Many parents know that sight words are important, but they don’t know how to help their child learn. Too many parents wait until their children are in school, and then do whatever the teacher suggests. This works, but most children are ready to start learning sight words well before school. Sight words are designed to be memorized, not sounded out. So, your child doesn’t need to have a firm grasp of phonics to begin learning sight words.

Sight Word Readiness

How do you know when your child is ready to begin to learn sight words? Two of the best signals that your child is ready is her own curiosity for words and her ability to memorize things. So, if your child is asking questions about words and can sing the latest songs, she’s probably ready to work on sight words.

Supplies

To get ready to learn sight words, make a set of flash cards. The Dolch sight words are the most popular sight words lists. But be sure to check with the school of your choice. To make the process easier, purchase a package of colored index cards. Try to find one that offers six different colors. Designate one color for each of the lists and write a single word on each card. For example, you might write each of the Pre-Kindergarten words on blue cards and all the First-Grade words on green cards. This will allow you to use the words together, but still separate them into their appropriate groups when necessary.

If you can’t find colored index cards, use white cards, but write each word in a different color marker. This accomplishes much the same thing, but makes sorting them a little bit harder.

Start Small

Like anything else, starting slow and small will help your child ease into the idea that he can read. Start with the Pre-K Dolch words. The first day, show your child one of the words. Tell him the word and ask him to repeat it. Throughout the day, show your child the card and ask him to tell you the word. Make a game out of it. If your child makes a mistake, just encourage him to try again.

The second day add another card. Show the two cards throughout the day and encourage your child to learn the two words. Add a new card every day. As your child progresses, you may find that your child is having a problem differentiating between words. If that happens, stop adding new words and continue to work with the words you have already shown your child. This will give her a chance to catch up and feel confident before you add new words.

When your child has learned all of the Pre-K words, add a few other cards that are unique for your child. Include your child’s first name and whatever she calls her parents, grandparents and pet. These should be written on the same color card as the Dolch nouns. Show your child these words and teach her to read these words as well.

Word Run Fun

Choose five or six of the words your child is currently working on. Write the words on the sidewalk or driveway in big, block letters. Say the word and race your child to the correct word. As your child becomes more confident in his reading ability, you can take turns calling out words and running to the correct answer.

Tactile Fun

As your child learns to “read” sight words, there are lots of fun ways to help your child learn to write them as well. There are lots of ways to explore writing sight words. You can cover a cookie sheet with whipped cream or shaving cream and “write” the word in the cream. Smoothing out the cream afterwards “erases” the word and gives you a fresh space to write on.

You can also write sight words on the sidewalk or driveway by dipping large paint brushes in water and “painting” the words on the surface. Damp sand, such as you might find at the beach or in the sandbox, can also make a lovely writing surface. Just use your finger to dig into the sand and make the word. Erase the words by smoothing out the sand.

Making Sentences

Once your child has learned an entire word list, it’s time to start putting the words together. Lay out the cards and try to put them together into sentences. For example, with the Pre-K word list you can make simple sentences such as:
You make me jump.
Help me look.
You and I can run.

When you add the simple personalized nouns, you can make many more sentences such as:
Mommy and I play.
I can help Daddy.
Where is Spot?

Practice mixing up the cards and making new sentences. As you add new lists of sight words and nouns, you can make more complex sentences. If your child is old enough, try stringing the sentences together to write notes or even a simple story. Sight Words in Their Natural Habitat

Look for sight words in the world around you. Challenge your child to find sight words in billboards, or magazine covers. Give your child a newspaper and a crayon and let her circle the sight words she knows. As you read books together, point to the sight words your child knows as you come to them and ask her to read them. Take turns reading the words she knows or read them together.

After your child has learned an entire word list, start introducing simple sight word books. Point out the words that your child already knows. If they don’t recognize the word, pull the card with that word from your child’s list. Show him the card and let him compare the letters on the card to the letters in the book.

Continue to help your child with words that you have not worked on yet, or nouns that may not be on a list at all. Over time you will help your child learn confidence as he learns to read.

The best chapter books for kids

10 books you can read to your child when they are ready to transition from picture books to longer stories

Read

Sight Words

Everything you need to know about sight words

Read