In the English language there are many words, often referred to as Dolch words, that occur frequently.  We read faster and better when we see and then know these words.  Memorizing these words individually is often helpful as many of them are not pronounced phonetically.

Over the years, I have found the 3 period lesson to be the most effective way to teach sight words.  (At our house we call them see-it-know-it words.)  As a quick review, the 3 period lesson is 3 steps of learning beginning with the teacher presenting the information and the student telling back.  I like to remember them with vocal cues.

Step 1:  This is….
Step 2:  Can you find the….?
Step 3:  What is this?

When teaching with 3 period lessons, there is a lot of cycling through.  For example, with sight words, I start with just 2-3 words per lesson going through the 3 steps.   After each new set of words is introduced, we go back to a 3 period lesson with more words.

This can get a little bit long and tedious for student and teacher!

One of the games we play as a part of step 2 to keep things interesting is the “Mix Up” game (I am, as you can see, very creative in game naming).  We spread out all of the words that have been introduced, reviewing step 1 as we go.

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Spreading out the cards helps recognize words that are upside down.

Then we choose a word to remember (for example, and).   Then Kylee mixes up all the cards and spreads them back out and races to find “and” as fast as she can.

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After a few rounds, we add a second word to look for.  Once we work up to 3-4 words we are searching for, I lay the words we have been searching for and move to step 3.

Once enough sight words have been introduced, Sight Word Bingo is another fun game to play!  It can easily be adapted based on the step the child is working on.  (Match the word, find the word, or read the words drawn from a bag!)