8 Ideas for Reviewing Sight Words
Sight words are one of the most important literacy skills for students to spiral review throughout the year. It's essential not only to teach sight words in context, but to give students ample opportunities to practice using sight words with different activities and games. Get ready to take your sight word practice up a notch with these 8 ideas for reviewing sight words with your students.
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Reviewing Sight Words
When reviewing sight words is fun for kids, they immediately get more out of it. They're less likely to stress out about identifying a sight word or get frustrated when they're highly engaged and enjoying themselves.
#1. Sight Word Swat.
Sight Word Swat is one of my all-time favorite sight word games. To play, write sight words on sticky notes and arrange them on the whiteboard. Give students a fly-swatter. Taking turns, have 2 students come up to the whiteboard. Call out a sight word. They'll race to see who can swat the sight word first.
This is a great whole group game. Listening to the students cheer and celebrate as they swat the sight words is fun for them AND for the teacher. It's that good kind of “buzz” you love to hear in your classroom. Pun intended. 🙂 You can create your own sight word cards or use the leveled sight word cards and mini-swatters found in this Sight Word Swat educational game.
#2. Sight Word Clues.
Another idea for reviewing sight words is playing the game, Sight Word Clues. Give students clues as to what the sight word is. You can say clues such as, “This word has 4 letters, it starts with an “l,” it has a silent e at the end, I ____ chocolate cake.”
Have students use a whiteboard to help them determine the word. For this example, they could draw 4 lines, write “l” at the beginning, “e” at the end, and then complete the word as the clues go on. When they think they have it, they'll shout out the word, LIKE! Then, you can have them spell the word aloud and say it in a sentence.
#3. Digital Sight Word Boom Cards
The next idea for reviewing sight words involves a digital Sight Word Boom Card game! You know your students will be excited to use the computer or tablet for this one. These Boom Cards focus on building simple sentences with sight words, which is a great way to practice reviewing sight words in context.
#4. Magic sight words.
Magic sight words is a fun sight word art project for kids. They'll begin by writing sight words in a white crayon. They'll use watercolor paints to paint over the top to reveal the sight words. To make this even more challenging, you can pre-write sight words or have students write sight words and swap pages with a partner, that way they don't know what words will be revealed.
#5. Sidewalk chalk sight words.
When the weather is nice, take your students outside to practice sight words with sidewalk chalk. The change in scenery and the fresh air alone does wonders for their focus and motivation. It's also fun for them to use chalk and see their sight word skills revealed all over the sidewalk. They have a sense of pride knowing others will see their writing.
#6. Sight word wall.
Another strategy for reviewing sight words is to use a sight word wall in your classroom. Either write or organize sight word flashcards by letter so that students can easily reference and find words during word work. This helps with beginning sounds skills as well. If a student knows the word starts with a “b,” they can look under the “b” category to find the word.
Add your favorite sight word review activities, such as Roll, Read and Cover, to a station by the word wall and your students will be set for successful independent sight word review!
#7. Building sight words.
When students are struggling with sight words, give them more hands-on opportunities to build sight words. Some students learn best kinesthetically and by physically putting the letters together to spell the words.
They can use letter blocks, magnetic letters, or other letter manipulatives you have in your classroom to build the words. They can even use a word building mat to help them organize their words. You can also have a station with play dough and letter stamps for them to stamp the sight words in the colorful dough. This is a great sensory activity for your little learners as well.
#8. Sight word journal.
Using sight word journals is another great strategy for reviewing sight words. You can use a basic student notebook and have your students practice writing sight words they know, one per page. They can use a different color for each line and write the sight word individually and in simple sentences. They can even have a journal of sight word sentences that they add to throughout the year.
I hope these ideas for reviewing sight words have given you new inspiration and confidence heading into your next sight word review session. If you like any of the resources included in this blog post, check out my No Prep Sight Word Bundle where you can find even more.
Let me know in the comments below what idea for reviewing sight words you're going to apply first!
