Sight Word Fun & Learning to Read Week #4 (Bug Theme)

Sight Words: big, come, go, here, in

Word Family: _ug (this went well with our bug/insect theme) & the short /u/ sound

Books: This week we used books from Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers (the Lil Divas read these nightly), Sight Word Readers Parent Pack: Learning the First 50 Sight Words Is a Snap! and Starfall Learn to Read Phonics Books.

Sight Word Fun:

Shaving Cream Writing: This week the Lil Divas wrote their sight words in shaving cream! What messy learning fun! They enjoyed it so much we went through and practiced spelling/writing all the sight words we have learned so far! It was a great way to make reviewing fun and exciting.

Sight Words Song - Each week we sing a simple sight word song for each word to help the lil Divas with the spelling/recognition of each word. The Oldest Diva really likes this & sings the song with different sight words on her own!  :)

The Sight Word Song (sung to to the tune of B-I-N-G-O)

There was a sight word I wanted to spell and BIG was my sight word.
B-I-G (clap with each letter) spells big,
B-I-G (clap with each letter) spells big,
B-I-G (clap with each letter) spells big
& big was my sight word!

We follow the above tune/format for each of our sight words!

We continued to use the Sight Word Printables from MissChapple.com. They include writing the word, recognizing and finidng the words in a chart/table as well as within sentences. The girls have really gotten the hang of these - even the Littlest Diva.

Sight Words Color by Number  (from 1+1+1=1)- this week I had the Lil Divas work on coloring their sight words by number. The Oldest Diva enjoyed it but the Littlest Diva had no interest in doing it. She did one word and even that was with lots and lots of prompting from me. I will try just letting her color and/or decorate her sight words next time. I think the color by numbers was too rigid for her - just not her thing right now.

The Oldest Diva however did seem to enjoy it and it was a good way to review color words with her too.

Word Family Fun:

This week we used our _ug word slides (from ABC Teach) to practice forming and reading _ug words such as bug, dug, hug, jug, mug, rug and tug.

Then the Lil Divas had to turn over their _ug words (printed on mini flascards), read them and match them to the correct picture in the pocket chart. (taken in part from a printable on ABC Teach)



We also used an _ug mini-book from 25 Read & Write Mini-Books That Teach Word Families 

A few pics of what it contains -



This was a fun and easy activity for my 5 year old to do independently. She really enjoyed it. I know they have these kinds of mini-books online for free as well. I actually had this book in my boxes from my 1st grade teaching days & just recently remembered having it so I pulled it out to use at home with the Lil Divas.

We also used a few activities from The Moffat Girls Ready2Read Unit 4:

I used the _ug family pictures with our Melissa & Doug Deluxe Alphabet Stamp Set:



I had the oldest Diva work on the Read it, Trace it, Paste it sight word/word family sentence - Look for my bug. She enjoyed this and was able to complete it independently. Just look at that level of concentration! :)

What reading activities have you been working on lately?

Bern

Sight Word Fun & Learning to Read Week #3

Sight Words: and, down, look, see, up

Word Families: ut & at review

Books: This week we used books from Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers (the Lil Divas read these nightly), First Little Readers: Guided Reading Level A , and Sight Word Readers Parent Pack: Learning the First 50 Sight Words Is a Snap!

Sight Word Activities:

Slap It!

This week's Slap It! was given a fun lil twist by adding some fly swatters (from the $1 Spot at Target).

Oh, the fun the Lil Divas had swatting those pesky sight word bugs! :) I used all 16 words we have been working on over the past few weeks. It was a wonderful interactive review - be prepared for giggles! 

Magnetic Writing Board Fun

Forming Sight Words - I wrote the weeks words on large bee cutouts and provided the Lil Divas with our Melissa & Doug Magnetic Wooden Alphabet letters. They got busy reading the words and using the letters to re-write the words.

Then, they practiced writing the words on their magnetic doodle board using the Melissa & Doug Magnetic Wooden Alphabet letters to write the words on the boards. They found this activity fun and really enjoyed it.



Sight Words Song - Each week we sing a simple sight word song for each word to help the lil Divas with the spelling/recognition of each word. The Oldest Diva really likes this & sings the song with different sight words on her own!  :)

What We Sang: The Sight Word Song (sung to to the tune of B-I-N-G-O)

There was a sight word I wanted to spell and AND was my sight word.
A-N-D (clap with each letter) spells and,
A-N-D (clap with each letter) spells and,
A-N-D (clap with each letter) spells and
& and was my sight word!

We follow the above tune/format for each of our sight words!

We continue to use Sight Word Printables from MissChapple.com. They include writing the word, recognizing and finidng the words in a chart/table as well as within sentences. The girls have really gotten the hang of these - even the Littlest Diva.

Marble Sight Words - I got this cute idea from Carissa over at 1+1+1 =1

We used our marbles (from our "reward" jars) to write the sight words. The Oldest Diva did great & really liked this. The Littlest Diva needed my help forming the letters from the marbles but she did it too.

We also played a fun Catch the Sight Word Game w/a bee balloon I founf at Target for $1.00. I wrote all our sight words and they Lil Divas threw the bee to each other and whichever word their hands landed on - they had to read aloud. Fun!

Word Family Activities: ut & at review week

I though it would be a good idea to review the 2 word families we had done because the Oldest Diva seems to confuse at with ut & it at first glance. I have to force her to look at certain words again and then she realizes her mistake and corrects it.

We re-visited our word sliders this week for ut and at:

and I had the Lil Divas play a little review game where they had to put the bugs (with at and ut words written on them) on the correct flower.

What did you do to practice sight words and/or phonics this week?

Bern
Linking to STart, Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday,  Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday  , Fun for Kids Friday , It's Playtime , Made by Little Hands Mondayand Creative Juice Thursday

Sight Word Fun & Learning to Read Week #2 - Butterfly Theme

Last week we focused on: sight words: it, me, can, you, like and the -ut word family (for butterfly)

Sight Word Activities:

Game: Slap it!

How To Play: I wrote out the week's sight word on butterfly cards and placed them on the table along with last weeks target sight words. I would call out a word and the Lil Divas had to slap their caterpillar down on the correct word! :) This game always produces lots of laughs and they beg me to play it throughout the week! I included last week's words (written on caterpillar cards) along with this week's words for some review as well.

Forming Sight Words w/Letter Tiles - I wrote the weeks words on large butterfly cutout and provided the Lil Divas with letter tiles. They got busy reading the words and then using the tiles to write the words.

Sight Words Song - while working with the letter tiles we sang a simple sight word song for each word to help the lil Divas with the spelling/recognition of each word. The Oldest Diva really liked this & was singing the song with different sight words all week on her own! I love when an idea just takes off! :)

What We Sang: The Sight Word Song (sung to to the tune of B-I-N-G-O)

There was a sight word I wanted to spell and CAN was my sight word.
C-A-N (clap with each letter) spells can,
C-A-N (clap with each letter) spells can,
C-A-N (clap with each letter) spells can
and can was my sight word!

We followed the above tune/format for each of our sight words!

We continue to use Sight Word Printables from MissChapple.com. They include writing the word, recognizing and finidng the words in a chart/table as well as within sentences. The girls have really gotten the hang of these - even the Littlest Diva.

Sight Word Puzzles from 1+1+1=1 - both the Lil Divas enjoy these. We also reviewed last week's words again.

Play Dough Sight Word Cards (also from 1+1+1=1) Last week we used our Wikki Stix but this week we used play-doh. It was a bit more challenging - to work the dough into the right thickness, etc.  This was great fine motor practice for the Lil Divas & they had fun making the words this way.

I also made a mini sight word book for each of the Lil Divas. It is basically an index card spiral notebook in assorted colors. I wrote each of their sight words in the book and they flip through the book and read the words. I leave this within easy reach so they can do it whenever they like. The Oldest Diva likes to read them on her own. The Littlest Diva isn't as interested and I don't push it but it's there for her too.

-ut Word Family Activties:

We used a fun Word Slide to review and sound out different -ut words like but, hut, cut & nut. I laminated and cut it out (it is really easy to make and use). The Lil Divas enjoy using it and reading all the words independently.

We are currently reading Bob Books (Set 1) - Beginning Readers,  Scholastic Sight Word Readers, and Starfall Books as well as Starfall.com.

Plus, I use mini-readers that fit into our word family focus when I find some on the internet that are appropriate.

Do you have any fun ways to review sight words? I'd love for you to share your ideas with me!

Bern
Linking to  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday,  Preschool Corner, Feed Me Books Friday  , Fun for Kids Friday , and Creative Juice Thursday

Sight Word Fun & Learning to Read Week #1 - Caterpillar Theme

Sight Words and Reading are huge at our house at the moment! The Oldest Diva is 5 and starts Kindergarten in the fall so this was a natural progression for her. Of course the Littlest Diva refuses to be left out so she joins in on the fun too (although her retention isn't as good as her big sister - she is doing exceptionally well & we are so proud of her reading enthusiasm!)

Learning basic sight words is a MUST but it can be drab so I try to find fun ways to introduce them to the Lil Divas and keep it exciting.

How are we learning to READ?

Basically I have been introducing/focusing on 5 sight words a week. We review those words through various activities and then the following week I add 5 more. Notice I wrote ADD. I keep reviewing the old words so that they are ingrained. Once I feel they have been mastered I will not focus on those as much but for right now - we continue to revisit them.

Each Lil Diva has a sight word book where I write all the sight words and they can sit with it and review them at any time. They actually like to do this - it's always exciting to feel like you can do something you couldn't do before and learning new words fits right into that!

We also work on basic phonics skills - letter sounds, word families etc. and we read, read, read, read. Then of course we dicuss - comprehension is a crucial part of reading!

All these things work together to help build a solid reading foundation. I read to the Lil Divas every day and now they also read to me - we are currently using Bob Books (Set 1) - Beginning Readers and Starfall's website. We will soon begin to incorporate Scholastic Sight Word Readers, Bob Sight Words - Kindergarten and the actual Starfall Books (the girls like these so I wanted a hard copy they can read off the computer as well). Plus, I use mini-readers that fit into our word families, etc that I find on the internet as well.

So now that I have you given you a bit of background here is what we worked on during our caterpillar Themed Week- I try to fit the theme in as much as I can but it's not always possible so keep in mind that I am more focused on the reading skills we are working to develop than anything else.

Sight Word & Reading Work Week #1

We have been using Bob books and reviewing sight words before this past week just not as formally as we are now. I wanted to begin with words that we have seen and have been reading in our Bob books. I did this because I wanted the Lil Divas to feel successful this first week and feel positive towards our new reading activities as I introduced them to this more structured approach.

This week we focused on: sight words: a, I, is, my, the & the -at word family (for caterpillar)

Sight Word Activities:

Game: Slap it!

How To Play: I wrote out the week's sight word on index cards and placed them on the floor. I would call out a word and the Lil Divas had to lap their hand down on the correct word! :) No tears & lots of laughs made this simple game a hit! We will definitely be doing it again as we add more words.

I found some great Sight Word Printables on MissChapple.com. They include writing the word, recognizing and finidng the words in a chart/table and within sentences. This was really great for my Oldest Diva - the Lil Diva did it too but she did need guidance from me at each step.

Below is a sample of the printables from the Oldest Diva's work. She was able to work independently after I explained the sheet to her. After the first time - she was doing the rest of the sheets throughout the week on her own without me repeating the directions. The middle part says to color but we used out Do-a-Dot markers because the girls love them (and it was faster).

To go with our caterpillar theme I took some caterpillar cut-outs & wrote the week's sight words on them & the Lil Divas had to read the word and then use our letter tiles to spell out the words.

Sight Word Puzzles from 1+1+1=1 both the Lil Divas enjoyed these. Carissa has only recently started this program with her son and is sharing the printables as she does them herself. I had to use printables from 2 different weeks to match our words but it worked out & she has great stuff - love her site!

These cards are also from 1+1+1=1 but instead of using play-doh we used our wikki stix. They really enjoyed this activity!

Towards the end of the week I had them (mostly the Oldest Diva) write their sight words on a dry erase sentence strip type board as I called them out. I found these awhile back at the Dollar Spot at Target. There are so many neat things to find there! I always stop & look - just in case, lol!

She was so proud of herself for being able to do it all on her own! I was very proud of her too.

-at Word Family Activties:

We used a fun Word Slide to review and sound out different -at words. I l;aminated and cut it out and it was easy to make and use. The Lil Divas enjoyed using it and reading all the words independently.

The Oldest Diva also worked on reading an -at word mini book from Hubbards Cupboard. The worksheet at the end is what I used in my pocket chart activity below.

Then the Lil Divas worked in our pocket chart. I had picture cards for some of the -at words on one side and ___at word cards on the other. I also had letter tiles with the correct missing letters. The Lil Divas had to identify the missing letter, find the correct letter tile and place it on the ___at card to make the word for each picture. I used a printable from

We will continue to share our Learning to Read Adventures with you weekly! If you have any resources to share - please comment or send me an e-mail - I'd love to hear about them!

Bern

Linking to Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday, and Preschool Corner, Fun for Kids Friday  , It's Playtime