Sight Word Ideas

Tricky reading a clue he left for the students.

I am trying to introduce at least 100 Sight Words this year. I have spread them out throughout the year, pairing them up with themes, sounds, poems, etc. I try to introduce them in a memorable way (like Jolly Phonics intros. sounds). We distinguish between the sight words that are just that sight words: see, look, made (these words follow the sound rules) and tricky words: was, said, the (don't follow the rules). We have a dog named "Tricky." He introduces the tricky words (he hides the flash cards in his dog house and the Top Dog of the day pulls them out to show the class). Tricky talks to me. He loves playing tricks on the FDKers. Last week Tricky was concerned because WOULD and COULD are oh so tricky. Tricky had the kids put on our Sight Word Glasses, trace the words in the air, on the carpet and using our legs to write in the sky. Whew.  Would they remember these words? Could they?

Tricky really put the students to work finding the sight word FIND. He had kids hunting down clues and finally lead the students outside. Flashcards with the word FIND were everywhere. After the FDKers found the word cards, they had to write the word on the blacktop. Then the kids found out they could play. Hurray!

Hurray for nice weather that let this lesson work so well.  We always fill out a Sight Word Sheet when we learn a new sight word. If our dog friend Tricky is on the sheet the kids know it's a tricky word. It's fun to see how much better the sentences on the back are now as compared to the beginning of the year.

Head Hunters Sight Word Game

 I was lucky enough to go to the Illinois Pre-K and Kindergarten Conference last Thursday and Friday. There were plenty of inspirational speakers and I came home with TONS of ideas.  For once I did not come home with tons of "stuff" I bought.  I think I maybe just might have already purchased everything they sell there:) Anyway, I wanted to bring my class a little gift from my "trip."  I got them nothing but good ideas and a reinvigorated teacher.  SO . . . I told the kiddos I got them some new fun games to try. Today we played a game I got from Kurt Schwengel at Rock and Roll Kindergarten I printed up a list with all the students' names and an equal number of sight words. Then I printed the sight words on small flash cards.  Each child got a list, clip board, pencil and one flash card (they were encouraged not to look at the flash card).  I showed them how to lick the back of the flash card and stick it on their forehead.  I love kindergarteners.  They just did it. Then the students roamed around the room reading sight words. They drew a line from their peer's name to the sight word they read off their peer's forehead. Some kids were trying to figure out the word on their head using this process of elimination. In general we were simply trying to line up all the words and names. I thought it would be a loud game.  Nope. Everyone was too intent on finishing. Thanks to Kurt for a fun sight word head hunt! 


Yes, we tossed out the flashcards when we were done! The FDKers were happy to take home their lists though - hopefully to read to their parents.  ah

Party Post

I'm probably doing this all wrong but here is a link to a "party" from a blog I like A LOT.  Great ideas and a great writer too.  There are lots of other blogs to check out. Kindergarten Lifestyle

St. Patrick's Day FUN!

Shamrocks on math sheets, leprechaun traps, yellow and blue play dough to mix, and lots of green clothes. A week of St. Patrick's Day preparation. I've got my math sheets ready: Kindergarten Math Worksheets St Patrick theme

Composing numbers from 11 - 19 into tens and ones is a tough skill to assess and practice. This worksheet has a back page too.

All set for a week of fun, learning and greenery!  ah

On my way to parade last year
with friends.

Pete the Cat

We finally read the first Pete the Cat book.  I've been holding it until the time was right. We love singing about Pete’s colorful shoes just as much as we love singing about Pete’e school shoes. We used templates and our own creativity to make Pete. Our room is so cheerful with Pete smiling down on us. I wanted to post them all.

There's a Wocket in my Pocket

There's a Punchroom in the lunchroom. He's bad.
He eats out of the garbage cans. He likes spiders.

March 2

There's a Tubbie in my cubbie. It has yellow hair.
He puts my homework in his nose.

We celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday with Cat in the Hat hats, Seuss Juice, lots of Dr. Seuss books and a video. We also created our own Seussish creatures using rhymes like in the Dr. Seuss book There’s Wocket in my Pocket. This required cooperation and collaboration while we worked in teams of 5 or 6. We rocked! Such teamwork. We put Thing One and Thing Two to shame!

In Like a Lion

March 1

March arrived just as expected - like a lion. The FDKers drew lion and lamb faces on card stock circles. They decorated them beautifully and added magnets. The lion/lambs are on the lockers. Each day the student decides whether the weather is a LION or a LAMB. Not surprisingly the opinions vary. That’s okay as it makes a more attractive hall that way.

Sight Words COME and SOME

February 28

Our new sight words are TRICKY - come and some.  How can we remember them? A game of course because we love games. Our game involves moving squares from one half of the page into the other. One person says “Come here” the other person says “Give me some.” The dice we roll say come and some. You want to get all the other person’s squares before they get yours. Before we tried the 2 person game we played the game with students instead of squares - that’s right students. We moved from the some side to the come side. David was the last man standing on the some side.

Hello Dr. Seuss

February 27 - In March our "Artist of the Month" is Dr. Seuss. Every FDKer couldn’t wait to tell about their favorite Dr. Seuss book. “Oh, I have that book at home” was a common refrain. We read The Cat in the Hat and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish to get ourselves into a Seussy mood. We painted stripes and drew fish in the style of Dr. Seuss in preparation for our art station this week. We even got our math into the act with Seussical games.