more Sight Word ideas / Word Wall too

I really want to share some of the fun things we did with deciduous and conifer trees this week, but that will have to wait.  I need to redo some graphics before I can share.  Anyway, as usual we did learn some new sight words: no, so, go. These words are a perfect example of memorable introduction and relentless practice. "Tricky" first shows us the words on a "traffic light."  The students then trace over the words in matching colors (red - no; yellow - so; green - go).  Then to keep practicing the words we play the "No, So, Go Game." This simple board game is a class favorite.  I did forget that the first few times the kids play we need to remind them about and reinforce good sportsmanship. But the game is fast and based on luck so the kids get to play it lots of times THUS winning becomes less of an issue. Instructions and a printable are available for both these activities in my Super Sight Word Success Packet at my TeachersPayTeachers Store.  Also my husband wanted to get into the act so he opened a store for me at Teacher's Notebook. He's running a sale. Super Sight Word Success Packet

NO, SO, GO in action in my classroom.

I started using my Word Wall a little differently last year.  I really liked it.  I put up over 100 words before school starts.  I tell the kids that we are going to learn them all.  Each time we learn a new word I put a red check in front of the word.  The kids have a matching Word Page in their Writing folder. They can put red checks too if they want.  This way the students can use the wall for spelling right away (so nice for those advanced readers that want to spell correctly).  The FDKers like watching the red checks multiply.  We ended up adding some words last year - they were really motivated. A friend of mine gave me the idea when using Jolly Phonics - she stars the sounds as they learn them.  I do that too (with a red check though). This gives the students a nice visual of where we started, where we are going and how much we have achieved.  Try it, you might like it!

This photo shows how unobservant I am.  My aide must have decided to put the check behind the word.  I didn't even notice.  We now have a check for so and run will get one this week!

You can see that I put a "paw" sticker on the "tricky" words (those that do NOT follow phonics rules we learn in kindergarten).  I cover my bulletin boards with a neutral felt. Only downside is I tend to run out of the hard side of the velcro - which doesn't make sense since so many other projects use more of the soft side. Also I trimmed these sight word cards when I went to 100 words.  I think I got a little carried away.  I need to make new ones but as I said I have 100 words.  The kids have never complained.

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