Sight words are an essential part of reading. In fact, they are often some of the first words that kids learn. Finding these words in books, on signs in the community, and at the grocery store really gets kids excited about reading. That is why teaching sight words is one main component of reading instruction.

What are Sight Words?

Sight words are commonly found words that don’t follow the traditional phonics or reading rules. These words are words that students should learn to recognize and read quickly in order to read fluently. And. . . fluent reading also leads to better reading comprehension.

Sometimes sight words are also referred to high frequency words. True high frequency words are some of the most common words in the English language. They differ from sight words in that many follow the traditional phonics rules. However, the ultimate goal is the same. Since they are so commonly found, it is important for students to recognize them quickly without the need for sounding out or blending.

Knowing and recognizing both sight words and high frequency words is important to help our students and children with both reading fluency and reading comprehension. Sight words are typically learned starting in kindergarten and continue through the early grades of elementary school when students are learning to read. However, they can be very beneficial to older students who are learning English as a second language as well.

While many sight words are common and easy to remember, there are others that can be difficult. Helping students learn to recognize these important words is an important part of teaching reading in the primary grades. Whether you are a teacher or parent, these steps for teaching sight words will help your little readers become reading enthusiasts.

How to Teach Sight Words & High Frequency Words

If you want to help your child learn how to read, one of the best things you can do is teach them sight words. Sight words and high frequency are essential for reading fluency. They require repeated exposure for children to learn them. But don’t worry – it is not all about “drill and kill” flash cards. There are many different ways to teach sight words, but the most important thing is that you make it fun and keep your child engaged. Remember, making learning fun is always the goal since this will help the material you’re teaching really “stick”!

Introducing All-in-One Sight Words

If you’re not sure how to approach teaching sight words, I have a solution for you! All-in-One Sight Words sets were designed with busy parents and teachers in mind who want to make mastering sight words fun and engaging for kids. Plus, the name truly says it all! These sight word sets have everything you need to teach them effectively. From word wall cards to readers, and center activities to practice pages you’ll be all set!

Target Sight Words – New Sight Words in Every Set

Each set of All-in-One Sight Words focuses on teaching two to five sight words using a fun theme that kids love. For example, my “I See a Zoo” resource focuses on the words I, see, a, at, & the. Other sets include themes like the farm, types of transportation, and snowmen.

Typically, I advise focusing on one set of words over the course of a week or two. The activities in this set are all focused on learning these words through reading, writing, games, and hands-on learning activities that students will love! Each set comes with the following fun activities included:

• emergent readers (2 versions)
• full-color teacher books
• black & white student books
• no prep practice pages
• hands-on center activities & games
• whole class writing activity
• flashcards
• word wall cards

Since all of the activities focus on the target words, you’ll be able to use them throughout the week to help your students learn the new words. Teaching sight words has never been easier than when you have everything you need in one place! Kids love the thematic learning activities and teachers love saving time planning and prepping.

How to Use the Sight Word Activities

Wondering how all of this comes together? So glad you asked!

Introducing the New Words

To get started, you’ll want to introduce your new set of words to your students. I love doing this on Monday morning. I begin by projecting the word or writing it on the board. After I read the word, the kids read it with me. Then we take a couple of minutes to read it and spell it aloud together. I love adding some silly movements, clapping, or stomping as we spell. We repeat this process for all the words we will be working on.

Then we make a big deal about adding our new words to the word wall. Since the word wall is an important part of our morning routine, we want those words added as soon as possible. Each morning we read the word wall together as a class. It’s a great way of reviewing all the words we have learned. I love to choose a student helper who gets to use a pointer and decide what order we read the words in.

Bring on the Sight Word Reader

Next, our focus switches to our new sight word book. Each week the students look forward to getting their new books. In each of the All-in-One Sight Word sets, you’ll find two different emergent readers for the target words. The first option is a basic sentence, and the second is an extended sentence. You can choose the option that best matches your students’ level or start with the basic sentence structure and then move to the extended science later in the week.

Each day, read the book together as a class. The full-page color book is perfect to print or project. When reading the book, make sure to point to the words so that students learn word recognition and basic print concepts. This is also a great time to weave in other reading skills. Reinforce the skills you are teaching, like capital letters at the beginning of the sentence and punctuation at the end. You can also use this as a time to ask comprehension questions related to the book.

Each student also gets their own copy of the book in the black & white, half-page format. They keep them in their book box to read during reading time, we use them in small groups, and they take them home to read at night.

Worried that all that reading will lead to memorization? I was too. That’s why we would do silly things like reading a page backward or playing a game by reading the words in random order. Not only do kids love this, but it gives you as the educator an understanding of where each student is with their mastery of the words.

Continue Teaching Sight Words with Hands-On Learning

The learning process doesn’t stop with the readers. Students need lots of opportunities to interact with new words before they master reading and spelling them. That’s why the All-in-One resources include a variety of activities you can use all focused on the target words.

If you’ve worked with primary learners for any length of time, you know the value of kinesthetic learning opportunities. Our young students need hands-on learning activities to truly grasp new concepts. Luckily, All-in-One sight words have got you covered in this department!

Each of the sight word sets comes with a variety of fun and engaging center activities that are perfect for teaching sight words. Use these activities in the classroom during center time, as partner games; or as fun independent workstations for your homeschooler.

Some of the games you can find in these sight word sets include:

• I Spy Sight Words Center Activity (3 pages and response sheet)
• Sight Word Write the Room (2 options and response sheet)
• Fine Motor Mats (3 sizes included & I Can instruction cards)
• Rainbow Words (Color and Black & White options for each word)
• Sight Word Playing Cards (12 cards for each word plus Wild Cards)

The great thing about these activities is that you can use them in a variety of ways. For example, the fine motor mats will keep your students working hard on building sight words throughout the week. Use them with playdough, q-tips, stickers, BINGO daubers, or manipulatives to mix it up!

Another fun option you’ll use again and again is the Write the Room activity. Use it as a way to redirect your class when they have the wiggles, and then again as a “scoot” game on Fun Friday! These centers make teaching sight words an easy task to weave into your week.

Use No-Prep Printables for Continued Practice

Continue exposing students to the target words and giving them opportunities to practice reading and spelling them. That’s where the printable practice pages come in. These no prep worksheets provide kids with opportunities to work with their new words in some fun ways. I like to use them for morning work, homework, and even for my fast-finishers!

Now just because they are no prep, doesn’t mean they are just a boring old worksheet. No, remember engagement is key! Because I know that students learn best when learning is exciting, these printables are designed for maximum fun!

Some of the worksheets include:

• Feed the Sight Word Cut & Paste Activity for each word
• Sight Word Writing Practice Pages
• Sight Word Mazes for each word
• Color by Sight Word (3 pictures)
• Spin, Read & Graph
• Spin, Read & Write (2 activities)
• Roll, Read & Graph

And. . . each of these activities are simple to use too! Just print and you’re ready to go. With similar activities for each word, you just need to teach the activity once, and soon your kids will be working independently.

A student favorite is always the “Feed the. . .” pages. In this activity, students will cut and paste the target word into the mouth of a person, animal, or object that relates to the sight word set theme. This is great for visual discrimination and learning to quickly identify the target words.

Wrap-Up with a Class Book

I love to finish the week by having the kids use their new words in the context of writing. What better way to do this than by creating a book? The books can follow the same sentence pattern as the reader, or students can write independently using the new sight words.

There are multiple options with and without sentence starters so that you can easily differentiate by skill level and decide what works best for your group. Make sure to have students use their best coloring skills to illustrate their page as well!

Finally, I put all the pages together and bind them with the included class book cover. The kids wait with anticipation for the reading of “their” book. The book makes its way to our classroom library where it can be read again and again. Students love reading it and looking back at what they wrote!

It Works!

By following this simple method, your kids will be learning sight words in no time. Between the daily reading of the book, the daily interaction with the center activities, and daily practice pages you will be providing students with the repetitions they need for learning the new words. The best part, these activities support both reading and spelling.

By focusing on 2-3 new words a week, you will be growing readers in no time.

I pair this method of teaching sight words with phonics instruction that helps kids build strong decoding skills. Together, students learn the skills they need to be amazing readers.

Get Started Teaching Sight Words

Are you ready to give this method a go in your own classroom? If so, grab the All in One Sight Word set that matches the words you would like to teach.

Here are a few to get you started:

• I See a Zoo (I, see, a, at, the)
• On the Farm (big, is, little, on, the)
• Can You See It? (can, it, see, you & color words)
• At the Circus (down, I, look, see, up)

To grab them all, you need the Bundle. All current sets are in this bundle and all future sets will be added there too. Buy it now and you get all future sets for free!

Pin It!

Pin this post on your classroom Pinterest board so you’ll have these ideas handy when you’re ready to focus on teaching sight words!