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How to teach sight words using a word wall… and enhance comprehension in the process

In today's post I'll be sharing a series of activities that begin with word recognition and end with comprehension and higher order thinking. For the sake of this post, I am using 12 words, but in my classroom, the walls were full of words. We had a word wall which was arranged in ABC order in columns and then we had a wall devoted to our big words grouped by part of speech: nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Activities

The word wall to display in your room is below. Note that as we progress through the activities, we will move from simple word recognition to more in-depth work.

    1.    Find and write. The purpose of this activity is to simply find the words accurately. In this activity, children are on the rug facing the word wall with whiteboards and markers on their laps. (I used paper and pencil only when I needed a hard copy at the end of the week to show which words each child truly recognized). Say, “Find and write the word KIND.” One clue that the children can learn to use at the beginning is listening for the initial sound in the word, which narrows the available choices down to one word in this example! If I call out a word such as BEGAN or NEVER, they will have to look past the initial sound to locate the correct word. Suggest they listen for the next consonant sound. If you say, “Find and write BEGAN,” the children will locate BEGAN and BETTER as both start with the B sound. Next, however, they would compare the G in BEGAN and the TT in BETTER with the word you called out. In this way, they can use clues to find the right word.

    2.    Rhyming words: The purpose of this activity is to get the child past just finding the word and to thinking about other characteristics. For this activity, you will say a word that rhymes with a word on the word wall and the children will need to find the correct word and write it.

          a. Find a word that rhymes with STIR (WERE)

          b. Find a word that rhymes with TEXT (NEXT)

          c. Find a word that rhymes with LETTER (BETTER)

          d. Find a word that rhymes with NOON (SOON)

          e. Find a word that rhymes with MIND (KIND, FIND)

          f. Find a word that rhymes with WONDER (UNDER)

          g. Find a word that rhymes with LEVER (NEVER)

          h. Find a word that rhymes with COUGH (OFF)

          i. Find a word that rhymes with STAR (FAR)

          j. Find a word that rhymes with ROVER (OVER)

          k. Find two words that rhyme with each other (FIND, KIND)

          l. Find four words that end exactly the same (BETTER, UNDER, NEVER, OVER)

    3.    Opposites and more: The purpose of this activity is to get the children thinking about the meanings of the words on their word wall.

          a. Find the word that is the opposite of LOSE (FIND)

          b. Find the word that is the opposite of MEAN (KIND)

          c. Find the word that is the opposite of UNDER (OVER)

          d. Find the word that is the opposite of ARE (WERE)

          e. Find the word that is the opposite of ENDED (BEGAN)

          f. Find the word that is the opposite of ALWAYS (NEVER)

          g. Find the word that is the opposite of ON (OFF)

          h. Find the word that is the opposite of NEAR (FAR)

          i. Find the word that is the opposite of WORSE (BETTER)

          j. Find the word that is the opposite of LAST (NEXT)

    4.    Use the clues: Again, this is an activity that will require the children to think of the meanings of the words. Tell the children you will provide them with clues and they will find the word that best answers the clue.

          a. This word means “Not under something.” (OVER)

          b. This word means “It’s not as bad as it used to be!” (BETTER)

          c. This word means “They used to be.” (WERE)

          d. This word means “Not on.” (UNDER)

          e. This word is what you do when you lose something. (FIND)

          f. This word means it will not happen ever. (NEVER)

          g. This word means, “One more, and then me!” (NEXT)

          h. This word means, “Something is on top of me, so I am…” (UNDER)

          i. This word means, “To start something.”(BEGIN)

          j. This word means, “Not near.” (FAR)

 

The activities we've talked about above are examples of some of the types of activities found in The Reading Teacher's Encyclopedia. This resource on CD includes many writing activities and other games for different levels of learning.

Practice reading and storytelling with SnapWords Sight word cards

Love this recent email about how one family practiced sight words using SnapWords cards.

I absolutely LOVE Snap Words!!! They are so much fun, and my boys found a new way to learn them that they came up with all by themselves on their own time! I put a few of the stylized words on the cork board in their room just to see if this might stimulate their little minds outside of our "school" setting. I had already tucked them in for the night, and I was walking past their room I could hear them whispering and giggling! So I paused for a moment to listen....., and then I saw a light flickering followed by more laughing! So I went in to find them lying on top of their beds' shining a flashlight on the word "laugh" as they busted out laughing at me! They had been making up funny stories in this manner: one would shine the light on a word and then quickly turn it off. The other thought of a story about the word that would be added to the next word on which the light flashed. And of course they lit up the word "laugh" as I walked in, and we all had a good "laugh" as they shared their stories with me. Thank you for sparking the creative minds of my children and for a night I will never forget.

What a clever way to practice reading and storytelling! We love it!

Q: Do you have any sight word worksheets or games to play to reinforce sight words?

A: In general, I am not a huge fan of “worksheets.” Having said that, however, all paper and pencil activities are not bad! Games and other such activities are wonderful for teaching and reinforcing reading concepts. Any time we can use a game to teach, the better! Part of the reason this is true is that the child will anticipate learning with interest rather than dreading it, but also if the child is playing a game or participating in an activity, she will be an active learner. She won’t have the opportunity to just sit and let others around her participate.

An amazing resource to use along with our sight word picture cards is The Reading Teacher’s Encyclopedia. We call it an encyclopedia because it is packed full of games and activities to use while you teach the sight words. Best of all, it includes all the most important elements of reading: fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, and writing. Find out more information about this resource now! 

In fact, if you use SnapWords™ (sight word picture cards), The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns, and the Encyclopedia all together, you will be taking care of learning sight words, learning phonics and spelling, and the other elements of reading and writing, including comprehension, phonemic awareness, etc.

Finally, please take advantage of all the information, how-to’s, and activity ideas found here on our blog. Browse by topic by choosing a category from the left. And if you have specific comments or questions, leave a comment or email me at sarah(at)child-1st(dot)com. Let’s all keep on helping our children love learning!

Playing Can Dramatically Improve Reading and Spelling

As is so often the case in life, it is frequently the smallest gaps in understanding that cause the biggest learning issues for children learning to read. So our reaction to struggles with learning to read tends to be that we implement a really big, complicated, sometimes expensive program, or that we slow the lessons way down, cut the list of items learned in half, talk more loudly and deliberately and so forth. None of these reactions brings that much in the way of progress, so we end up reinforced in the belief that the students in question are just slow and won’t get it. They must be disabled or something.

There is absolutely nothing in the world like facing a struggling student to try some little fix and watching his lights suddenly go on. It is like witnessing a miracle, a rebirth. One activity I began to use ten years ago came as a result of searching for something that would help groups of children who were very far behind in reading. Of course if they were behind in reading, they were also abysmal spellers. This activity resulted in lights going on for so many students from kindergarten to middle school.

It was so great that the activity was simple because our time together was very limited. This little magic activity that resulted in so much change was called “Quick Draw,” and we could play a lesson in 15-20 minutes in groups of 4-8 children. Another thing that made Quick Draw special was that it was not like anything the children had already been exposed to and failed with. We kept expectations super high, but offered all the support necessary to help build the children’s confidence in their own ability to learn… using a different strategy… one that worked for them.  They had to learn first that they COULD learn before their emotions and minds were freed up to soar.

How to Play Quick Draw

Quick Draw requires whiteboards and markers. If you have a classroom whiteboard, let the kids stand at the board. Otherwise, have them use individual whiteboards. (See our Quick Draw Kit.)

1.)    Say the first word while the children listen.

2.)    Hold up fingers to show the structure of the word, one finger for each letter. If two or more letters combine to make a sound, those fingers will be close together. (Refer to instructions for fingermapping.)

3.)    As you point to each finger, sound out the word, making sure the children are watching and sounding with you, keeping their eyes on your finger map of the word.

4.)    Say, “Sound and write.” The children need to each say the sounds in the word as they write. Many will try to just go straight to writing, but it is important for them to orally sound as this will guide them into correctly writing the word. If your child struggles with writing, let him or her use pull-down letters to form the words. (What is significant about this step in the game is that the child’s brain is processing the sounds in the word he is saying, and each time he says a sound in the word, he is hearing it and also seeing his hand as it tangibly forms the letters representing that sound on his board. This is the main magic right here.)

5.)    Do a quick visual check for errors. If there is a mistake, do the fingermapping again, asking the child to sound with you to find out where the error is. Please refrain from using names of letters as we do in traditional spelling lessons (say AH instead of A). These children will not be able to remember letter names in a sequence beyond that very moment. Better for them to learn to rely on hearing themselves say the sounds in a word as they write them.

But where can I get word lists to use?

The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns is all the resource you will need, no matter the age or skill level of the student. The one book is for K- adult, really. There are 55 units in the book, each unit covering one sound in our language. Inside each unit are varying levels of difficulty, which is why you can use this to teach beginners or non reading adults. All sounds in our language are included and so if you complete the units, you will have taught all the sounds and their spellings that make up all the words in our language.

So how is this different from plain, old phonics?

Plain old phonics relies on a student being able to 1) learn rules, 2) remember them during reading, 3) and know where and when to apply them; oh, and still read and understand what they are reading. Plain old spelling counts on the student’s ability to memorize, remember, and later correctly use sequences of letters that represent all the words in our language. Many, many children/adults cannot perform with phonics or spelling either one.

The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns approaches the topic of phonics very differently. Rather than phonics rules and spelling lessons, it utilizes mini stories and cartoon illustrations to group words together that enjoy the same spelling pattern. Visual learners can study the page for a bit and later retrieve the lesson in its entirety—sentences, visuals, sound spellings. It is magical to watch! Visual memory is so much more powerful and lasting than anything else. The humor and downright goofiness of the lessons also bring an element of novelty and enjoyment to the otherwise tedious and dusty-dry topic. And we all know if a person is enjoying what they are doing, those positive biases will help them learn even better!

The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns is not consumable. You can use it with many people if you are a tutor; a classroom teacher can also purchase the PDF version for use with SMART or Promethean boards. In this way, the teacher can model for the students as they mark up their photocopied page from the book.

What are the results of using this book and kit?

When I used this approach with failing children in grades K-middle school, nearly every child was brought up to grade level for reading within that one school year. The older and more delayed the child was, the more advances he/she made. The reason for this unexpected outcome is that these students had more “stuff” floating around in their heads from exposure (however grim) to reading. Once their various holes were plugged, they took off like sweet little rockets!

If you want to skip getting a Quick Draw Kit from us…

That is totally fine! But do get the book. Then go to a building supply store and find a piece of showerboard. If you ask really sweetly, a nice person there can probably cut the board into pieces about 12 x 18 for you. Sand the edges slightly. Find dry erase markers for each child. You don’t need to buy erasers; just have each child bring an old (WASHED) tube sock from home to use for an eraser. My students would each keep their marker in their tube sock. Then while we played Quick Draw, they would wear the sock on their non-writing hand. This served a great purpose: they didn’t misplace their eraser and it kept their non-writing hand out of trouble!

I’d love to hear from you if you choose to try this activity…or if you need clarification. Either leave a comment below or write me at info(at)child-1st(dot)com.

Teaching with Body Movement Results in Enriched Learning Experiences

I can still remember when educators were beginning to talk about using movement in lessons as a way of enhancing learning for active children. The first night of a graduate class, the instructor invited us all out into the hallway. Our introduction to each other was an activity that was also meant to show us the value of using movement when learning new material. The theory was that if we did a body movement during the process of learning each others’ names, we would more easily acquire the names of our classmates. We stood in a circle and one by one we introduced ourselves. Once we’d been around the circle once and everyone had said their name, the instructor produced a ball and gave it to a lady. She was supposed to bounce the ball to another class member and say their name at the same time. The bouncee was to then become the bouncer, bouncing the ball to another member of the class while saying his name. This went on for a while. Finally, our instructor stopped the exercise and had several members of the circle see if they could accurately name every class member. Everyone was very pleased with the exercise.

Another activity was aimed at showing us how movement can help active learners learn high frequency words. A student laboriously cut out a stack of footprints from construction paper and wrote a sight word on each paper foot. Then she arranged the feet into a long path down the corridor. The game was played by asking a child to hop on each paper foot and simultaneously say each word as he hopped on it.

In many classrooms, active children are encouraged to bounce quietly on big balls while studying, or are allowed to swing their feet while doing their seatwork. We do understand that movement is helpful to many children, but is it just moving that helps? Or is it most helpful when movement is specific to the material being learned?

What the activities I described above have in common is that the body movement for each part of the lesson is exactly the same. When we bounced the ball during our learning-each-others’-names activity, the bounces were identical. In hopping-on-paper-feet, each word received a similar hop.

What I would like to explore is whether or not our students would gain far more if they were encouraged to mimic their learning with body movement. When learning the word JUMP, for instance, if the child sees the word and jumps as she reads it, she is reinforcing the meaning of the word with her whole body. Later, when she sees the word JUMP, she will likely make a little hop in place, and most certainly she will remember not only what the word says, but what it means. She will have absorbed the meaning of the word in her body in multiple regions: eyes, ears, and whole body. Gesture or body movement that reflects the concept being learned will deepen the meaning for the child, show that he understands the concept, and become a means of recalling that concept later.

Let’s look at some other examples. When teaching the meaning of addition, you could print the following equation on paper in a large size:

                        4 + 3 =

Have the child point with her left pointer finger to the 4 and to the 3 with her right hand pointer finger. When you say “Four PLUS three,” have the child move her pointer fingers towards each other, signifying the numbers will come together and combine to make a new, bigger number.

                        7 - 3 =

In the subtraction equation above, again have the child point to each number with pointer fingers of each hand. Say, “Seven minus three” and when you do, have the child move his right pointer finger decidedly to the right to signify that the 3 is going away from the seven, leaving a new, smaller number.

The ÷ sign can be acted out in a way that helps the child understand the action of division. Put 10 round plastic math counters on the table. Look at the problem 10 ÷ 2 = and push the counters into two groups. You can then have the child draw an imaginary line on the table in between the two groups, using their hand palm open, with the edge of their hand running along the table to mimic the line in the “divided by” symbol.

Finally, a whole body motion that shows the action for + is simply to bring both arms up and cross them tightly against your chest. You can make the action more to the point if you pick up some objects in each hand before crossing your arms over your chest to mimic the plus sign. This is the action of taking two groups and pulling them together to make a new total.

Use body motions for the math functions as you teach word problems. Teach your child to listen to specific words and do the related body motion when your child reads a word problem; this will help him understand which function to use for each problem. Example: “Jane had two apples. She picked five more. How many does she have now?” Have your child act out the problem. 1. Jane has two apples: The child will pick up two plastic math counters. 2. She picked 5 more: The child will pick up 5 more math chips and then with chips in both hands, he will cross his arms in the plus sign when he hears the word “more.”

Your students can become their own best helpers as they learn to create and use body movements that reflect the concepts they are learning. Let’s try it today!

How to Teach Digraphs in a Right-Brain-Friendly Way

Or, The Digraph Skit

We’ve got two options when it comes to teaching a child to recognize SH, CH, TH, and WH. We can either point to SH and say, “This says Shhhh,” OR we can engage the entire child-- mind, emotions, and body-- in an activity that will make learning digraphs unforgettable.

My rule of thumb in teaching is to never ever just tell a child what something means that is represented by symbols (letters and numbers) and expect him to just remember it. If I do that, the child is allowed to be almost completely passive and uninvolved, and the results will be minimal.

Following is an activity that ensures the child's engagement in every possible way. Let’s act out digraphs! You will need five children each time you act out the skit. In my classroom, we did it several times so that every child got to have a turn. Gather your first group of children and assign each a sound: S, C, T, W, and H. Have each child say the sound their letter normally makes: Miss S would say “S-s-s-s,” for example. You could have each child wear a piece of paper with their sound written on it with a magic marker as a visual reminder to the rest of the children who are watching the skit. The children will see the symbol as they hear the sounds, reinforcing sound and symbol connections.

Act out this story

“Once there was a little town with friendly people who lived in little houses on a long curving street lined with big trees. In the first house lived Miss S. Next door to her lived Miss C, and on the other side of Miss C was Miss T and finally Miss W.” Have the children with those sounds stand in a line as though inside their houses.

“One day a dashing man strolled into town. His name was Mr. H. He was very friendly and immediately set out to get acquainted with everyone. First he walked up to Miss S’s door and knocked. Miss S came to the door (child will come forward saying “S-s-s-s” while Mr. H says his breathy “hhhhh” sound) and Mr. H asked her to come out for a walk. As the two set out for their walk, the funniest thing happened! Instead of each saying their normal sounds, they lost their heads and started making a brand new sound together! ‘SH, SH, SH’ was what they said.”

“After their walk was over, Mr. H knocked on Miss C’s door. Miss C came to the door saying, “CK, ck, ck” but the minute she and Mr. H started for their walk, they lost their heads and started saying something brand new together! “CH, ch, ch” was what they said!” Continue the same way with Miss T and Miss W until each child has played his or her part.

Add body motions

Deepen the learning by adding the corresponding body motion. For SH, have the children put their index fingers to their lips as if they are shushing someone. For CH, have them form the C shape with their hands as though making the shape of a potato chip. For TH have them extend their arms straight out to make their bodies into a T. For WH, they will make the W shape with their arms out and bent at the elbows.

The results? A fun, active, memorable learning experience. For a free set of downloadable cards that show the digraphs embedded in images, click HERE.

How to Teach a Right Brained Learner to Tell Time

Or, learning to tell time if you are a visual-spatial or active kinesthetic learner

In this age of digital everything, children can usually avoid struggling to read an old-timey analog clock. They can see a display such as 9:15 and glibly read the numbers to you. But do they really understand the meaning behind the pair of numbers, and will they be able to skillfully use time in their daily lives without gaining the meaning behind the number pairs? Using time is a necessary skill, but many children struggle to learn how. Why not make learning to tell time kid friendly by making it into a right brained activity?

Following are some ideas for making learning to tell time a more kid-friendly activity. For the examples, let’s imagine a child named Oliver. Oliver will need to be familiar with counting by 5’s for this clock activity.

Make a clock and a pointer

First, find an old sheet or shower curtain and make a huge circle on it with a magic marker as tall as Oliver with his arm reaching above his head. If you hang it on a wall, he should be able to "step inside" the clock (face the clock), with his feet in front of 6, the 12 above his head, his right extended arm pointing to 3 and his left extended arm pointing to 9. Next mark the clock face with the numbers 1-12.

Then, find something to use as a pointer. A wooden dowel would make a great one. You can even get an old knit glove and stuff it lightly so that the pointer has a real pointer finger.

Practice time-telling terms

When the giant clock is ready, ask Oliver to "step inside and be the clock" to practice time-telling terms. Oliver will need to hold the pointer in his right hand.

"O'clock" signals the top of the hour, and Oliver will point straight up when he hears that term.

"Quarter after" is the signal for Oliver to reach straight to the right, pointing at the 3.

"Quarter ‘til" will prompt him to point to the 9.

"…thirty" means bending over and reaching for his toes.

Practice counting by 5’s around the clock face

Before mixing it all up, have Oliver practice counting by 5’s around the clock face. Each set of 5 minutes will be marked by a large number. Be sure he understands that each time he touches a big number as he progresses around the clock face, 5 more minutes have passed.

Practice minutes after and minutes ‘til

After Oliver has practiced counting by 5’s, it is time to practice minutes before and minutes after. Tell Oliver to step into the clock again with his pointer in his right hand and get ready to play. Prompt him to move his arm to point to the minute you specify as you play the game.

To begin, say, "5 minutes after" and prompt Oliver to extend his right arm to the 1. Next say, "5 minutes 'til" and prompt him to move the equal distance from o’clock on the left side of the clock using his pointer.

Then say, "10 after" and let Oliver point to the 2. "10 'til" will be a mirror of "10 after" on the left side of the clock.

Continue systematically saying the number pairs in this way until he is familiar with where the various numbers are in relationship to o’clock, quarter after and 30 after.

After practicing doing the minutes before and after in order, try mixing it up a little by asking for 15 before and after, then 25 before and after, etc. By pointing to the pairs of numbers in a random order, Oliver will begin to relate the number pairs on the clock:

1 and 11

2 and 10

3 and 9

4 and 8

5 and 7

In addition, what will be happening as he practices finding these pairs of numbers is that the movements will be stored in his body as Oliver stretches to point to various minutes. Some minutes will be easy to reach, while other minutes will require him to stretch around quite a bit.

Practice telling time

Once Oliver has become very familiar and fluent with minutes before and after and can readily find the minutes you ask him for, move to reading the clock whole body. Oliver will use his pointing stick in his right hand to represent the minute hand. The hour hand will be Oliver’s left arm without a pointer. Make sure Oliver relates his long pointing arm to the longer minute hand on an analog clock and his left arm, of course, to the shorter hour hand on the analog clock. When you say "10 minutes after 9" Oliver will use his right arm to point to the minutes and then will identify the hour (9) with his left hand.  Continue calling out times for Oliver using the same terms until he’s very familiar with finding those times on the clock.

Practice quarters

Make a clock face with construction paper in Oliver’s favorite color. Next make another same-size circle in a new color and fold twice, horizontally and vertically. Cut the second circle on the fold lines so that you have four quarters. Give these quarters to Oliver and teach him that when you say "quarter after," he can place the first cut-out quarter so that it lines up with the o’clock and the 3. If you say "half past" or "30," Oliver will place another quarter next to the first one. Now the right side of the clock is covered with 2 quarters. If you say "45 after," Oliver will place the third quarter next to the last one so that the entire clock is covered except for the space between the 9 and the 12. Doing this tactile, visual activity will help Oliver understand that 45 after and 15 'til are the same spot on the clock. Use the whole body clock to practice quarter after, thirty, and 45 after, and finally quarter ‘til.

Relate the analog clock to a digital version

To complete this activity, use 3" x 5" cards with digital times written on them with a big marker (such as 6:10, 3:50, etc.) On the backs of the cards, simply write the hour as an o’clock. For example, on one side of the card you will write the specific time with minutes included: 6:10. On the back of that same card, write just the hour: 6:00. Continue making a nice stack of cards in the same fashion. Now, ask Oliver to step up to the whole body clock. Show him the o’clock side of the card first. For example, show him the card that says 6:00. He will locate the 6 with his left arm and show o’clock with his pointer. Next, flip the card over to show 6:10. His left hand will stay on the 6, but his right, minute-hand-pointer arm which has been pointing straight up while waiting will then swoop down to point to 10 minutes after.

The absolute key for success with this whole body learning activity is to teach in comfortable increments, allowing for plenty of time for Oliver to gain fluency with each step before moving on to the next. Remember that we are relying on the body to learn and remember, and it takes practice to learn and gain fluency with a physical activity.

The Importance of Encouraging Your Child’s Imagination

Just like a tiny seed grows into a mature tree, one hardly noticeable trait, if encouraged, can flourish into a character quality that will ensure a child's success as an adult: imagination. I know that when I was the mother of young children, I frequently passed over the little things, waiting for the day when my children were older and what I did with them would “really count.” It took seeing them grow to adulthood for me to learn firsthand how important those little things are!

Imagination in a child cannot be overrated. Encourage imaginative play by letting children make toys to play with out of household items. Encourage them to make up stories, and listen carefully as they share. Work to solve problems together rather than always fixing things for them. All these things combine to create a person who can make good choices in life. Funny thing is, a well-developed imagination works wonders for school performance as well!

Consider the imagination needed to solve math problems, plan a report, or stop a fight on the playground. A child with a great imagination will not be passive, letting others dictate what comes into his life. It takes imagination to manage money successfully and to predict consequences to choices and actions.

A fun activity I led several years ago showed me how truly inventive children can be if their imaginations are encouraged. I supplied the kids with shapes I cut out of scraps of construction paper. They also had colors, markers, tape, glue and other creative supplies. The children started by gluing shapes onto white sheets of paper, and when they had finished doing that, they embellished their designs with markers and crayons. I was so amazed at what they came up with.

Below are two of the projects the kids made. The first was made by a boy (P) who immediately set to work with confidence and a smile, and completed four projects in the length of time it took the other two to complete one. P made an almost completely symmetrical space machine.   

The second project was made by another boy (M), who started slowly and then gradually picked up speed. M's project began from one object, a purple heart, and eventually turned into a motor home.

On the surface, this activity might look like just one more messy-but-fun art project. But the value to the children lay in the fact that they were developing their imaginations by taking simple shapes and creating brand new objects. This is a kindergarten seed that can grow into valuable life habits such as looking ahead, problem solving, and imagining outcomes.

Let’s go play!

Tips for Teaching Preschool High Frequency Words

I am a strong believer in several things when it comes to teaching the very young. One is that drill and memorization have no place with preschoolers. Another is that anything you can passively impart to preschoolers is going to be really potent in terms of their learning gains. Finally, I believe we underestimate what very young children can pick up on rather easily. So, while I am NOT a proponent of starting school earlier and earlier, and while I AM a proponent of plenty of free play for children, I also am a realist and know the culture we live in.

The Story of How Alex Learned Sight Words by Accident

Before I begin with the tips, I just have to tell you a story about a real child (I will call him Alex) that I came to know very well even though he was not a student of mine, per se. Alex was a preschooler who rapidly gained the status of “most famous kid in school” because of how defiant and out of control he was much of the time. I got to know Alex because I took turns with his teacher and the principal walking him through the halls of the school in the attempt to calm him down and remove him from the classroom where he wasn’t doing so well. One morning, his teacher walked into my room with Alex to take a breather. Alex’s whole body was charged with negative energy; his face was screwed up in defiance. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a pocket chart where I’d displayed some SnapWords™ cards. “Stop,” he said. “Play. Sit.” It was like watching the eye in the middle of a ferocious hurricane to see the incredible change in Alex’s demeanor as his attention was caught by the SnapWords™ cards that were duplicates of those displayed in his own classroom. When his teacher and I recovered our wits, we asked Alex which other words he knew. Reluctantly, because  he was not sure if by answering he would be venturing into cooperative territory, Alex began to point to other words he knew.

The reason for our surprise was that Alex did not cooperate with any formal teaching/learning experiences in his classroom. He opposed directions, choosing most often to do something naughty. But somehow in the midst of all his oppositional defiance, Alex had absorbed some words, drawn to them by their colorful, playful images.

Some Tips for Exposing Your Preschoolers to High Frequency Words in a Kid-Friendly Way

1.    Make a sight word display at their eye level using a corkboard or a pocket chart.

2.    Display SnapWords™ cards in this area and then leave them there like you would a decoration.

3.    Be sure to locate the display in an area where the preschoolers play, and they will gravitate naturally to that area to look at the colorful words and images.

4.    Follow their lead. If they point to a word, tell them what it is. If they walk away and go play, great. If they ask about another word, tell them that word and comment on what is going on in the picture.

5.    Rearrange the words from time to time so that they are not always in the same spot. Group them in pairs so that a phrase is formed such as “come here” or “sit down.” This will make an impression on the children that words actually convey meaning. You don’t have to teach this concept, the children will simply absorb this information on their own.

6.    Make coloring materials available to the preschoolers so they can draw pictures of their favorite words if they want.

7.    Laminate the Numbers & Colors cards and lay them out on a table in two rows-- one of the numbers and the other of the colors. Supply little objects for the children to use as counters and other objects in the colors they'll need to match the color cards. If they are doing the numbers, let them count out the correct number of objects to put by each number card. If they are playing with the color cards, they can group objects by color next to the color word cards.

8.    Another game to play with the color cards: display the color cards in a pocket chart or on a bulletin board at eye level. Have the children take turns being IT. When they are IT, have them choose a color card and ask you to think of a food that matches that color. Ex: eggplant is purple, blueberries are blue, lettuce is green, etc.

9.    When you eat a meal, ask children to identify which color words are on their plates, or, have them choose three color cards and make up a funny lunch with foods in their chosen colors. Let them color their funny lunch on a paper plate that has not been plastic- or wax-coated.

To Sum up, the Best Way to Teach Preschoolers High Frequency Words Is:

• to expose them to the colorful versions of the words

• by displaying them in the place where they play,

• by following their lead in talking about the words

• and by making everything you do with them play-based and fun and hands-on.

Fun, Engaging Sight Words and Activities for Summer Learning

Teachers, are you tutoring children or teaching summer school classes this summer? Parents, are you planning on working with your kids over the summer to keep their brains engaged or to give them a head start in the fall?

The Help at Home Kit provides essential practice in a fun, laid-back way. The kit includes 306 sight word cards with each sight word embedded into a relevant image on the front, and a body motion, sentence to say, and the plain word on the back. This makes it perfect for visual and kinesthetic learners or as a break from flashcard drill for any young child. Once your children know the sight words, give them the strip book that includes all of the sight words in simple sentences to provide them with reading practice. The strip book is color coded into five levels, one for each pack of sight words. If you buy the kit, we'll send you the link to a free downloadable booklet of activities you can do with the sight word cards; it's full of fun, engaging games that will make learning a breeze.

The great thing about this kit is that it's effective with one or multiple children and can be reused each year. And since it's multisensory in its approach, the cards reach children with a variety of learning strengths.

So start your summer off right with sight word cards that show each word in context and make learning them a snap!