Sight Word Knowledge
A sight word is a word that a person can instantly recognize and pronounce without using phonics skills to sound it out. Poor sight word knowledge may be caused by many things including poor visual discrimination, lack of phonic decoding skills, not attending to context or word meanings, and spending little time engaging in reading outside the “necessary” reading in school. Practice makes word recognition faster and more accurate.
Activities to Increase Sight Word Knowledge
- Predictable books- these are books that contain words or phrases that are repeated throughout the book. The words can become familiar through repetition and the pattern of the story. The students are then able to predict a pattern in the stories, learn the words, and become more confident readers.
Suggestions for predictable books-
a)Select a book that is short enough to read in one sitting
b)Read the story aloud with the student/child sliding your finger under the words as you read them
c)As the student/child becomes more familiar with the book, pause for them to read along with you
d)Read the story again, but this time stop and let the student/child fill in the missing words. If he/she does not know the word, supply it.
e)After some repetition you will find that the student/child can read the book without you.
f)After reading, you may print words or phrases on index cards, and have the student/child locate it in the book. Then, he/she may also write their own story using the predictable pattern.
- Introduction in Context and Using Visual Skills- locate words that are unknown to the student/child. Print the unknown word in a sentence for he/she to see. Have he/she read the sentence with you. Give them the word printed on a separate card. Have the student/child find the word in the sentence. Have he/she make up their own sentence using the word. Then, have he/she close their eyes and picture the word. Take the card away and have the student/child open their eyes. Have the student/child try to write the word from memory. Give them the card back and have he/she compare their written word to the word on the card.
- Picture Dictionaries- Students can create dictionaries by cutting pictures from magazines and newspapers, pasting them into a book using a separate page for each letter, and then labeling the pictures. Arrange the pictures in alphabetical order. They can review and use these dictionaries when allowed. When they learn a word and know it well, it should be removed from the dictionary and put into a success dictionary.
- Word banks- this is a personal collection of words that a student/child has learned to recognize at sight. When they know a word, they can write it on an index card and place it on a ring. It creates a feeling of success and serves as a review or reference tool for him/her.
- Checkers- use an old checker board. On the black squares, print sight words right side up and upside down. The game is played like regular checkers, but every time a player lands on a square he/she must read the word in the square. If they read incorrectly, they must move their piece back. You may also want to purposely mispronounce a word and if she/he catches you, they get an extra turn.