Kindergarten Sight Words: Tips and Tricks

The term “sight word” is exactly that – a word we must be able to read in a split second when the word is presented without having to decode. Sight words are often used interchangeably with high frequency words and word wall words. What are word wall words anyway? Word wall words are words that your child’s teacher displays on a wall in the classroom because they are super important words that the children need to learn to read, write and spell. Usually, the children’s names are displayed first in kindergarten, and then more difficult words are gradually added to the collection.

I thought it’d be great to share a list of  words that my kindergartener needs to be able to read and spell by the end of the school year. This specific list was sent home in  a weekly newsletter when my oldest daughter was in kindergarten. (Yup, I kept it.) Most of the words are taken from the Dolch List of sight words, or high-frequency words that are used the most often in kindergarten. You can find the list of Dolch words for all grade levels here. Many of these words are not decodable, so remember – it’s important that our children get plenty of practice hearing, seeing, reading, writing and saying these words! This is a tricky list and I love high expectations – so that’s why I’m sharing!

Time to get crackin’! Does your child’s  teacher send home a similar list? Here’s my list to get you started:

If you’d like to help your child learn these words here are some fun ideas:

• Write each word three times each: once in pencil, once in pen, once in marker.
• Put the words on flash cards and practice reading them. Make a pile of the ones your child knows and the ones your child doesn’t know. (These are sight words, they shouldn’t need help or more than a second of time if they really know them!)
• Cover a surface with shaving cream and write them with your finger in the shaving cream! Kids LOVE this!
• Use a wet paint brush and write the words on a chalk board. Watch the words vanish!
• Sky write the words with your pointer finger.
• Put the words on BINGO cards and play Sight Word Bingo.
• Practice using these words to make small sentences. I love this super fun deck that includes sentence starters and punctuation! It’s perfect for learning how to form written sentences!

What are some other fun ways you practice reading, writing and spelling sight words at your house? Hope you found this list helpful!

Looking for more ways to help your child learn their sight words? Try these awesome sight word activities by Scholastic, which are perfect for kids 4-8.

You can find tons of helpful stuff to help teach your child how to read here too!