momma aimee Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 i know not everyone works on sight words, but we have been. so How DO you do it -- so far we've just used flash cards; and my super memory child is not learning them. He can learn a long Bible verse in a day; but it not picking up the random words suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 We did sight words toward the end of phonics. I printed up the Dolch lists on Janbrett.com and we went over just about 1 a week to help build fluency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrissySC Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Remember that the lists were based on some of the Dr. Seuss books. I don't have my list or notes with me now, but a quick Google should help you nail down which ones. So, we flashcard the sight words, and read the Dr. Seuss books together. This has worked well for my now-just-turned-five little one. Sight words are great for confidence and vocabulary building. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 We posted the words on the wall. I reviewed them daily and pointed her to the wall when she was stuck on a sight word when reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) I used the Ladybird Key words reading books with my very young daughter (from age 2) - we used flashcards for the first 4 books in the series but after that she was figuring out the words by herself (by sounding them out or by context if the word was not phonetic) and we moved on to other books although by then she liked the characters (don't ask me why?) and she kept on going. She liked books rather than flashcards and we did use OPGTR as well and plenty other books to go with the phonics. I found most sight words became cemented as she read them in other books as they are much easier to get in context and most sight words are the most frequently used words anyway so they will come up everywhere. Edited April 2, 2012 by Tanikit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I made flash cards of the several hundred most common words in English when DD was an emerging reader. Some of them were sight words and some were phonics words. Every day or two I would pull out the deck, and turn cards over. Ones that she read fairly quickly she got to keep. Ones she didn't went back into the deck. She liked seeing her deck get bigger. It made it kind of fun. About once every week or every couple of weeks we would go back through her deck, and I would read the cards to her and she would repeat the words. She usually raced me to see if she could say the word faster than I did, and once I noticed that she was doing that, I slowed down a bit to give her a chance to take the lead and gloat. I did this exercise because I read somewhere that one of the best ways to build fluency is to have the kid read the words while the adult is reading them--so that they see them, hear them, and say them at almost the same time. So I wanted to figure out a way to do that without context to be distracting. I should say, DD was an extremely reluctant reader at first. And she absolutely loved to be read to. If she had been in school they would have defined her as remedial in reading and writing, and she would have thought of herself as a failure. Because we homeschooled and preserved her love of stories while teaching skills at a reasonable pace for her, she is, as a high schooler, superbly competent in reading and writing, the darling of her English department, and hoping to become a fiction and poetry writer someday. Seriously. The moral: Figure out your own kid, do not depend on curricula to save you from having to figure out your own kid, and teach the kid, not the curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I also put a magnetic white board up in her room. I would magnet the flash cards into sentences to give her secret messages. She would drive herself crazy figuring them out, and they were always at her own pace. Also we had a lively correspondence, which I did not correct. She would give me notes and I would write back. I was pretty careful to use words that she knew or could reasonably hope to sound out, and I never made her rewrite her notes spelled correctly. Thus she was encouraged to use written language in our daily life, in a kind of fun, low pressure way. But all along I also did copywork and regular phonics instruction along with these things, and assigned reading and reading aloud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
threeofakind Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Another technique is to have your child say the word (you can tell them if they don't recall =) ) and then spell the word and say the word again. Choose a couple of new words to do this way mixed in with words they know and come back to them again at the end of your words for the day.:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wee Pip Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 phonics and sight words were not working for my dd until we put it all together with the book Teach A Child to Read with Childrens Books by Thogmartin. It is free online, avail thru many ILL libraries, or about $10-12 on amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtoamiracle Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 show the word, say the word, have him spell the word, put the card down, spell the word again. Make up a sentence with the word. Read a sentence with the word. Do that every day for a week. We did three words per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I do teach them, but only phonetically! If you group them by pattern and rule, it's actually faster than trying to teach them as wholes in the long run. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitterpatter Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Here's my secret... http://www.carsondellosa.com/cd2/Products/CarsonDellosa/PID-804038.aspx?CM_VC=10001 Shop around. You can get it cheaper. (I will admit, though, the eBook would be nice to have. I get tired of copying.) For words that are three letters or longer, DD completes half a booklet per day, which is three pages. Instead of page three, DD does three hands-on activities (i.e. arranges Scrabble tiles, strings letter beads onto pipe cleaners, arranges letter cards, uses magnetic letters, uses Reading Rods, sticks letter stickers, etc.) I rotate them to keep things fresh. On the second day, she completes the second half of the booklet, which is also three pages. When she was just starting out with handwriting, she used letter stamps for the few little writing activities. Now, she just writes. For words two letters or shorter, DD completes the entire booklet in one day. We also have a word wall (actually, a closet door) that we review with. We review a group of words daily and then play Pop for Sight Words on Fridays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 IMHO I would teach them phonetically. The second link has a chart with sight words listed phonetically. The first link discusses sight words and their drawbacks. This sight also offers many resources for reading and phonics:) http://thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html http://thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/Resources/sight%20words%20by%20sounda.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 sorry double post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Scholastic often sells fluency workbooks for $1 during their sales and I noticed some of them include sight word drills and evaluations. I believe in a solid phonics program to teach SPELLING, but SOME children need to START reading with sight words, to put all that endless phonics instruction into context. My older son was one of them. And AFTER phonics, I believe that sight reading increases fluency. A sandwich without filling isn't a sandwich, but a sandwich without bread isn't a sandwich either :-0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sctigermom Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 We use sight words, but we use them with a phonics program. We have 20 words we go over each day. After a word is memorized I add a new word to the 20. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cagirlintexas Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 He has been picking them up from an app called teach me kindergarten. I like it cause you can customize the spelling words too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eloquacious Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) We used "You Can Read" from 1+1+1=1. You can see it here http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/YouCanRead.html At first, I was totally anti sight-word. However, even the Bob Books and Sonlight's I Can Read It books had them, and eventually I realized that while I wasn't in favor of "sight words" (flash card type word shape recognition), I do believe in the utility of teaching high frequency words first. That's the whole premise behind systems like Spalding or SWR. Soooo... if you teach them, and teach them phonetically, you can have the best of both worlds. Like most of her printables, you can download them individually for free, or else pay a small fee for a bundle download that also includes extras. We really liked the extras here. Each word would be taught phonetically if we'd already studied it (and we had quite a bit of phonics under our belt before we started), then as either a "phonetic preview" or else an exception to a phonics rule. So with those few words that are true exceptions, I'd say "these letters usually say ___ but in this word they say ___. This is a rule breaker to memorize." However, my list of those exceptions is far fewer than what most would call exceptions, because we do teach phonograms with multiple sounds. Incidentally, even phonograms/sounds we hadn't taught yet weren't too much of a surprise or stumbling block to my son. I used to think "oh, we've only done short vowels, how will he ever get this?" then realized that it was more my problem in trying to make everything sync up perfectly, rather than his. ;) We didn't do all the activities, but for us they were a good excuse to practice scissoring/pasting/coloring/pre-writing stuff. So even though they were totally unnecessary (my son usually picked up a new word after one or two reminders), he enjoyed them, so we did them. ETA: One fantastic resource for teaching sight words phonetically is the Simplex Spelling app for iPhone/iPad. Highly recommended! Edited April 2, 2012 by eloquacious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Queen Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Read easy readers to your child very slowly as you point to each word. Tell her she needs to look at the words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I made flash cards of the several hundred most common words in English when DD was an emerging reader. Some of them were sight words and some were phonics words. Every day or two I would pull out the deck, and turn cards over. Ones that she read fairly quickly she got to keep. Ones she didn't went back into the deck. She liked seeing her deck get bigger. It made it kind of fun. I did this using a pack of Dolch sight word cards we got from, I think, Walmart. I also used the reprints of Dick and Jane with her, which really increased her fluency and confidence. We did the sight words along with Explode the Code for phonics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Have you seen Thogmartin's Teach a Child To Read with Children's Books. Combining Story Reading, Phonics, and Writing To Promote Reading Success. You can download it entirely, free from ERIC. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=ED437625 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Have you seen Thogmartin's Teach a Child To Read with Children's Books. Combining Story Reading, Phonics, and Writing To Promote Reading Success. You can download it entirely, free from ERIC. http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=ED437625 I read through this and really liked the idea as my DD likes reading books and is not so keen on phonics instruction even though I have managed to get through most of the instruction she needs already. I started using these ideas recently and it has improved things quite a bit - she is more careful when she reads and more willing to sit and sound out words before saying she does not know them or needs help. She is only just learning to write now though so I do any writing for her. At her age however I do not teach more than about one word and phonics concept per page of reading else it slows the story down too much and she loses focus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted April 2, 2012 Author Share Posted April 2, 2012 Scholastic often sells fluency workbooks for $1 during their sales and I noticed some of them include sight word drills and evaluations. I believe in a solid phonics program to teach SPELLING, but SOME children need to START reading with sight words, to put all that endless phonics instruction into context. My older son was one of them. And AFTER phonics, I believe that sight reading increases fluency. A sandwich without filling isn't a sandwich, but a sandwich without bread isn't a sandwich either :-0 we are doing a strong phonics program (I feel) ETC and some other $ store work books and Phonics pathways. But i didn't think there'd be any harm in working though the sight words too, since Dotch Sight Words are frequency words, yk? We only do them 2x a week. I may up that to 3x. His fluency is not good, sight words OR phonics. he has a lot more skill than you see if he reads ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 we are doing a strong phonics program (I feel) ETC and some other $ store work books and Phonics pathways. But i didn't think there'd be any harm in working though the sight words too, since Dotch Sight Words are frequency words, yk? We only do them 2x a week. I may up that to 3x. His fluency is not good, sight words OR phonics. he has a lot more skill than you see if he reads ... Do you have him read along in a book, as you read aloud or as he listens to audio? SEEING text as they LISTEN is very important for some children. Go over the phonics of these high frequency/sight words, read them, drill them. Use multisensory ideas. Use a red crayon to write the word red. Have him sip water as he writes water. Mold the word clay with clay. Just do it ALL! There is no need to pick phonics over sight, or vice versa. Just provide a rich and varied group of reading instruction. Make a soup of reading activities :-) Phonics is certainly a part, a BIG part of learning to read well, but not the ONLY part. There is room and sometimes necessity for sight words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I got an iPhone/iPad app lol. I'm usually not a fan of electronics, but our VT recommended a few, so I got them...now she thinks she is "playing a game" when she is learning sight words. And yes, we will continue a full phonics curriculum, it is just that with *this* particular child, only phonics was killing her desire to read at all...she needed to get a few words under her belt to be able to read some thing, and therefore encourage her to actually want to learnt he phonics to get better at reading. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I got an iPhone/iPad app what's it called? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaniceO Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 After reading tons of threads here, I was pretty anti-sight words. I started teaching my DD straight phonics. I kept running into a wall though. She wanted to read from a real book, not a book like OPGTR, Phonics Pathways, or The Reading Lesson (yes, I own all 3 and she's the only one I have to teach to read, lol). Aside from the BOB books, there weren't many books she could read without knowing sight words. So, for the past month, I've been teaching her the Dolch words. And her reading has really taken off. I was worried about her being on grade level before and now I'm not concerned at all. She has amazed me. All that phonics work did pay off because she uses it to sound out a lot of the sight words. This post doesn't answer your original question, but I just wanted to say that some kids really do better with sight words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 One of my daughters had poor visual memory for words. Initially we went over the same very basic stories (like 5 words in the whole story) every day until she started to recognize the words. Then she started learning words from lists/cards and I'd find easy books that had those words in them; I'd help a lot with the reading, but encourage her to try to remember the sight words she was working on. If she didn't recall them on her own, I'd ask her to point to a given word on the page. As soon as she knew most of the Dolch preprimer words, I dug out my set of Margaret Hillert just-beginning-to-read books, which were perfect for her at that time. Next up were PD Eastman books (Go Dog Go, Are You My Mother, etc.) and a few other bright-and-early books (Walter Farley's easy readers, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celia Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I write them on bingo cards, and we play :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 The Struggling Reader sight words games. My son loves them and learns about 8-10 sight words a week painlessly. Plus, he really recognizes them when he sees them in a book! I would post the link, but I think their site is down for maintenance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NASDAQ Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 Mine picks up the words through the McGuffey Reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanikit Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 we are doing a strong phonics program (I feel) ETC and some other $ store work books and Phonics pathways. But i didn't think there'd be any harm in working though the sight words too, since Dotch Sight Words are frequency words, yk? We only do them 2x a week. I may up that to 3x. His fluency is not good, sight words OR phonics. he has a lot more skill than you see if he reads ... Beginning readers do often have a fluency problem (do NOT look at youtube videos of early readers as there are a few children who just start outreading with expression and fluently but these are exceptions) It sounds like he needs time and lots and lots of fluency practice - read the same book over and over if he will let you. Read nuresery rhymes that he already knows even if he knows them off by heart (get him to stand up and put on a show with the page of writing in his hand - and print those sentences out BIG) And give it time. I did work on fluency with my daughter but fluency is usually taught using passages that are easier than the child's normal instruction level which is naturally pretty difficult at a very beginning level. Maybe try readingbear with him to show him how to sound out words faster (and slower) for the phonics. It also sounds like he would do well if you printed out some sentences from his book using extra big sized font and then read it to him while sliding your finger under the words and then get him to repeat it to you while tracking the words himself. Then do it again and encourage him to repeat it more fluently. Make sure you choose words you KNOW he can read (be they sight or phonics). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 fluency is usually taught using passages that are easier than the child's normal instruction level which is naturally pretty difficult at a very beginning level. This is a good point. I needed to be reminded of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 Beginning readers do often have a fluency problem (do NOT look at youtube videos of early readers as there are a few children who just start outreading with expression and fluently but these are exceptions) It sounds like he needs time and lots and lots of fluency practice - read the same book over and over if he will let you. Read nuresery rhymes that he already knows even if he knows them off by heart (get him to stand up and put on a show with the page of writing in his hand - and print those sentences out BIG) And give it time. I did work on fluency with my daughter but fluency is usually taught using passages that are easier than the child's normal instruction level which is naturally pretty difficult at a very beginning level. Maybe try readingbear with him to show him how to sound out words faster (and slower) for the phonics. It also sounds like he would do well if you printed out some sentences from his book using extra big sized font and then read it to him while sliding your finger under the words and then get him to repeat it to you while tracking the words himself. Then do it again and encourage him to repeat it more fluently. Make sure you choose words you KNOW he can read (be they sight or phonics). ita Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 For the person who asked, the iPhone app is called Smiley Phonics (I think!!) that is what I put into the search box at the app store. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 I forgot to add that ,in addition to strong phonics till about 4th or 5th grade coupled with lots of you reading aloud to your child, I recommend watching Between the Lions from PBS which can be found online and often in libraries daily. It also helps to put on closed captioning. I also occasionally sounded out words when reading to ds. Starfall.com is also useful. Elizabeth B's web page the phonics page also has free phonics lessons online. Her web site has a wealth of free info and resources. Don Potter's web site alos has many free phonics programs and spelling programs that are used for reading such as Webster's Speller and Word Mastery. IMHO I would not drop phonics at all since sight words will only take a person so far and may hamper the reading process for some:( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
................... Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 A homeschool mom who used to teach first grade gave me this idea: Buy Nice thick sight word flash cards. Some have holes punched. Buy a ring from teachers supply store Put five-10 cards on the ring Introduce, then go through them twice daily. When the day comes that the child knows the word immediately without any help, put a dot on the card with a marker. After five dots, remove the card and replace Periodically review the previously learned words. My son learned 100 sight words in less than a month this way and he loved it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted April 3, 2012 Author Share Posted April 3, 2012 A homeschool mom who used to teach first grade gave me this idea: Buy Nice thick sight word flash cards. Some have holes punched. Buy a ring from teachers supply store Put five-10 cards on the ring Introduce, then go through them twice daily. When the day comes that the child knows the word immediately without any help, put a dot on the card with a marker. After five dots, remove the card and replace Periodically review the previously learned words. My son learned 100 sight words in less than a month this way and he loved it! COOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asmall Posted April 3, 2012 Share Posted April 3, 2012 With my girls we used the Picture me Reading Cards. I could of made my own cheaper, but somethimes I like things already done for me. Anyway these cards have the sight word with a picture on it, and on the back just the plain word. My girls loved these and picked up the words quickly. AL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momma aimee Posted April 4, 2012 Author Share Posted April 4, 2012 does anyone have / have seen a full sent of Sight words -- in flash card from to buy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeBlessings Posted April 4, 2012 Share Posted April 4, 2012 I didn't read all of the replies yet, so I don't know if this was mentioned already. :) You could make two cards for each word and play memory match. We did this with groups of words by word families and rhyming words, making cards, and playing memory match. For instance I would do -een and -ean words. Make two of each for bean, lean, glean, dean, mean, seen, queen, teen, seen, keen. Then play memory match together, me reading the cards as they flip them over the first few times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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