Seven “Good to Know” Sight Words for Pre-K!

Seven “Good to Know” Sight Words for Pre-K!

School districts do not expect kids entering Kindergarten to know any sight words.  However, if your child knows how to write their name, knows all the sounds letters makes, and can sound out simple three letter words with or without assistance; I feel that they are ready to learn a few sight words over the summer.

Sight words are words that appear frequently in most of the text kids read, but can't easily be sounded out.  Sight words appear in 50% of text.  Students who instantly recognize sight words have an easier time reading.   Learning them helps children become more confident readers. 

You can view the complete Pre-Primer list here http://www.kidzone.ws/dolch/preschool.htm.  Most Pre-K kids may become frustrated trying to learn all of these words.  I suggest you focus on mastery of seven words.  I have seven favorites that I always teach first.  My magic seven are:   I, like, am, she (or he), on, the, is.  The reason why I choose these seven words is because they are most often seen in early readers.  Plus these seven words can easily be strung together to form a sentence.   

I am 5.

I like her.

I like ______.  (children draw the last word.)

She is L !

The cat is big.

I am on.

She is on the bug.

Once the words are mastered and memorized you can write sentences and allow your kiddos to read them.    You can also write a sentence and have your child illustrate the sentence.  Furthermore, you may wish to have your child practice writing sentences and these words make a great start to sentence writing. 

I would start with three of the seven words…  Write them on pieces of paper and stick them to your fridge and have FUN with them…

Play coin toss - words on floor - children take turns to toss a coin onto a word and say that word.

Flashlight words turn off lights flash a light on words on display.  Have child say the word that they have put the light on.

Sidewalk Chalk – write the words on a sidewalk and have the child jump on the word and say it when they land on it.

Beach Ball – Write the words on a beach ball and when they catch the ball, have them tell you what word their hand is on.

Play Dough – Make the words with it.

Make words using alphabet stamps.

Once your child has mastered three, add another word and repeat activities. 

Knowing these seven words before entering Kindergarten will give your child a little boost and get them ready to read! 

Pre-K Pages shares some tips of working with Pre-K students on sight words.http://www.pre-kpages.com/sight_words/

Mrs. Kilburn’s Kiddos shares some ideas and printables to help.http://mrskilburnkiddos.wordpress.com/reading/sight-words/

Check out Mom’s Town for a very creative way to teach sight words…http://momstown-artsandcrafts.momstown.ca/node/266