Here are 10 ways I help my students learn their high frequency words –
1. I have a high frequency word of the day for each day of the school year.
2. I show the student the word of the day as I greet them at the door. The students say the word. Each student gets a card with the word of the day printed on it. This is their “ticket” into the classroom.
3. Have your students write the word in their personal writing dictionary. This will reinforce the spelling of the word.
4. Next, have your students put the word card on their ring of words. They can practice their sight words with a partner until everyone has the word written in their dictionary. I have an educational assistant or parent volunteer go through the word rings individually with the students. If the student knows a word, they get a stamp on that word. When they have three stamps on a word, they can take it home.
5. I say each letter in the word and have the students repeat the letters back to me. Next, we clap, snap, and jump as we say the letters in the word. We also do things such as writing the word with big letters in the air, write the word in little letters on the floor, or act like a certain animal as we say the letters. Another fun thing to do is to say the letters as we play the piano, trumpet, or trombone etc. During this time, the letter is projected onto my interactive whiteboard so the students can see the letters. This helps to imprint the word in their brains.
6. Have the students find the word in a book. All day, whenever the students find the word of the day, they snap their fingers as they read it. This reinforces the word without being too distracting to the other students.
7. Show a PowerPoint of the sight words. Have the students say the words as they flash on the screen.
8. Put the word on the classroom word wall. Once the word is on the wall, students are not allowed to spell it incorrectly in their daily work.
9. Have the student spell the word correctly at the end of the day in order to line up or leave the classroom. If you do not have a spelling curriculum, use the sight words of the week as your spelling list. This is a great way to reinforce the learning of high frequency words.
10. Keep track of the words that the students know. Give extra help to those that need it. You can run through the words and record the words that each child knows. I just check the students’ cards. Those that have many cards that have not went home need the extra assistance.
You can set up your own sight word program,
or use the same one that I use in my classroom.
Have a great school year!
