Kindergarten Sight Words Build a Strong Foundation!
It’s not just colors and shapes kids need to learn in kindergarten.
It’s way much more.
The majority of their reading foundation is established during preschool and kindergarten.
And sight words speed up the process of building a strong, academic foundation in the early years.
WHAT EXACTLY ARE SIGHT WORDS?
Simply put, sight words are words that don’t always follow English phonic rules but appear very frequently in reading.
When my kids finally learned their site words, their reading speeds up fast!
And you know what happens when a child improves her speed of reading?
- Her comprehension level grows.
- Her love for reading blooms.
- Many of her other school subjects become easier.
That’s Why Your Kindergartener Needs to Learn Sight Words!
But where do you start?
The easiest way to help your child learn her sight words fast is to simply list them all!
And there are 52 sight words that kindergarteners need to know..
Yes, 52.
That number may seem overwhelming, but when you teach them to your child in batches it becomes much less intimidating!
What are the 52 Kindergarten Sight Words?
Here they are in alphabetical order:
all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes.
But we want to make sight words fun, so we created some printable, sight word cards (sight word flash cards, but in colorful circles!) to help your kindergartener learn these FAST!
How to Use Sight Words Flash Cards
- Print out ALL Five cards.
- Cut out all the circles.
- Place sight words into color specified piles.
- On a daily basis, spend a few minutes, 3 times per day, going over a certain colored set of sight words.
All the green sight words together on one day
All the orange sight words together on another day etc.
You Can Download and Print the Cards Here!
How to Teach Kindergarten Sight Words
Let’s get started…the simple way!
Begin showing your child the list. You can print out the list, put it on the fridge, read it together during storytime etc. Anyway to familiarize your child with this list of common words.
Everyday, take a few minutes to read all of the words to your child. Make sure this “reading” time is fun, upbeat, and not stressful.
What Are Other Ways to Teach Sight Words?
Point Out Sight Words in Daily Life
When you’re at the grocery store, when you’re watching TV or sending a text, let your child find the sight word!
Let Your Child Read Sight Words During StoryTime
At night, when you’re reading a book to your child, pause at the sight words and let them read those words!
This adds a fun dash to learning sight words and keeps them in front of her often!
Let Them Write Sight Words in Flour or Rice
We use this for spelling too, but it works great for sight word practice!
Grab a cookie sheet or any type of tray, and fill it with flour or rice.
Place the printable flash cards on the table beside the tray and let your kindergartener write the site words.
Copying and writing is one of the most effective ways some emergent readers learn!
Go on a Sight Word Hunt
Kids love scavenger hunts and Easter egg hunts, of course they’ll love a sight word hunt!
Hide the printable sight word circles around the house and every time your child finds one, read the word together, spell it and read it again!
Be sure to give a small prize for finding all the hidden sight words!
Kindergarten Sight Word Games
And of course, games are one of the best tools to teach kids foundational learning!
Here are a few of my absolute favorites….a few I’ve used since 2005!
Sight Word Scratch Off Game
This scratch off game to help kindergarteners learn sight words is genius!
Kids always look scratch off cards, so I’m sure they’d love this new learning activity!
Sight Word Slap!
Place the printed sight words in a stack and call out sight words in random order.
Tell your child to SLAP the sight word as soon as she hears it!
My kids LOVED playing this game — all six of them!
Sight Word Puddle Jumping
How about a craft AND game to help your child to learn her sight words for kindergarten?
You’ll find all the instructions for this fun learning game here!
Go ahead and print out the Sight Word Flash Cards!
And if you have a preschooler, find out the 23 Things Your Preschooler Needs to Learn this Summer!
