is your little one?

[A Mom's Love]

I just found this the other day. We're not at this level yet, but it seems to be a good help. It's a free ebook of 21 activities for learning the Dolch sight words. Maybe it's what you're looking for: http://www.mrsperkins.com/activities.html

[Leersia]

I got this idea from a Karen Andreola book . . . We don't do too much sight word memorization, but when we do work on them, I will have one of my boys (I have twins) set up a "train track" for the other - basically, the cards are upside down on the floor in a curvy line. At the end of the line is a box, and the boy who is setting up the track will put a box at the end with a random object in in. Then the other child will turn over the cards and read the words. When he gets to the end, he gets to feel in the box and guess what is inside. Then we just quickly review any words that were missed. Its kinda goofy but they LOVE playing it, and I like that they set it up for each other (they aren't reading the same things and have separate sets of words!).

[Quindin]

My older kids attended school, and the way they learned was through weekly spelling quizzes and LOTS of fun reading.

[alegna]

Just read a lot and wait.

-Angela

[aishy]

Originally Posted by Leersia

I got this idea from a Karen Andreola book . . . We don't do too much sight word memorization, but when we do work on them, I will have one of my boys (I have twins) set up a "train track" for the other - basically, the cards are upside down on the floor in a curvy line. At the end of the line is a box, and the boy who is setting up the track will put a box at the end with a random object in in. Then the other child will turn over the cards and read the words. When he gets to the end, he gets to feel in the box and guess what is inside. Then we just quickly review any words that were missed. Its kinda goofy but they LOVE playing it, and I like that they set it up for each other (they aren't reading the same things and have separate sets of words!).

This is a cute game, thanks! We've done tossing bean bags and reading the word it landed on - having them turned over might be a fun twist because my 8 yo purposely throws it on the ones he knows :P They do love tossing bean bags to try to get certain words though so that is part of the appeal I guess.

I have to agree with read lots! The boys have the McGuffy readers and I have them read a couple of stories they've already read, or read one new story and one old story each day. That way they are constantly re-enforcing what we've already gone over. And I know which ones they read well when they need a confidence booster in the reading department (I say they, but my little one just started doing this and is only up to Lesson 2).

[babycarrier]

Ds 6 likes to make his own flashcards. We currently are using a world atlas and he picks out the pertinent words for the country and makes cards.

It has been a lot of fun and he is remembering the words he chooses.

That with lots of reading.

[Lillian J]

I found that my son learned it all by just reading when he was a little older and had some interesting books around on things that interested him - like books on children's magic tricks, science tricks, picture books having to do with science, video game hints, all sorts of simple and interesting books, etc. I'd actually prepared some Dolch sight word cards, but never got around to using them - seemed like just about every time I got together materials for learning something, I'd turn around and discover he'd already learned it on his own. As Angela said, just a lot of reading - in our case that mostly meant me reading aloud - and a little waiting, works wonders. Lillian

[elizawill]

my dd learned sight words through a few things. first, she LOVED these sentence practice strips: http://www.littlegiraffes.com/sentencepractice.html

she would read them and color them accordingly.

secondly, we played a game called "word slap". i would write the words on paper and tape them to the floor. i would call them out and she would hunt for them with a fly swatter and slap them. silly but fun. lastly, we have A LOT of variations of bingo, including sight word bingo. great to play with fruit loops or cheerios! hth.

[UUMom]

Some of my children loved making a little ring of favorite words. Basically some colored index cards on a key ring. Crazy creative, right? lol Words like Love, Mum, Papa, Grammie, Worm, Ice, Cookies, Dog's Name, Cat's Name, Fish, Beach etc. Really sweet.

All my kids also liked having fat stetch books (with the wire rings binding) where they could draw and then ask me or their dad to write down their stories.

Some children like to label their coat hooks, the dog crate with the dog's name, the Lego cubbies etc. Pretty soon, they can easily 'read' their name, and Mom and Dad etc, which is delgihtful to some kids.

You can also have a family mail box-- a show box where you leave love drawings and notes for each other.

[karemore]

We've been using our Crayola double sided easel. I write a word or sentence on the white board and draw a picture to help DD guess what it is.

Then I write simple sentences with the word(s). As she's picked up more and more sight words, I can write more creative sentences and she loves reading them.

We also have a Doodle-Pro we use.

[Scullery]

Originally Posted by alegna

Just read a lot and wait.

-Angela

Different kids benefit from different approaches.

-Scullery

[ChetMC]

More Ideas

Sorry if these have already been mentioned, I only skimmed the thread :

- fridge poetry (those word magnets), you can get larger print ones from Lakeshore Learning

- helping to make shopping lists, and then finding and crossing the words off the list while you're shopping and picking up each thing.

- street signs, buses, store signs, etc (so we'll tell the kids that we need to watch for the bus that says "Spring Garden" or the store called "Fred Meyer" or whatever).

[alegna]

Originally Posted by Scullery

Different kids benefit from different approaches.

-Scullery

Yeah. I'm a teacher.

I also think that drilling sight words is one of the biggest wastes of time possible for children without any sort of learning issues. But I'm about as anti-drill as you'll find.

-Angela

[shelbean91]

Dr. Seuss are great books- the repetition, simplicity, etc.

[bellflower]

i think writing actually helps learn to read... sometimes dry erase board fun with writing it BIG, small, in this corner, that corner, write it silly, etc. also write it in the air, with your body, etc. My daughter always loved practicing writing words in shaving cream too.

[jenneology]

The shaving cream is a great suggestion and can be modified to also include paint, pudding, sauce, etc.

I want to suggest using letter magnets, foam letters, wooden letter blocks where you and the child can arrange words together. You can do it at a table, on the floor, even the bathtub, and on the refridgerator. You can even leave the words displayed on those surfaces for your child to be accostomed to seeing. Many schools use labels on walls and tables with a photo of the object/action and the word written below, sometimes more than one language is displayed. Displaying words is often called creating a print rich environment and helps children learn through exposure to the words on a regular basis. Its like how young children learn to recognize McDonalds signs, they are seen frequently enough.