How many of us out there are used to teaching sight words? Back in my Kindergarten days, sight word recognition and fluency was CRUCIAL. Since moving to second grade, the focus on sight word recognition and fluency has taken a back seat. It’s still there, of course, but it isn’t as important as say… comprehension.

I’ve come to see how much of a mistake this has been! Now, I see students get hung up on certain words. They are struggling to read them and are not seeing them enough in print to be good practice.

So, what is the best way to practice sight words? I firmly believe that seeing them in print, meaning through text like books and articles, is one of the best practices. I have seen time and time again students memorize them in isolation, but are unable to transfer them to reading.

There is, however, merit in practicing sight word in isolation. Being able to recognize the sight words quickly and not getting “hung up” on them is crucial for reading fluently. Though, students still need to be able to take those words and apply them to their reading. Again, as I stated previously, I have seen so many students learn the words in isolation, but are not able to apply them to their reading. This, therefore, defeats the purpose of practicing them in isolation.

Back in my Kindergarten days, I used HeidiSongs all the time. After moving to second, I stopped.

Well, I made the decision to pick up my old DVDs last week and review which words were on each DVD. I am glad I did. I randomly used the “again” song and dance at the conclusion of a lesson and the kids LOVED it. I used her color words songs to dismiss them and they LOVED it. So you can 100% believe I am going back to basics. Learning needs to be fun. My mission is do just that. 

“Ms. Chapple! Ms. Chapple! I’m finished!” Ah yes, the early finishers… what better time to practice sight words than this? This is going to my focus for the month of October. I will make a few blog posts updating everyone with my progress. I want to arm my students with a few different tools to practice their sight words. I will provide everyone with ideas and freebies to use in their own classrooms. 

Have a great idea for practicing sight words? Sound off below with your great ideas! I would love to learn from you!