Hi Everyone!
Why do kiddos have a hard time learning sight words? A colleague brought this to my attention from a reading series: "This is the sight word, spell the sight word, say the sight word, let's read the sentence with this sight word and WAH-LA...you learned the sight word...NEXT!" HA! HA! SAD BUT SOOOO TRUE! Sure we have Heidi Songs (and LOVE it!)and utilize multi-sensory strategies and yes, our "MY WORD WALL" (check our blog for this FREEBIE) has broken some ground. But just thought we would share something an administrator shared with us. How about making certain that a kiddo can correctly "spell" the sight words before worrying about the weekly spelling words that are not utilzed often OR better yet, the weekly spelling words from all of the same word family??? (That's why our "Funky Chunkies" have really helped with decoding b/c the word family changes which forces our kiddos to decode! (& escalated our DIBELS NWF/Alien Word score). So our wheels began turning... 1. Assess the K kiddos up to our 80 sight words (Yes 80 b/c a kiddo needs to read 200 by the end of first grade to achieve the DIBELS fluency score; yep, do the math!-a discussion for another time) 2. Play a game like BANG 3. Integrate using the velco word wall into the game so kiddos practice using it (so the WW it is not just cutsie decoration). We enjoy blogging and blog stalking because we have been experimenting with ideas and listening to what colleagues around the world have to say and share. Please share one sight word idea, sight word item and/comment and then be GUILT-FREE and take this FREEBIE! HEE! HEE!
Have a good one!
XOXO The Goonie Gals
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2 comments:
I have missed my Goonie Friends and just read this post. You know what I think? Well I'm gonna tell ya. That is just too many words for a five year old to learn. Okay now for my idea... pick a theme, make pocket chart cards with the sight words you are slamming on and hide something behind one that goes with the image you use (cupcake-sprinkles). The kids chant a little ditty and you call on someone to go up and read a sight word card. If the item is behind it they are the winner and you put all the cards back in the chart. Does this make one ounce of sense? Sorry if it doesn't but I am up to my ears in text complexity and close reads! Whew, now I get my freebie. YIKES!
Yes, Fran we understand where you are coming from. We are dealing with a situation where if the kiddo does not know 180-200 sight words by the end of first grade, the kiddo is behind. Then special education comes knocking at the kiddos' door? YIKES! Sad but true... By the end of first grade, a kiddo must be read at Level J and earn appropriate DIBELS score. To earn that "fluency" score, a kiddo must have their sight words bank in tact as well as be able to decode quickly. We have found that when we send kiddos to first grade reading 40-60 sight words, those kiddos struggle.
We LOVE the idea about theme and sight words! Do the sight words spiral throughout the themes? Send us a link if you have an example on your TPT.
XOXO The Goonie Gals
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