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Nurturing the Years of Wonder ( Forum Locked)
4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder

Topic: Is there a special trick

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violingirl
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 12:49pm \| IP Logged

to teaching common sight words? DS1 is reading cvc words very quickly and accurately and we've started to really work on blends. He's starting to want to read short books on his own like the bob books, but he's getting stuck on sight words like "you", "the", "and" and those types of words.

I printed some sight word uno cards for him since he loves uno and these uno cards have the characters from CARS on them (another of his favorite things), but he's really not interested.

Is this one of those things to just stick with and eventually he'll get them, or am I missing some special way on how to teach these?

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JodieLyn
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 12:56pm \| IP Logged

I just used flash cards.. I like them because we can do them for very short times.. it doesn't have to be a long extended thing.

Start with a reasonable number.. I flip it over and they try and say the word, they get one short chance to attempt sounding it out.. then I say the word, they say the word (while looking at the word) and then it goes to the bottom of the pile. If they read the word they get to hold the card. It ends when they're holding all the cards. Then after they've done it a few times I start moving words.. ones they just know get taken out and new ones added in..

The reason this works is that it's fast and short. And the faster they are and the sooner they learn the words the faster and shorter it is.

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Paula in MN
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 1:01pm \| IP Logged

Jodie keeps beating me!

Yes, flash cards work wonders.

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Paula
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JodieLyn
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 1:12pm \| IP Logged

It's one of those days here Paula.. dh got called into work early and threw everything off.. so I've been here more than usual.

Paula in MN
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 1:22pm \| IP Logged

JodieLyn wrote:

It's one of those days here Paula.. dh got called into work early and threw everything off.. so I've been here more than usual.

Likely story...

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Sarah M
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 3:49pm \| IP Logged

We like playing sight word bingo. Or making a game like this: create a path across the living room floor with sight words (written on index cards). We roll the dice, move forward (usually our Polly Pocket or something

) that many cards, and if you can correctly read the sight word, you get to pick it up. Do this until they are all gone. Or we play "tap it": I put down three flash cards, and then I call out the word on one of the cards. She sees how fast she can tap the right card. Of course, all these games would work better once about 20 sight words were known. We used flash cards (about one new word every day or two) until we had a good collection. Then let the games begin!

Maggie
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 3:55pm \| IP Logged

Wow, Sarah! Those are really fun and excellent ideas!! I need to store those in my memory for later use.

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anitamarie
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 4:31pm \| IP Logged

We use Preschool Prep Meet the Sight Words DVDs. My kids love them. But, my son taught himself to read last year, and I know that those sight words were a big part of it. I didn't work on them at all. He just kept picking those DVDs out at the library. Good luck.

God Bless,

Anita

ekbell
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Posted: Oct 06 2009 at 7:30pm \| IP Logged

This website http://www.starfall.com/n/N-info/level-1.htm?n=downloadcente r has sight word exercises among the phonics exercises. The child is asked to match the sight words with the right combination of tall,short and dropping down boxes.

I found that the practice at looking at the shape of the different sight words coupled with flashcards helped quite a bit.

violingirl
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Posted: Oct 07 2009 at 9:00am \| IP Logged

Thank you for the suggestions!

DS plays on starfall a few times a week, but I guess I hadn't looked closely enough to see the sightwords on there!

I think we're going to work with flashcards til we have enough together for game playing. Sarah, those are great ideas! We've played "swat" with shapes where he had to "swat" the correct shape with a fly swatter- we should do that with the sight words too.

Thank you, everyone!

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Sarah M
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Posted: Oct 07 2009 at 11:11am \| IP Logged

I should have mentioned that I got those game ideas from this book: Wow! I'm Reading! Your library might have it.

lovebeingamom
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Posted: Oct 07 2009 at 1:04pm \| IP Logged

Sarah M wrote:

Of course, all these games would work better once about 20 sight words were known.

Dumb question - what are the 20 sight words?

Sarah M
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Posted: Oct 07 2009 at 2:46pm \| IP Logged

Not a dumb question, lovebingamom. There are multiple sources for high frequency/common sight words. I prefer to use the ones listed here, on Jan Brett's page. I just teach them in order, and then we use them to play games with. Very simple, very basic, very effective!

violingirl
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Posted: Oct 07 2009 at 5:11pm \| IP Logged

Sarah M wrote:

I should have mentioned that I got those game ideas from this book: Wow! I'm Reading! Your library might have it.

Our library DOES have it and I ordered it just a few minutes ago. Thank you so much!

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Erin
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lovebeingamom
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Posted: Oct 08 2009 at 1:12pm \| IP Logged

Sarah M wrote:

Thank you so much Sarah for posting the link to Jan Brett's page - I just printed off the first set (words 1-20).

So now what do I do .... just make my own *flashcards* using index cards and *teach*????????

lovebeingamom
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Posted: Oct 08 2009 at 1:12pm \| IP Logged

violingirl wrote:

Sarah M wrote:

I should have mentioned that I got those game ideas from this book: Wow! I'm Reading! Your library might have it.

Our library DOES have it and I ordered it just a few minutes ago. Thank you so much!

Me too .... mine is already in ... just need to go pick up. Thanks Ladies, you ALL are awesome!!!!

Sarah M
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Posted: Oct 08 2009 at 11:12pm \| IP Logged

lovebeingamom wrote:

So now what do I do .... just make my own *flashcards* using index cards and *teach*????????

Here's what I do:

~I sit down with the child (I've already written the word I'm teaching that day on a flash card). I tell her that "this word says THE". Then I ask her what it says. She tells me. End of lesson, day 1. (no kidding)

~ Next day (or next week, or whenever), I take out the card again. "Can you remember what this says?" If she can't, no problem, I just do exactly what I did yesterday. If she can, then I tell her that today she gets to learn a new one! I repeat the same sequence as yesterday, but with a new word.

~Then... I put both flashcards on the table and I ask, "which word says THE?" she points. "Which word says OF?" she points. If she answers incorrectly, I just stay here with these lessons for the next few days till she gets them right. If she gets them right, then I point to the card and ask her what it says. Every day or two or so, I add a word. We take as much time as we need to so that she really knows them well.

A few pointers...
***I teach sight words in short, short, short lesssons! 5 minutes or less each day for the first while, working up to no more than 10 minutes per day, TOPS. I don't want to drill her to death- I just want her to make some nice steady progress in her sight word knowledge. Also, you don't have to only use flashcards. You can ask her to find "THE" or "OF" or any other sight word on the page of an easy reader book. It's kind of fun for kids to hunt down words that they know in the middle of a bunch that they don't!

***The Montessori 3-period-lesson is especially helpful when teaching sight words(and it's pretty much what I explained above). A 3 period-lesson looks like this:

Period 1, Naming: "This is a..."
Period 2, Recognition: "Which one is the...?"
Period 3, Pronuniciation of the word: "What is this?"

So, in the example I gave above, I told her what the flashcard said. Then I asked her to point to the word. Then I asked her to read it to me. Not all 3 periods need be done on the same day. And it helps to review the three periods with words you've already taught, just to reinforce and review.

Hope that helps--and remember, this is just the way that I do it, but there are 100 ways to teach sight words, so if it doesn't fit your style, then don't feel like you have to do it this way.

lovebeingamom
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Posted: Oct 09 2009 at 8:09am \| IP Logged

Wow Sarah, thank you so much for your detailed explanation above. I will give it a try to see if it fits my (and DD's) style.

Like I mentioned above as well, I also took your suggestion and borrowed the *Wow, I'm Reading* book from my library. So very excited!!!!!!!

Evette
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Posted: Oct 10 2009 at 9:14am \| IP Logged

Thanks for posting the link to Jan Brett's page! :)

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